Keep costs down with web-based services instead of purchasing software, urges
Bruce Judson, a Senior Faculty Fellow at the
Yale School of Management.
His audience is primarily start-up businesses, but the advice is
equally applicable to nonprofit organizations. Even more so, perhaps,
with
accountability tagged as a strong priority for many donors and supporters.
Rather
than buy an
expensive piece of software you might not use again, why not explore
the free and low-cost options? Web-based applications can give you the
technology tools you need in the short term — for a
specific project, say, or a single campaign — without a long-term
investment. With a web-based service, too, you have the comfort of
knowing that you're always working with the latest version of the
software. There's no need to worry about maintaining your own software,
or purchasing upgrades to keep it current.
Word-of-mouth
is often the best way to find the web app you need. Ask your friends
and colleagues what applications they are using, and what their
experience has been.
But if you can't track down a firsthand review, what then?
Search Free Apps
is a specialized search engine with over 700 enterprise-quality
applications, hand-picked by Bruce Judson, that are free on the web
for anyone to use. Most of the listings are completely free,
full-featured applications. Some are "free trials" of commercial
software for a specific period of time. Even there, however, Judson has
stringent criteria for inclusion — no strings attached, no limitations
in the web app's standard functions, and no further obligations to you
when the trial period expires.
Instead of potentially thousands of search results,
Search Free Apps presents you with a select few pre-screened tools and services to assess. From there, a quick look at a web app's FAQ page
should give you a good idea if
its main features are likely meet your needs and the service is worth a try.
"If a particular service meets 60% of your needs today," Judson advises, "it is
what you should use. It’s good enough. As Web-based services are
constantly enhancing their offerings, within a few months it will
likely meet 80% of your needs, or even include valuable features that
you had not imagined." That's certainly the case with Wild Apricot, as our
release history clearly shows — 17 updates in 2007 alone which brought dozens of new features!