Google Apps for Business

Start-up costs for outfitting an office with networking and computing equipment is important to all new start up businesses. Google apps offer free alternatives to the software which companies buy to help them to set up their e-mail accounts, schedule their meetings and to the office suites that businesses typically use to prepare documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

Instead of paying IT staff to set up, host and maintain your own mail servers,Google Apps can handle custom email addresses at your own company’s URL. As an alternative to Microsoft Outlook worth considering, Gmail also integrates nicely with Google Calendar for all your scheduling needs.

And whereas once Microsoft Office was one of your only choices in the office suites department, Google Documents now handles documents, spreadsheets and presentation preparation while making it easy to share and collaborate with colleagues without having to email documents or check items out of a central repository.

Visit www.google.com/apps to see how Google apps can help your business performance.

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E-mail

Email basics
You will already be aware of how to set up a personal e-mail account and send an email but there is a number of functions within your email account that may not be quite as simple.

Send email: You can send the e-mail by typing your intended recipient's email address into the “to” field.

What is cc?

The cc field allows you to send a "carbon copy" of your email to additional recipients. Input the email address of the person you want to send a copy of the email to into the "cc" field under the "to" field.

What is Bcc?

Bcc is a "Blind carbon copy".  If you would like to send an e-mail to many people and you do not want them to see who else has received this email; put their email addresses in the “Bcc”. This should be used during mail merges as you should not share the addresses of others with third parties.

Google is one of the most innovative IT companies today. Google has many great applications, such as a translator function, Google maps and an e-mail service.

You can easily get access to all of these great applications; all you need is a Gmail account.

Go to mail.google.com and create your own email account. It is free to use and with your account; you are able to access and use all of the innovative applications that Google have on offer.

In Gmail, there is also an online calendar which is very useful. You can synchronize your calendar information, for example, with your mobile phone, keeping you up to date all the time.

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Project Management Software

Project Management Software allows you to plan and execute projects, store information, and assign tasks using software on your computer.

Project Management software allows you to set tasks against a defined deadline as well as track, monitor and assign tasks as necessary. This software can be very useful if you will be undertaking a number of tasks at the same time. While a journal or notepad can be useful, project management software can significantly reduce the time you spend planning and removes the threat of making an error when planning tasks.

There are many different software choices available for project management. You can download basic project management software for free online.

OpenProj is a free, open source project management solution. OpenProj is a replacement of Microsoft Project and other commercial project solutions. The OpenProj solution has been download more than 1,250,000 times in the few months since it was launched and is being used in over 142 countries.
Access this software at: http://openproj.org/

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Introduction to Business Software

Many people are aware of the importance of technology in business today. This module aims to present some of the most popular open source, free, applications for running your business. These include:

1. Project Management software which enables you to track and plan tasks and duties through a single computer application. This can help ensure your business tasks and schedules are achieved.

2. Email collaboration software can simplify the process of maintaining contacts and distributing information to many at the push of a button.

3. Office Productivity suites which allow you to develop documents, charts and presentations for use in your business.

4. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) allows you to remotely contact business partners or clients through the internet. Skype is a widely known type of VoIP.

5. Google Apps provides you with a variety of applications to help you manage your time and file your documents in a central location.

6. Accounting Software helps you track the money coming in and going out of your business through your computer. This software also includes payroll and invoicing features.

7. Customer Relations Management (CRM) and Human Resource Management (HRM) software helps you store and maintain information on both your customers and employees respectively. This software may not be that relevant at start up stage but should be considered when staff levels increase.

While all of these software applications may not be relevant to you depending on the size or type of your business, they serve as a sample of the online resources that are available to businesses to assist in the running of your operations. 

Check out the software you think would be useful to you and download the applications to start working with them. These are downloadable from the software websites, are safe to use and free of charge.

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