pebble.it’s Top 6 Business Apps
Posted by thatsinthebook on 12th July 2010
As used by pebble.it.
Basecamp.
Simple and easy to use web-based project management software. A great interface to manage tasks, milestones and communications with colleagues and/or clients. pebble uses Basecamp to manage installations, migrations and development projects. Great for collaboration. Try it at basecamphq.com.
Highrise.
Another one of 37signals’ signature products and a fantastic Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Highrise allows you to track details and communications of all of your clients and prospects. You can create ‘deals’ that act as prospects, assign tasks to yourself or your team to remember to call someone back, or write that proposal. There is also a strong tagging system that allows you to group your contacts and companies in as many ways as you like. Try it at highrisehq.com or take the tour.
Google Wave.
Another innovation from Google - Wave is still in Alpha, which means “use at own risk… we are still developing”. Even still, pebble have been lucky enough to get a load of invites and have been feeling our way round for some time. Primarily we use it for document collaboration (proposals etc) but it is also fantastic for collaboration around ideas. Proposals are now created a lot quicker and have the input of much more of the team. If you would like to try Wave, get in touch and we will send you an invite.
ZenDesk.
ZenDesk is our customer support portal. It is simple yet powerful. From our point of view we can very easily manage all support quires that come through the door and assign them to the right people. We also get to see how long tickets are taking and make changes to priority accordingly. For the client, they can see all of the tickets that relate to them and at what stage of completion they are in. We rely heavily on ZenDesk now. Try it at ZenDesk.com.
PivotalTracker.
pebble have multiple development projects running all the time, both client and internal. PivotalTracker helps us manage all of our development activities into interations, making us more able to focus on the next few tasks in order of priority, rather than getting stressed by the amount of work on the table. PivotalTracker is currently free too, which is a great deal! Try it at PivotalTracker.com.
Things.
Things helps us all stay on track of what we have to do, both for work and personally. It is a Mac app but syncs to your iPhone or iPad over your wireless network. Over-the-air sync coming soon (can’t wait!). Find out more at CulturedCode.com.
Enjoy.
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Aspirations (thoughts from a 37signals podcast)
Posted by thatsinthebook on 21st June 2010
Just listened to a David Heinemeier Hansson talk on the 37signals podcast about “A Secret to Making Money” and generally, apart from feeling like I was being shouted at for 20 minutes, I thought it was a great listen.
The podcast was taken from the Start Up School in 2008, which is a school for programmers and software engineers to learn about starting up. Along with 37signals there were a lot of VCs and big businesses there, all giving their 2 cents. The talk by David, in a nutshell, tried to make people realise that it was not compulsory to have the idea, get a million dollars in funding and have a plan to sell within 3 years to have fun, fulfilling and ultimately profitable business.
The point is that one can be successful by selling a product to a modest number of people at a modest price. By waiting for the idea and shooting for the stars we dramatically reduce our chance of success. By scaling down we also reduce the need for outside funding (and subsequent control loss). I personally would rather run a business that I had a say in and that kept me interested over the next 20 years.
Some facts:
- 7 years is the average to sell a business - so starting out with sale in mind puts your goal a long way away.
- 8 out 10 businesses fail within the first 3 years - I hate this stat, but it does make me think about how I might increase my chances.
- 4000 people paying you £20 / month, is £1m per year! 4000 is not a crazy number.
Creating software nowadays can be just like other more traditional businesses - like restaurants. There are hundreds of same-cuisine restaurants, and yet more still spring up and end up being successful. This is true of software - just because there is already a project management system out there, does not mean that you should not create your own. Maybe your product does something better? If you can get a small segment of the market to use your product, you are on the way.
So, rather than waiting for the idea that nobody has ever thought of, why not create a product that just does it better than the other guy. By reducing our aspirations slightly, we may not need millions of pounds in funding, a VC team that takes control and unrealistic targets, and instead end up with a fun and profitable business that we want to be a part of long term. (Hmm, that sounds good to me!).
Now, I have never been one for discouraging anyone from an aspiration, in fact quite the opposite, but having been in business for a few years now, toning down is definitely starting to make more sense.
You can find the full podcast at 37signals.com/podcast.
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iPad for Business
Posted by elpabl0 on 1st June 2010
Apple’s sleek, silver-backed iPad will be officially hitting European shores sometime towards the end of May. So where does the wonder-pad sit in the workplace, or to ask a more important question: how can you convince your boss that the iPad is a necessary business purchase?
Let’s first consider the OS. Since launch of Apple’s original iPhone, the iPhone OS has been extended to 2 further generations of the iPhone, 3 generations of the iPod Touch and now the iPad. Version 4.0 will be landing sometime this summer, alongside the recently leaked iPhone 4. With each update to the hardware lineup and OS we’ve seen enhancements aimed squarely at the enterprise user, including:
- Support for Activesync and Exchange (mail, calendars and contacts)
- VPN support
- Remote wipe (in case of loss/theft)
- Enterprise program (for company-wide configuration and distribution of apps)
So Apple clearly has enterprise in mind for these devices and the support team here at the pebble.it office frequently and confidently recommend the iPhone to business users - many of whom are very keen to dump their ageing BlackBerry in favour of a shiny new 3GS.
Developers are also supporting the platform with vigour, all keen for a piece of the App Store pie, despite Apple’s much criticised application approval process. Sifting through the almost 200,000 apps available for your iDevice you will find a few gems (but plenty of turkeys too).
There’s a few SIP clients available - extending the reach of your office VOIP telephone system. Most are buggy, but Acrobits Softphone is worthy of note. 37 Signals nails Highrise intergration with their official app.
Most significantly, the larger screen real estate of the iPad has allowed developers such as Omni to bring their fantastic range of productivity tools to the device, sitting comfortably alongside Apple’s iWork suite and the additional Apple AV Kit for hooking up to a projector and wowing your colleagues with your magical presenting device.
Finally, the actual design of the device - it’s perfectly portable, so ideal for meetings. Leave your laptop at your desk and use the iPad for note taking, presenting and, if you can get away with it, fire up Plants vs. Zombies for some covert gaming.
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