The major problems startups face, regarding their processes, is either because they choose the wrong tools or because they tend to use the tools in a wrong way.
Let us look at some of the typical needs for a small consulting firm like ours.
Email
Project Management
CRM
Knowledge management
Intranet
Chat
Blog
Website
Calendar
One of the best tools out there for small organizations to easily set up their online communication infrastructure is Google apps. We use almost all of the services packaged in google apps :- the email, calendar, docs and chat apps for all our communication needs. These apps are nothing but google applications ( ex : email app has the gmail interface, chat is gtalk) and can be branded by uploading our logo and changing the colors. The best thing about this is that its FREE! Of course there are enterprise editions available as well, but the standard edition (which is free) serves almost all of the organization’s needs.
Specifically, we use calendar for sharing our schedules, organizing internal meetings etc. The chat is like the official chat we use for business communication. A good feature in google apps chat is that it automatically adds buddies within your domain into your buddy list.
The Google apps Docs is what we use for knowledge management and collaboration. For example we use an excel sheet for managing our budget and finances which we share among the management team. Security policies for sharing the documents can also be put in place where in you can restrict documents being shared outside your domain.
Google apps is very easy to set up. It just took us a couple of hours to get it up and running. It has good documentation and support in the forums ( not sure how good the support from google is though, but thats because we didn’t have any reason to talk to them until now).
For Project Management and client communication we use Basecamp. Basecamp is pretty simple to use, very simple and intuitive interface and has just the right set of features to for project management. Its not like one of those bloated project management tools which confuse you a lot and complicates life. It has only the most important features which is needed : Messages, Todos, Milestones, file sharing. Even though its simple, it is still difficult to get clients, who are very used to email communication, onto something new. We usually try to get the clients to use it very early in the process by proving a small presentation about the advantages of basecamp and we ensure that the contract includes the use of the project management tool. Initially there was some resistance but once the clients got used to it they aren’t complaining anymore.
For our intranet needs we created one project within basecamp itself and have started posting announcements and updates on them. Also we use the todo lists to manage internal tasks, milestones for internal projects like for example updating website and blogs.
Simple, elegant and no fuss is what we needed for maintaining our organization wide contacts. Highrise from 37signals fits this bill perfectly. Those who are comfortable with the Basecamp interface, will find no problems at all to get used to highrise. It has contacts, notes and cases. Three simple features and it really gets the job done.
A variety of options are available for setting up a blog. 84ideas blog is hosted on blogger. WordPress and Drupal are very good options for setting up your blog , for those who know how to set them up and theme it. We recommend WordPress though, if you are just looking for a blog. Drupal provides more options when you want to build a website which you update regularly and also want to have a blog to go with it.