Category: CRM, Microsoft, Small Business, Zoho.com — Jeffrey Alexander Brathwaite @ 11:39 pm — Comments (0)


If you are a small business and you are thinking of purchasing software to run your business like the most well known business suite of software made by Microsoft Office, then you may want to read on and take a better look at what is out there.

Microsoft Office for Windows which consist of a suite of software programs that include Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Publisher and Power Point. These programs are the core of software used by many small to large businesses. The most well know of the suite and most widely used is Microsoft Word which is a word processing program.

Zoho.com is a web based service that offers their own suite of programs for businesses. The one great thing about these online programs is that most of them are absolutely FREE. I am currently using 5 of the 12 main programs Zoho Writer (Word Processor), Zoho Sheet (Spreadsheet Program) Zoho Planner (Online Organizer) Zoho Project (Project Manager) and last but not least Zoho CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) .

My favorite program right now is Zoho Planner. Zoho Planner is a way for me to keep track of my business ideas and personal goals with an automated to do list. It also lets me stay organized by storing my documents and images while also sending me email reminders on what I need to get done for the day. The one thing that sets these online programs apart from their off line competition is the ability to share and collaborate with others in your business.

At a press of a button I am sharing my to do list with my wife, my spreadsheet with my coworker and my latest invoice with my accountant. All one needs is an email address to be put on a list for sharing secure access to any of my Zoho suite of programs.

The only draw back to this great way of sharing thoughts, ideas and documents is the fact that you have to be on the Internet to use the programs. If for some reason you don’t have a continuous connection to the Internet you can’t do business. Here is where the off line Microsoft products have their advantage.

So as a business owner I would need to way the circumstances and needs of my business. If being able to access your work off line is important to you, and you want to sacrifice speed, mobility and collaboration, then the more traditional Microsoft products may be your way to go.

Zoho.com has me hooked on business in real time. I totally enjoy being online almost all the time and reaping the benefits updated information that I can get right now. I also enjoy not having to be tied to a desk to do my most important work. I can do my work whenever and where ever I please in the world that has an Internet connection.

Zoho.com suite of online programs will give your business an affordable, fast and mobile way to conduct its operations.

Category: Consumer, Financial — Jeffrey Alexander Brathwaite @ 8:12 pm — Comments (0)

For my first enty I want give great praise and congratulations to Mint.com I learn about mint this past year when my favorite tech blog TechCrunchfeature them in thier first TechCrunch 40. Since then I have been using Mint.com to help me gather all my online financial data.

Mint Pie Chart

Until I signed up with Mint.com I had to go and log into all my bank, credit card, and PayPal.com accounts one at a time to get the updated balance. Mint lets you see all your online financial account balances and transactions under one umbrella.

Take a gander at the founder of Mint.com Aaron Patzer be interviewed by Michael Bazeley of the Mercury News.

 As you can see from the pie chart above I am spending way too much on food and dining.  Without this pie chart I would have never known my true spending habits. One thing I did do once I saw how much I was spending on food and dinning is take more coupons to the grocery store and use my Kroger store discount card more often.

My only delema is that I can’t get all of my investment accounts and my credit union is still not available. I have heard that investment accounts are coming soon and I will update you when it takes place.