O4SaaS Blog: SaaS for Small Business

There is a new blog post on the O4SaaS Blog, http://o4saas.blogspot.com/2015/02/software-as-service-now-for-small.html

Software as a Service now for Small Businesses

Software as a Service or SaaS has been around for a long time.  Some of the more famous and successful companies in the SaaS business are SalesForce.com and NetSuite.com and there is no doubt their success comes from having a quality product.  Like all SaaS there is nothing to install, no computer to host it, nothing you need to start using the service except access to the Internet via smart phone, table or laptop.

Up until now though the price of these services has been a limiting factor for most Small Businesses.  Starting at $25.00 (P1,106) per month to well over $100 (P4,400) per month, for either of these SaaS solutions, you can see that the small business man will hesitate to spend that much without a clear need.

Now enter the world of Open Source.  The number and quality of the Open Source solutions you can get make it a very attractive bargain even the small business man can afford.  Some are "Freeware" that you never need purchase, and some have small support fees or premium versions that are licensed but in general they are all VERY affordable.

There is one catch however, up until now most of these Open Source solutions require you to download the software, install on your computer and access your computer to run the software.

I know many CEO/CTO level officers of these Open Source solution companies and their best guess is that less than 10-15% of all the downloads of their software ever goes into production.  Why?  Well it requires some computer expertise and in some cases requires a significant amount of hardware and software expertise to  make it work.  That translates into "Free" not so much.

O4BO.COM has a division called O4SaaS.com that specializes in bringing Open Source Software to the small business man in packages they can afford.  See the chart below for the FULL range of packages.

You should note that at the same starting price of SalesForce.com or NetSuite.com (~P1,000/mo) our package for P999/mo has CRM like SalesForce.com, Web Based Accounting like NetSuite.com PLUS Web Content Management, a Portal, Web Based Project management and support.  We can do that because we have Open Source Software installed on our Cloud and we can pass the savings on to you, the small business owner.  We offer it just like the others as Software as a Service with nothing to install, just a web browser on a Smart Phone, tablet or laptop.

For a little bit more our pakcages include some 320+ applications that cover the following categories:

• Enterprise Applications like ERP, Portal, Business Intelligence
• Blogs like WordPress
• Portals/Content Management Systems like Joomla and Drupal
• Forums for collaborating in your company or with and between your cusotmers
• Image Galleries for your web site so you can show as many photos as you like
• Wikis for creating living editable online documents 
• Social Networking for building communities around your web site
• Ad Management for your advertising needs
• Calendars for keeping track of appointments or events
• Games for entertainment for you or your customers*
• EMail tools and services
• Polls and Surveys you can use to do market research or get customer feedback
• Project Management to help you keep your projects on time and on budget
• E+Commerce Web Stores for your web site to sell products or services to the WWW
• Web Accounting and ERP from simple book keeping to full ERP with Inventory
• Guest Books for capturing who visits your site and use their email address for marketing
• Customer Support so your customers can enter help tickets and track the progress for support
• Development Frameworks so you (or we) can customize your software to meet your needs
• Educational software for doing training or selling training
• Databases and Database tools for getting control of and getting better use of your data
• Music and Audio tools for your web site
• Video tools and services so you can have your own mini YouTube on your site.
• RSS tools so your web site can be a source of information for your customers
• File Management, store, collate, organize and retrieve documents and files of any type.
• Other tools aimed at making your tasks easier like Search Engine Optimization

These are all aimed at and selected for the small business person.  They are all easy to use and they are all complete solutions.  All with nothing to install and delivered from out IBM Cloud as a service, you simply login and start using.

For a complete list of applications go to http://open4businessonline.com/applications

Since our packages all include some level of support and the upper packages include HOURs of Professional Services like web design and application integration you can safely and accurately see the software itself as free and you are just paying for our support and professional services.

We look foward to serving you and you can start for FREE by just Registering your Business at http://open4businessonline.com/#subscribe

Open Source Catch-22 (Tagalog)

Kapag ang isang may-ari ng Maliit na Negosyo hitsura para sa mga solusyon sa software na maaaring bayaran siya, madalas siya ay tumitingin sa Open Source. Na ginagawang perpekto ang pakiramdam dahil Open Source "Community Edition" software ay libre gamitin. Libreng ay mabuti. Mayroon akong relasyon gamit ang CEO / CTOs ng ilang mga Open Source vendor na sabihin sa akin na ang ilang mga 80-90% ng mga tao na i-download ang kanilang mga "Editions Komunidad" hindi kailanman makakuha sa produksyon. Ang lahat ng mga Open Source software na nag-aalok kami sa O4SaaS.com ay libre para sa sinuman upang i-download at patakbuhin sa kanilang sarili.

Kaya kung ano ang catch ang? Bakit ang isang Maliit na Negosyo ng may-ari bayaran O4SaaS kapag siya ay maaaring i-download at i-install ang parehong software sa kanyang sarili? Ako ay mapaalalahanan ng lumang sinasabi, "Walang walang libreng tanghalian".

Tignan natin ang katotohanan para sa isang May-ari ng Maliit na Negosyo (SBO). Kung ang isang SBO Nais ni ito "libreng" software, kailangan siya:

• Mayroong ilang mga kasanayan sa Information Technology. Ang ilan sa mga solusyon magkaroon ng makabuluhang mga kinakailangan para sa Database, Memory, CPU kapangyarihan, atbp
• Gumugol ng oras at pera upang i-install, pag-setup at tren sa hindi lamang ang paggamit ng software ngunit ang pagpapanatili ng data, backup, atbp Panganib pagkawala ng data, pagkawala ng pagiging produktibo, at nakahahamak na gawain sa pamamagitan ng masama ang loob ng mga empleyado o mga hacker.

Kung na parehong SBO sign up gamit ang O4SaaS.com hindi lamang ang mga ito ay HINDI kailangan anumang server computer klase, ngunit kailangan nila walang kakayahan sa IT. Hindi nila kailangang gumastos ng oras o pera upang i-install at setup ang software. Sila don 't may anumang mga alalahanin tungkol sa data backup o seguridad.

Ang Ika-linya ay medyo simple, bilang isang SBO ang maaari kong i-download at i-install ng Open Source software sa isang machine server klase, i-setup ang software at gamitin ito kung mayroon akong ilang mga IT kasanayan o pag-upa ng isang tao na mayroon ang mga IT kasanayan, o para sa mga tungkol sa Gastos ng aking araw-araw Starbucks, ko lang mag-login at simulan ang paggamit ng parehong software. Hindi ko na kailangang bumili ng isang server computer na klase, o umarkila isang IT tao upang mapanatili ito. Panghuli, ang lahat ng mga software na Open Source sa O4SaaS.com ay ganap na isinama sa gayon maaari mong idagdag ang isang customer sa isang solusyon at na ang parehong data ng customer ay idinagdag sa iba. Ikaw bilang isang SBO ay magkakaroon upang bayaran ang isang tao na gawin na masyadong.

by Anna Gemma Raca, Marketing and Sales Rep, o4bo.com, Makati City, Phlippines
anna.raca@o4bo.com
+639498525144

The Open Source Catch 22

When a Small Business owner looks for software solutions that he can afford, often he looks at Open Source.  That makes perfect sense because Open Source "Community Edition" software is free to use.  Free is good.  I have relationships with the CEO/CTOs of several Open Source vendors that tell me that some 80-90% of the people that download their "Community Editions" never get into production.  All of the Open Source software that we offer at O4SaaS.com is free for anyone to download and run on their own.

So what's the Catch?  Why would a Small Business owner pay O4SaaS when he can download and install the same software on his own?  I am reminded of the old saying, "There ain't no free lunch".

Let's look at the reality for a Small Business Owner (SBO). If an SBO wants this "free" software, he must:

1. Have some Information Technology skills.  Some of these solutions have significant requirements for Database, Memory, CPU power, etc.
2. Spend time and money to install, setup and train on not only the use of the software but the maintenance of the data, backup, etc.
3. Risk loss of data, loss of productivity, and malicious acts by disgruntled employees or hackers.

If that same SBO signs up with O4SaaS.com not only do they NOT need any server class computers, but they need no IT skills.  They don't need to spend time or money to install and setup the software.  They don' t have any worries about data backup or security.

The Bottom line is pretty simple, as an SBO I can download and install Open Source software on a server class machine, setup the software and use it if I have some IT skills or hire someone that does have those IT skills, or for about the Cost of my daily Starbucks, I just login and start using the same software.  I do not need to buy a server class computer, or hire an IT person to maintain it.  Lastly, all the Open Source software at O4SaaS.com is already fully integrated so you can add a customer in one solution and that same customer data is added in the others.  You as a SBO would have to pay someone to do that too.