Grow your Small Business tip 4

One of the ways to grow your business is to improve your relationship with your customers. I am sure you already know that you need to be nice to your customers. If you don't do that nothing else matters. But being nice is just the top priority, not the only thing. 

Some of the other things you can do are:

1) keep them informed, new products and services;

2) help them be a success in their business;

3) handle complaints quickly and follow up;

4) get referrals.

Depending on what your business does and what your customers need and how you sell to those customers, there may be more items on this list. 

We have always offered several Customer Relationship Management software  solutions like Sugar CRM.

Now we have a new solution called Bitrix24. You can watch a short video to see what it can do for you at http://youtu.be/N6K3udpfEOA

If you are one of our subscribers (even with just a free listing on Explorer4Philippines.com or one of the other Explorer4 sister sites, we will setup Bitirx24 for you, also for free. Small Businesses with less than 10 users can use 100% of the great bitrix24 software online, with no software to install and ample training available to hep you improve your relationship with your customers. 

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

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.