What on-line collaboration software you use, and why?

[VladimirYakimenko]

What on-line collaboration software you use, and why?
For project collaboration, file sharing, status updates, time tracking etc.

 

[TonyHarbon]

What on-line collaboration software you use, and why?
For project collaboration, file sharing, status updates, time tracking etc.

We use Google Apps for Business. The reason is that we use 2 main applications within the company; Workbooks.com does all of our CRM, Customer Service, Sales and Order Processing and Billing, whilst Google Apps provides calendaring, collaboration and Email. The two are closely integrated (you log in to Workbooks via Google Apps), so we can use Google Apps to share virtually any type of document relevant to our day to day business.

In addition, we have Trend Micro SafeSync for Business to synchronise files between our office based files and PDA's / Smartphones. This also allows you to send a link to files that have been synchronised via the email application on your tablet / smartphone.

I hope this helps


Tony Harbon

 

[deepra]

We used to use yammer.
It's like facebook for the company.

 

[playboy_bunnie]

We use http://basecamphq.com/ at work. Strongly recommended!

 

[anthonyd]

Another vote for Google Apps for business here which I use alongside Dropbox shared folders - Google Docs is great and email/calendars makes sharing very easy. This is only for a couple of people though, not sure how well it would scale up.

 

[michaelallen]

We use WORKetc for essentially everything, as it puts CRM, project management, time tracking, file sharing, invoicing, task management, calendars, and other tools in one google apps integrated collaborative suite.

Not only can we manage WORKetc from Gmail through the contextual gadget, WORKetc also has mobile apps for iPhone and android so it's pretty easy to track time, manage projects, create expenses, update leads, or do other things while out of office.

The cool thing about WORKetc is it lets you track everything your team is doing with an integrated approach, so you can group items together (i.e. timesheets with projects or expenses with to-dos), and track who's making what changes via their profile. There's also a client collaboration portal you can invite unlimited contacts to.

 

[SmartBookings]

We use SharePoint 2010 Foundation both internally and now support several of our clients using it too. Perfect for collaboration / document sharing etc because of it's deep integration with Office.

 

[JDX_John]

- gdocs for simple notes and spreadsheets
- dropbox for syncing my various PCs
- plain FTP for sharing large files
- SVN for code and project specific files
- Jira+Tempo or FogBugz for timetracking and task assignment

 

[TonyHarbon]

It is worth adding a cautionary note on the use of Dropbox. To the best of my knowledge Dropbox's servers are in the US. This has implications under the UK Data Protection Act (since the data is stored outside the EU). If there is a breach of personal data you will therefore be liable. I am aware that a number of UK government organisations do not permit upload / download of information using Dropbox, partly for this reason, but also partly because they got "caught with their pants down" on security earlier this year.

There are alternatives (e.g. Trend Micro SafeSync) that use European data centres. It's not that Dropbox is bad, but you pays your money and takes your choice. Feel free to contact me if you want further advice on this area.

Cheers

Tony

 

[VladimirYakimenko]

Thanks Tony. Workbooks.com seems to be feature-reach, how does it fair in terms of usability?

 

[VladimirYakimenko]

We've used Yammer too, even wrote an extension to Eclips, so it sends a message automatically when developer opens particular project

 

[VladimirYakimenko]

We use http://basecamphq.com/ at work. Strongly recommended!

Basecamp is popular, and everybody's favourite, but we've encountered some limitations: different to work across multiple projects or groups of projects, access permission system is not flexible enough, limited ways to categorise & consolidate content. Although for ad hock project collaboration it is probably the best.

 

[TonyHarbon]

Hi Vladimir

Like most new software you will find that there is a transition period for you to get used to navigating your way round the system, but when you have done so. it's pretty straightforward. You also don't have to launch into it 100% straightaway, in fact I would recommend that anyone installing it should take their time about doing so. The basic CRM capabilities are good and functional (scheduling calls, making notes, attaching documents etc). If you want to use it for quotes, invoices, etc you may need to take a little more time over it if you sell products and have a large number of SKU's that you need to import. The reason for this is that you need to decide how you will manage your price lists so that you can import them into Workbooks as a .csv file when you have price list updates. If all you do is bill services however, and you are happy to stick with the default quote / invoice layouts, you can be up and running pretty quickly if you just use their Product / Service entry form.

It is worth persisting with however as once you get the system set up it is literally a couple of clicks to go through the whole business process of Business Opportunity > Quote > Order > Invoice. All output documents can be created either as Google Docs or PDF's.

If you want to try it out, I would recommend that you set up a 2 user account which is free of charge (with some restrictions on functionality) for 2 years and get a free Google Apps account set up. If you want to do this, let me know and I can arrange the free Workbooks account for you. I can also arrange for one of our technicians to give you some guidance via email on the best way to get started. That part would come free. Obviously we all need to make a living somehow so if you wanted more that that we would need to agree a consultancy fee.

I hope this helps

Tony Harbon

 

[VladimirYakimenko]

We use WORKetc for essentially everything, as it puts CRM, project management, time tracking, file sharing, invoicing, task management,

WORKetc looks like another great integrated software. Is it easy to learn? What's the Total cost of ownership vs subscription cost?

 

[VladimirYakimenko]

It is worth adding a cautionary note on the use of Dropbox. To the best of my knowledge Dropbox's servers are in the US.

Tony

There are also some security issues with cloud based storage http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/05/internet_security

 

[VladimirYakimenko]

- plain FTP for sharing large files

yousendit works better then ftp if you are sending large files to clients - there is no program to install & setup

 

[JDX_John]

yousendit works better then ftp if you are sending large files to clients - there is no program to install & setup

For sending files yes, but for making files available to multiple people for multiple downloads, I still prefer FTP... Windows supports it (not always 100% stable) with no separate client and it lets clients upload files too.

I found BaseCamp very limited, compared to other tools.

 

[diego.getapp]

We also are heavy users of Google Apps for Business at GetApp.com, like some people that already posted here.

For sharing files we use mainly Dropbox.