Overview

In the process of running your own software development business – or any type of business for that matter, you need to keep on top of things; dropping the ball for a day could land you in some trouble. Small-to-medium software development companies (consisting of between 1 and 30 people for example) are going to require the following services:

• Email
• Source-code/Project/Time management
• Document management
• Meeting management
• Billing & accounting
• Internal & external communication (Instant messaging, VOIP)
• Website Hosting

If you, as a business owner or manager, have the power to control all of these services from your browser then you will have the peace of mind knowing that you’re on top of things.

Luckily, in this incredible world where Software-as-a-Service (SAAS) is booming at an astounding rate, keeping track of your business comes at a minimal cost: +- $30! Most of these services that i will talk about are web-based, which means that all your data will be stored offsite. That last sentence will strike fear into the heart of any business manager – if he/she is ignorant about the inherent value of offsite storage and SSL-encryption. The fact is, storing your data offsite is a smarter option; offsite storage means that your data is hosted outside of your physical office space, which means that no matter what natural/unnatural disaster strikes your premises, your data – the fundamental part of your business - is safe. If you also make sure that these web-services communicate through an encrypted connection, then there really is nothing to worry about.

Let’s look at how we can get the most bang for our bucks with some of the best online tools available…

Email

At the heart of every software development business is email… no suprises there. What will surprise you is the massive bill you’ll be happily stuck with by Microsoft or IBM if you use their Exchange or Lotus Notes services. There is a solution though… Enter Gmail from Google. I’ve been using Gmail now for about a year, and i must say that it’s a tremendous improvement over Microsoft Outlook. Here’s why i love Gmail:

• The ability to add as many POP/IMAP accounts to your Gmail account – consolidating all your email into one sleek interface. Not only can it pull from all of your other POP/IMAP accounts, but you can also send from them too! I’ve got 5 email accounts all running through Gmail and i can send email from any one i like.
• Amazing spam filter
• Integrated chat
• Labels & filters – you can customize Gmail to automatically label emails by search terms. For example, i’m the development leader on an open-source framework called AMFPHP. If i send or receive an email containing “amfphp”, it gets labelled as “AMFPHP” and neatly filed with all my other emails matching that search query.
• Outside access – i’ve got an HTC Hero which has a Gmail application installed, which means i can access my Gmail from my phone
• Integration with Google Contacts, Google Docs & Google Calendar
• > 7GB storage!
• Extremely fast search (c’mon, this is Google)

Cost: Free! (or $50/user/year if you want to use the business package with 25GB of storage per user)

Source-code/Project/Time management

This is by far my favourite and most valued service that i subscribe to: CodeBaseHQ. Using CodeBaseHQ has changed the way that i develop software. It gives me the freedom to work the way i want and feel comfortable knowing that support is just an email away (with super-fast response times and helpful service). Here’s why I love CodeBaseHQ:

• Great variety of Source-code Management (SCM) repository systems – Git, Mercurial and (my personal choice) Subversion
• Built-in project management features to help me and my clients keep track of bugs & feature requests
• Very slick and customizable interface – easy to understand and use
• Secure, well-managed code storage
• Very helpful support team
• Actively in development – new features being added all the time
• Reasonably priced
• Time-tracking built right in

Cost: $8/month for smallest package, $32 for more serious usage

Document Managament

You guessed it… Google Docs. Why would you want any other system? Google Docs makes it really easy to view and collaboratively or individually edit documents of most formats. Google Docs allows you to upload files of any type and has some crazy features like built-in integration with Google Translate to facilitate translation from right there in your document! Here’s why i love Google Docs:

• Upload files of any type
• View most document formats (PNG, JPG, GIF, PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT)
• Collaboratively edit documents (but you can edit on your own if you like )
• Built-in dictionary and translation
• Creation of a wide variety of document types (text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, forms, drawings)
• 1GB of storage (or 20GB for a minuscule $5 per year)

Cost: Free! (or $50/user/year if you want to use the business package)

Meeting Management

I know i’m starting to sound like a Google fanboy, but Google Calendar is the shit (pardon my French). Apart from doing just what you want a calendar to do (and no less, but a little extra), it’s really well thought-out and easy to use. Once again, Google has outdone themselves and allowed you to sync your calendar to a wide variety of applications, and i use my calendar on my HTC Hero (a Google phone, wow – maybe i am a fanboy) to manage all my meetings knowing that all my appointments are safely stored online and accessible anytime. Here’s why i love Google Calendar:

• Clear, concise interface – very sleek and simple to use
• Sensible interface for creating/edit appointments – drop and drop, expand and contract
• Multiple calendars (personal, work, etc)
• Integration with your country’s national holidays (and religious holidays too)
• Task management built in
• Collaboratively invite people to an event or appointment and keep track of who’s attending or not
• Sync with many clients: Google Chrome, Thunderbird, Outlook, Entourage, iPhone, Android
• Extremely fast search – duh
• Free notifications – email, pop-up reminder, SMS (also free)!!

Cost: Free! (or $50/user/year if you want to use the business package)

Billing & Accounting

Freshbooks, what a service! Freshbooks is fantastic online service which allows you to create customizable estimates and invoices – all accessible via the web. It’s a very clear and simple application which makes invoicing and cost-estimating really simple, and it makes you look very professional. With over 1 000 000 subscribers to their service, you can be assured that this service is top-notch. Here’s why i love Freshbooks:

• Create your invoices online
• Simple, sleek and professional interface that you and your clients can easily understand
• Fast, reliable and well supported by a fantastic support team
• Actively developed – new features added often
• Manage recurring and once-off payments
• Multiple currencies
• Built-in accounting
• Reasonably priced

Cost: $19 / month (more options available)

Internal & external communication (Instant messaging, VOIP)

If you don’t use Skype, then welcome to planet Earth. Skype is a brilliant way to connect to your team and friends. Skype allows you to do instant messaging, voice-calls (free for Skype-to-Skype) and video-calls (Skype-to-Skype). I’ve been using Skype for years now and i couldn’t live without it. Skype has some great options available for business usage, and i suggest you check them out. Here’s why i love Skype:

• Ubiquitous – a good majority of businesses use Skype which means that you can save a lot of money by calling Skype-to-Skype
• Simple, clear interface
• Extensible
• Cost-effectively structure your business telecommunications

Cost: Free! (with business options & Skype-to-phoneline credits available)

Website Hosting

When it comes to web-hosting, my personal choice is VPS.NET. VPS.NET is a wonderful service offering that allows you to create a Virtual Private Server in one of VPS.NET’s many datacentres in the UK & US, and do with it what you like! When you sign up with VPS.NET, you purchase a number of “nodes” to use; each “node” consists of 0.4 GHz processing power, 376Mb of RAM, 10Gb storage and 250Gb bandwidth. As you buy more and more nodes they become cheaper, and you can tack on extra IP addresses, server monitoring software and automated backups. You can use your VPS to host websites, act as an online storage location, whatever you like! Here’s why i love VPS.NET:

• Simple, sleek user interface
• Very competitive service offering and pricing
• Excellent and knowledgeable support staff available 24hrs/day
• Actively developed – new features added all the time
• Wide variety of operating systems to choose from to install on your VPS
• Wide variety of additional services and features
• Reliable

Cost: $20 / node / month (with decreasing price as you buy more nodes)

Summary

As i’ve demonstrated, the tools are readily available to manage your development business effectively while sitting on your rump. The service offerings out there completely enthrall me and i’m delighted to have such a range of efficient tools at my disposal for a minimal cost per month.

Have i missed anything? Got a better solution? Pop me a comment