Well, I’ve kicked the tires on all 3 online accounting/invoicing systems, and the winner for me is FreshBooks. There are several reasons (detailed below) but the main thing is that FreshBooks did everything it advertised, effortlessly. Furthermore, my clients seemed to like what they saw as well: two of them asked me for my opinion about the system because they were considering using FreshBooks for their own online invoicing.

Both Blinksale and LessAccounting appear to be suffering from a few teething problems, which is really not something you want to have to deal with when it comes to finances:

• LessAccounting had a problem linking my invoice to my PayPal account, meaning my client couldn’t pay the invoice online. He got an error message instead – not good.
• LessAccounting also seems to have a glitch where it sometimes displays the amount due as £0.01 even when you enter the payment in full (and double-check it is the exact/correct amount).
• Blinksale created real invoices every time I previewed a design in the template chooser. This meant I reached my limit of invoices without ever having created one! It also meant I had to manually go and delete the invoices. And worst of all: when I sent an email to Blinksale to inform them of this glitch, I received no reply.

Aside from the above, there were also more fundamental reasons why Freshbooks won my business:

Integrated, customisable reminders

FreshBooks will automatically send reminders of overdue invoices at up to 3 different time periods you specify. You can customise the text on each reminder, meaning I could use a different tone of voice in each subsequent reminder (and warn the client when they are about to start accruing interest for overdue payments). Blinksale has one single template for all reminders, and I couldn’t see a way to specify when they are sent. LessAccounting doesn’t offer reminders at all; instead, they want you to sign up to – and pay for – yet another system called GettingPaid.

Integrated timetracking

Freshbooks has a really easy-to-use timetracking tool that is easily customisable to track your time by project, client and/or task. You can then invoice the client at the click of a button. There is also a standalone app timetracker for Freshbooks, and the uber-chic can also get the timetracker on their iPhones, too. Blinksale has no timetracker, and LessAccounting make you sign up for yet another separate app (TimeLessSpent) just to do timetracking.

Simple interface / excellent usability

Entering my expenses in FreshBooks was a dream. I sat down with a pile of receipts an in no time I was able to input them all and generate reports for my accountant. LessAccounting’s expense function is a bit more complex than it needs to be IMO – I mean, who wants to fill out a Tax Deduction Expense Category, specify how you paid, or write a bunch of tags for every receipt? Maybe larger businesses will benefit from this level of detail, but not me. And Blinksale has no expenses feature.

As a general rule, all the other tools and screens in FreshBooks are also more simplified than LessAccounting. If you need/want a lot of detail, then maybe LessAccounting would be a better match for you. Plus, with LessAccounting you can (in theory) link directly to your bank account, so you can keep track of incomings and outgoings all in one place. In practice, I couldn’t get the link to my bank to work.

Blinksale is also very user-friendly – in fact probably the most simple of all three – but I’d say that some of the templates it includes border on the cutesy. I don’t want a sunshine on my ‘thank you for paying’ email. And the bottom line is that it’s just not as rich a package as what you get from FreshBooks for around the same price.

Support

Blinksale scored a big fat ZERO for support, as they never replied to me, but both LessAccounting and FreshBooks were very quick to respond whenever I had a query or problem. Maybe I just got lucky, but the really cool thing for me in terms of support was when I suggested to FreshBooks that it would be nice if the expense reports included the name of the vendor… they agreed this was a good idea, and a few weeks later, it had been done.

Branding

I was able to brand my FreshBooks site to match my business colours and logo, meaning that when clients log in to monitor timesheets or pay an invoice, it all looks very polished and professional, like an integrated part of my business. I don’t think LessAccounting or Blinksale is meant to be seen by anyone other than employees or your accountant, so this point isn’t entirely comparable… but it’s a nice touch nonetheless. And in fact it highlights the fact that Freshbooks is more than just an accounting tool, it also includes some client/project/relationship management features as well.

The downsides to Freshbooks? There are few but they include:

• Limited invoice templates. Very limited. Two, in fact. Um, TWO?!? Yes, this is one area where Blinksale and LessAccounting both beat Freshbooks by a mile. LessAccounting has the most standard templates, and Blinksale has plenty too – plus you can even design your own by importing a CSS file.
• No ability to upload photos/scans of receipts for invoices… LessAccounting does this, but it’s more a nice touch than a deal-breaker for me.
• No ability to individualise the email that goes out with each invoice. You can customise the general template, but sometimes it’s nice to add some notes or comments to the specific client. LessAccounting does this, as does Blinksale. UPDATE: You can now customise to your heart’s content as there’s a preview box that pops up before you send the email. Just type in this box to customise, or click send to use the default.
  
• No ability to automatically add interest for late payments. Blinksale is the only tool I tested that does this.

I didn’t get a chance to test out every single feature of all the tools – for example, the estimates/proposals features of FreshBooks & LessAccounting, but for basic management of business finances, I am happy with what I chose.

So if you think you might like to try FreshBooks yourself, do me a favour and sign up by clicking here or on the round green button. Those kind folks at FreshBooks will give me a little discount for every referral, which is nice. And if you do decide to sign up, let me know how you like it. I reckon it’s a pretty sweet app.

Just a little update on my online accounting service trials. So far, I have been quite pleased with Freshbooks, but today I came across a huge hurdle when it comes to LessAccounting: I cannot create invoices on a Mac. Actually, that’s not entirely true: I can create blank invoices, but I can’t add any invoice items. There seems to be a JS bug/error in the code for the “Add invoice line item” tool on LessAccounting that means the items are not saved on Mac OSX10.4 in either Safari or Firefox.

So I guess in effect it is less accounting – because you can’t issue any invoices! Not quite the effect I was aiming for. Here’s hoping that the issue is resolved soon.

UPDATE: The lovely people at LessAccounting responded to my support request within 30minutes, and it turns out I was doing it wrong. All works fine and dandy… just remember not to enter a £ in the amount for invoicing!

I’m fed up of managing my accounts in Excel spreadsheets and creating invoices in Pages, so I thought I would have a look at some of the online accounting and invoicing tools available. The extra benefit of managing this online is that I will be able to access all my accounting info from anywhere and from any computer – which is great as I am often travelling with my laptop, while all my accounts are locked away on my desktop in my office.

I had a good long look at all the different web applications currently available, and narrowed it down to 3 that I felt were most appropriate for my needs: Blinksale,  LessAccounting and FreshBooks. They all do invoicing, and some do a lot more. One of them even allows your accountant to access your accounts directly through the system – and anything that takes the hassle out of bookkeeping gets a big thumbs up from me. There are dozens of others, but I chose these 3 to trial for different reasons:

Blinksale is an invoicing tool and nothing else. I like the simplicity of the interface, and the ability to send clients reminders when payments have gone overdue. Sometimes simpler is better… only time will tell. Full details of Blinksale features here.

LessAccounting handles invoices AND expenses, plus it allows you to keep track of sales leads and business proposals, too. The real selling point for me on this one was the ability to take photos of business expense receipts on your iPhone and upload them directly to LessAccounting. Nice! Full list of LessAccounting features here.

FreshBooks is similar to LessAccounting insofar as it handles all the usual accounting stuff (invoices, expenses, reports, etc), but it also integrates a handy time-tracking tool that means you can easily track time spent on a project and then invoice for that time. Full list of FreshBooks features here.

I reckon I will give them all a whirl for a few months before I decide on the right tool for me. In the meantime, if you have used any of the above and would like to share your opinion, please do so. I did look at quite a few other tools, and decided against them for various reasons, but I am willing to try another if there’s one you really love.

When the lovely people at Festinho got in touch, they needed to get a website live within a few days. Their existing site had been mostly designed and built already, but because it was created as a static HTML site, they couldn’t edit the content themselves. And before the site could go live, they needed to make some content changes. As Festinho is a charity festival, they rely on volunteers to do everything, so they needed something that key volunteers could access and edit easily without much training, so they didn’t need to rely on others or pay someone to edit things for them.

It’s a great cause, so I was happy to help out, and because Squarespace makes it so easy to design, build, and edit a website, it seemed the right tool to use. They already had a visual design, so I was able to translate this into a working ‘empty shell’ website in the Squarespace content management system within 24 hours. Within 96 hours, they had a fully-functioning website with all 43 pages of content in place, including blog, photo galleries, and contact form. Within 98 hours they had been trained on how to edit the site through the simple Squarespace CMS.

We’re still finetuning a few things, but the great news is that we were able to launch before their deadline – how often does that happen, especially when the deadline is less than a week?! Have a look at www.festinho.com and while you’re there, why not get yourself a ticket to the festival? It’s a magical weekend in the countryside, with all proceeds going to support Brazil’s needy children.

I see this question being asked a lot, and I’ve realised this is akin to asking a stranger ‘Which vehicle should I buy?’. What’s the answer: Ferarri? Hatchback? Lorry? Bicycle? Motorcycle? Without knowing what you will use it for, it’s impossible to answer. And even if you tell me you want a family car to cart your kids around and run errands, the best answer depends on factors such as whether price is more important than fuel economy, whether you have 6-foot-tall teenagers or triplet toddlers, and ultimately, which one feels most comfortable to you when behind the wheel.

So the answer to ‘which tool’ has almost nothing to do with which tool is the ‘best’, and everything to do with what it is that you are trying to achieve, and with whom. The very words ‘online collaboration’ could have lots of different meanings:

• I want to share documents online, and let others edit them
• I want to have meetings online instead of travelling for face-to-face meetings
• I want to manage a project that has lots of remote stakeholders, and easily keep everyone up-to-date
• I want to be able to easily track all of the things my team and our external partners are working on together
• I want a central place where all the discussions and files about a project can be stored and accessed

and so on.

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending Netsquared‘s London NetTuesday meetup which was focused on online collaboration. A representative from Huddle (Andy, I think?) was there, and he did a good job of covering what are the potential benefits of online collaboration, as well as covering the main features available. I think Andy and I are in agreement that the best tool depends on many factors, so I’m going to summarise his and my tips on how to choose the best tool for your needs.

What is it that you are trying to achieve?

Are you trying to save time – if so, whose time? Increase a sense of unity within a team? Cut down on resource-heavy meetings? Stop things slipping through the cracks by centralising information? Move away from email? Any of these are valid goals, and it’s a good idea to make note of your aims before you even start looking for a product. Make sure you revisit this at every stage of the way to ensure you are still on track to achieving it.

What tasks/processes do you need to perform?

Make a list of all the actions you/your team need to do, and prioritise the list into essentials and nice-to-have. It’s important to be as specific as possible, and make sure you are listing human actions rather than technical functions. For example:

Good:
Ability for remote team members to communicate through text, not necessarily in real-time

Bad:
Online forum

Why? Because the former is open and could be achieved in different ways (forum, wiki, chat room, etc). Stating something like ‘online forum’ is limiting, and is a statement of the tool (I want a handsaw) rather than the need (I need to cut wood). Limiting yourself in this way closes doors that could have led to better ways of achieving the same thing.

Who will be using it?

Are they technical or non-techie, based in one location or geographically dispersed, mature Sales Directors or young Office Assistants, native English-speakers or not, enthusiastic communicators or isolated solo-flyers? Many tools available can perform the same function, but the best one for your needs depends on who will use it, and how often. Also be sure to think about how they will be trained on the tool.

Who will be supporting it?

Many people make the mistake in thinking that externally-hosted online tools need no user support within the business. I think this is the number one factor contributing to failure of the tool being used and adopted. While it’s true most of these tools are very easy to use, and most offer some level of support from the supplier, you should always factor in having someone act as user support within the organisation. This person needs to act as the point-person for questions, training, adoption & embedding. They don’t have to be technical – tech questions can usually be referred on to the supplier – but they do have to be patient, good communicators, and pro-active. In large organisations, it pays to have a ‘champion’ like this in each department, with one overall administrator/super-champion.

What is the scale / duration of your project?

If you just need something for a few team members working on a short, fixed-term project, you can afford to choose a tool without much research aside from the above. However, if you are looking to create a permanent extra/intranet or manage a long-term programme with many stakeholders, you should consider going through a full evaluation process, including setting up trial accounts and gathering feedback on a few products before making your decision.

What is your budget?

The costs of online collaboration tools range from free to several thousands of pounds. The more expensive ones are not always ‘better’, but they do tend to come with greater levels of tech support… and often, greater levels of complexity that you may or may not need. But don’t be put off by free/cheap fees: many online tools operate on a volume basis so you might be surprised to find complex, feature-rich products even at the lowest price point.

How quickly do you need it?

Many tools can be set up within a few mouse clicks, while others will require installation and configuration. Weigh up the benefits of quick setup on an entirely external server, versus those of having something installed that your tech support team can have access to. How will the data be backed up? Can we survive if the tool is temporarily unavailable due to maintenance? How easy is it to get our data in and out? Or do we just need to get on with it NOW?

Do you have other systems to consider?

Would it be beneficial for your online collaboration tool to link in with Outlook, Google Calendar, LinkedIn or Facebook? Do you have existing internal data storage systems that will need to feed into (or out from) your new online collaboration environment – how will this happen, and is it even possible? Can you achieve what you want by simply changing the way we use existing tools or bolting on new modules, rather than bringing another different tool into the mix? It’s worth bearing these important questions in mind because the answers can have long-term ramifications.

I hope the above will help you in evaluating which tool is best for you. In a future post, I will try to mention a few ‘best of breed’ tools that you might want to look at for various different online collaboration needs. Remember, the best way to determine which car is best for you is to take it on a test-drive: no amount of good advice can replace putting yourself behind the wheel.

I’ve decided to see if I can make it without biting the bullet and shelling out for MS Office for my business. So over the past few months I have been trying 4 alternative products: Apple’s iWork, ThinkFree Premium, openoffice.org and NeoOffice.

They all offer more or less the same tools as the standard Microsoft Office package, and as I am not in need of any database functionality, I based my trials primarily on MS Word and Excel equivalents, with a tiny bit of Powerpoint-y presentation work thrown in.

The first product I tried was iWork, but I quickly encountered problems when trying to send files back & forth to clients who use Word. When converting from Pages to .doc format, things went really weird with the formatting of text, especially tables. Although the interface and default templates were the prettiest of all of them (which is to be expected from Apple), it was all style not enough substance. Workflows in all the iWork products also took some getting used to, as the tools and steps were very different from MS Office. In some cases they were more intuitive, in others less so. I found Numbers really fiddly to work with, I had trouble getting charts & graphs to work as expected, and some key formulas were missing. The real star of the iWork show in my opinion is Keynote. This beats Powerpoint hands-down. It’s easy to create slick, polished presentations, and some cool features – like the instant alpha for removing backgrounds from photos, and an awesome built-in image/effects editor – really set it apart. If and when I need to make more presentations, I will be shelling out the dosh for iWork; the price is worth it just for Keynote alone.

OpenOffice.org was next, but their Mac offering was so unwieldy and frustrating, I could quickly see why the folks at Planamesa started the Neo Office project, which is another open source offering based on the OpenOffice suite. So I switched over to Neo Office, and things were instantly better. Neo Office isn’t going to win any beauty contests, but it seems to be a solid product and I haven’t yet experienced any major problems. I particularly like the ease in exporting to PDF from Writer, and out of all the office products on trial, Neo Office had the best compatibility with MS Word in my experience. The downfall seems to be their Powerpoint equivalent, which is ironically named Impress. I was wholly un-impressed, especially with the 1980s templates that make Microsoft’s cheese-fest look positively appetising.

But the most interesting package I tried out has to be ThinkFree. I got the ThinkFree Premium suite free when I spoke at Office 2.0, and although it’s a beta product, it shows real potential. The difference between ThinkFree and the others is that online/offline file synchronisation and storage is a core part of the product. This means you can access and back-up your files online, which is pretty damn handy. I did have some problems getting everything set up properly, but maybe that’s because I got a freebie. The big downside for me was the stability side of things, and ThinkFree seemed to run much slower than most of the other products I tried. Perhaps when it moves out of beta things will improve, and I think ThinkFree is definitely one to watch.

The winner?

For now, I’m sticking with Neo Office. It does exactly what it says on the tin, and once you get used to the workflows, it’s all pretty intuitive. It’s pretty basic, but that’s all I need right now. I like the idea of open source as a concept, and this is one of the movement’s true success stories so far. Yes, you can use it for free, but I like it so much I’ve made a donation to the project.

In future if I have some more cash to spare, I may consider iWork, even if it’s just to play around with Keynote more – it seems like fun even for non-work projects. And I have also kept my ThinkFree account active just in case. In a year’s time, who knows – maybe my opinion will have changed as the products grow and develop.