You don’t need to spend a fortune to put technology to work for your business. Here are links to simple, cost-effective solutions to everyday business problems:

Backup and Recovery Solutions

Carbonite

http://www.carbonite.com

Automatic “in-the-background” backup service. Only $50 a year for unlimited storage

Connected.Com Online Backup

http://www.carbonite.com

Stop messing around with backup tapes. Connected.com backs up your data at night over the Internet, to a secure data center.

Mozy

http://www.mozy.com

2GB/mo free, cheap after that

PeerSoft Save-N-Sync and PeerSync

http://www.peersoftware.com

The best way we’ve found to synchronize files and folders between your laptop/desktop

X Drive

http://www.xdrive.com

Another good online backup solution

BLOGS / SPLOGS / MOBLOGS/ Social Networking

BlogDigger

http://www.blogdigger.com/

A search engine to research what is being posted on blogs about your business

BlogSource

http://www.blogsource.com/

Free, simple blogging service

MySpace

http://www.myspace.com

This is where 100 million of your next buyers and employees hang out

Wordpress

http://wordpress.org/

Open source content creation and blogging software

YouTube

http://www.youtube.com

Ubiquitous Web video site, now owned by Google

Collaboration

DotNetNuke

http://www.dotnetnuke.com/

Open source collaboration engine — alternative to SharePoint

Microsoft SharePoint Services:

http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint

The newest collaboration platform from Microsoft: Integrates with Microsoft Office to let builders and remodelers share documents, photos, meetings and more on the Web.

Wynwood Associates — Yankee Ingenuity on the Web!

http://www.wynwood.net

Builder Todd Wacome has his whole business on the Internet using off-the-shelf tools. An example of how much you can do with a little imagination.

Yahoo Groups

http://groups.yahoo.com

Free collaboration site. Good way to stick your toe in the online collaboration water CRM, Unified InBox and Salesforce Automation

Dynami Builder

http://dynamisolutions.com

Revolutionary Web 2.0 system that enforces the principles behind Jagoe Homes’ Success

Palm Desktop

http://www.palmone.com/us/software/desktop/

Personal Information Management software from PalmOne. Functionally similar to Microsoft Outlook. Simpler to use, and free — even if you don’t have a PDA.

SalesForce

http://www.salesforce.com

One of the first and best-developed online applications. CRM functionality like ACT!

Sugar CRM

http://www.sugarcrm.com

Commercial open-source alternative to ACT! or salesforce.com

SwiftPage Mail

http://www.swiftpage.com

E-mail marketing tool for ACT! and other databases

uReach Unified Inbox

http://www.ureach.com

Get a phone number that will follow you anywhere, as well as e-mail, fax and text-to-speech. Forward your calls to any number, or save them as .wav files on your computer.

DOWNLOADS AND FREE/CHEAP UTILITIES

46 best Free Software Utilities

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm

Site compares and reviews free software in nearly every category.

Bookmark Manager Pro

http://www.wakproductions.com

The best way to organize and find your bookmarks and “favorites”

IzArc Zip Utility

http://www.izarc.org

Free open-source replacement for WinZip!

Fax Solutions

e-Fax and Fax-Away

http://www.efax.com

http://www.faxaway.com

Inexpensive and reliable Web-based faxing solutions

IT Management and Purchasing Help

SlickDeals

http://www.slickdeals.net/

Site tracks multiple coupon and discount deals on IT gear

Shopify

http://shopify.com/

Very easy online shopping cart service

Misc.

AllClear

http://www.allclearonline.com

The easiest flowcharter for those process improvements (NOT cheap...)

Advanced Call Center and CallSoft

http://www.voicecallcentral.com/

http://www.mycallsoft.com/

Turn an old computer into a voicemail system for your small business.

PhoneScoop

http://www.phonescoop.com

The latest buzz on mobile phones, smartphones and other hand-held devices

Hamachi

http://hamachi.cc/

Virtually painless VPN solution utilizing the Internet

Mobile Office

Jotto Desk (Mobile Office)

http://www.jottodesk.com

The best vehicle laptop/technology stand we’ve found.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

BuildingOnline’s Production Agency

http://www.buildingonline.net/

Allan Wickstrom’s agency. (IBS Virtual Tradeshow) One of the few consultants in this business who understand “pay per click” and can make it work for you on the Web.

PDF Tools

PDF Zone and Planet PDF

http://www.pdfzone.com/, http://www.planetpdf.com/

Everything about the .PDF file format

PDFCreator

http://www.pdfforge.org/products/pdfcreator

Totally free open-source PDF creation and editing tool. Replaces Acrobat in many applications.

Productivity, Office and Image Editing

HyperOffice

http://www.hyperoffice.com/

Free Microsoft Office alternative, along the lines of OpenOffice.org

Oracle Small Business Suite

http://www.netsuite.com/portal/products/nsb/main.shtml

Internet-based alternative to QuickBooks and other applications.

Palm Desktop

http://www.palmone.com/us/software/desktop/

Personal Information Management software from PalmOne. Functionally similar to Microsoft Outlook. Simpler to use, and free — even if you don’t have a PDA.

PaintShop Pro

http://www.paintshoppro.com

90% of PhotoShop at one-sixth the price. A must-have for any builder using digital images

Zoho

http://www.zoho.com/

Another open-source “office” collaboration suite

Project Management

Dynami Builder

http://dynamisolutions.com

Revolutionary Web 2.0 system that enforces the principles behind Jagoe Homes’ Success

eProject

http://www.eproject.com/

Internet-based project management. Similar functionality to Microsoft Project.

Field2Base

http://www.field2base.com

Revolutionary Field/Office document control system utilizing the TabletPC. Field2Base eliminates the learning curve by turning your paper clipboard documents into digital forms.

QuickBooks/Excel Add-Ins

BuildWorks

http://www.synaspesoftware.com

Does what QuickBooks can’t do by itself and provides effective purchasing, change-order and job costing automation for small volume builders. Many are now available as stand-alone forms you can download.

Remote Access, Remote Control, Remote Meetings

GoToMyPC.com

http://www.gotomypc.com

The most reliable way to gain remote access and control of another computer

GoToMeeting.com

http://www.gotomeeting.com

An easy, reliable and inexpensive way to conduct meetings online

Hamachi (and LogMeIn)

http://hamachi.cc/

Virtually painless VPN solution utilizing the Internet . LogMeIn is an alternative to GoToMyPC.

Research

Journal of Light Construction Online

http://www.jlconline.com

Home of Joe’s Computer Solutions forum, and one of the best building science research sites on the Internet

Google

http://www.google.com/downloads

Forget complicated Web directories and product databases. Learn to use Google and you can research anything you need to research on the web.

Wikipedia

http://www.wikipedia.org

Online human knowledge base/encyclopedia

Web 2.0 Consultant Directory

http://www.econsultant.com/web2/

Online directory of 1,200+ “Web 2.0” projects

Security/Spyware/Anti-Virus

AVG Free Antivirus

http://free.grisoft.com

The best and most transparent anti-virus product — free for personal use

CastleCops

http://www.castlecops.com

One of the best security, anti-spyware, anti-spam, anti-virus/trojan/worm sites on the Internet. Download trusted security tools, and have expert volunteers diagnose your problems for free.

Windows Defender

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

Microsoft’s free anti-spyware tool

Synchronize a Desktop and a Laptop

PeerSoft Save-N-Sync and PeerSync

http://www.peersoftware.com

The best way we’ve found to synchronize files and folders between your laptop/desktop

Web 2.0 Applications

Dynami Builder

http://dynamisolutions.com

Revolutionary Web 2.0 system that enforces the principles behind Jagoe Homes’ Success

DotNetNuke

http://www.dotnetnuke.com/

Open source collaboration engine — alternative to SharePoint

Google, G-Mail Writely, Google Spreadsheet, Picasa, SketchUp, Google Toolbar, Other

Google tools

http://www.google.com/downloads

Forget complicated Web directories and product databases. Learn to use Google and you can research anything you need to research on the Web.

Web Hosting, SharePoint Hosting, Domain Registration

FrontPages-Web

www.frontpages-web-hosting.net/

The largest provider of hosted Microsoft SharePoint™ solutions.

GoDaddy Domain Registration

http://www.godaddy.com

Register and manage all your domain names for only $9 a year — a fraction of the price of

Network Solutions and other registrars. [ return to top ]