Core Components

Software as a Service (SaaS)

The "core components" listed here are those that we recommend either because we have used them in the past (and continue to do so) and because they have been thoroughly vetted, by us or by the marketplace. We do not have affiliate agreements with any of these providers and we do not get paid to recommend them. Our incentive to recommend them is based on their proven capabilities for delivery of enabling technologies and reliable services. Should these characteristics change, so will our recommendations. You will recognize these names as some of the better established brands. Since there are always some risk when choosing a software solution, we help you to mitigate those risks by helping you select vendors that have a proven track record and a high probability of longevity. There are no guarantees, however the same can be said regarding any strategic software selection. All of these vendors provide pay as you go options and therefore eliminate the need for long term contracts and the capital required to fund them. While all of these providers rank extraordinarily high on the usability scale, the number of decisions required to implement is often daunting to the uninitiated. We help our customers rationalize this decision space by providing a road map for how the pieces of the puzzle fit together.  Google Apps Whether your organization wants to move everything to the cloud, or just wants an affordable and easily maintainable email platform, Google Apps provides a powerful and inexpensive (free or low cost) set of application services that underpins your organization's computing strategy. To learn more about Google Apps as a messaging platform click here. To learn how Google Apps can be leveraged as a collaboration platform click here. To review how other organizations are leveraging Google Apps click here. We help our clients get "jump started" with Google Apps and provide specific "how to" consulting within a number of industry verticals. Google Apps is much more than email and calendaring. The "Sites" feature provides out-of-the-box Intranet and Extranet capabilities and the ability to manage a host of unstructured data relationships (e.g. clients, patients, members, etc.).  Typepad TypePad provides a feature rich publishing service that gives you complete control over what, when and how you publish content on the Web. Depending on the option you select, you can have one or more blogs and/or websites. We use Typepad for both. We use Typepad to build websites for our clients using its "advanced templates" feature set. Why use Typepad to design websites? For many of the same reasons that thousands of users use it to design blogs, once you have a design, publishing additional pages or modifying existing pages is quick and easy to do. Since most of our customers want both a website and one or more blogs, Typepad provides a unified solution that requires just one publishing learning curve because the same tool set is used for both. To learn more about Typepad's features click here. We work with clients to provide a professional Internet presence that can be easily maintained by your own staff.  QuickBooks Online Edition (OE) For years QuickBooks has been a leading accounting software provider for small businesses. QuickBooks Online Edition (OE) now brings this tradition to the cloud. With QuickBooks OE you get the same rich functionality as the PC version with the added benefit of being able to work when and where you want. In addition, collaboration with your CPA could not be easier. There is no longer a need to send files back and forth. Do you have offices in multiple locations? No problem. QuickBooks OE allows you to scale your back office operations seamlessly. Within certain verticals, we will work with clients to help them setup OE in a way that meets industry requirements. In addition, Intuit itself provides unparalleled customer support. Once your staff understands the basics, they can customize QE to meet the specific needs of your office. To learn more about OE's features click here.  PayPal PayPal makes it simple to accept payments online without the need for special equipment or complex shopping cart integration. Simply sign up for a business account and walk through the setup and bank account verification process. PayPal offers secure payment services in over 190 countries and regions. Your customers do not need a PayPal account to use this service. We help clients integrate PayPal into their websites by walking them through the various options available for online payment integration. In addition, we provide templates for our customers that enable payments from their website pages. To learn more about PayPal products and services click here.  RingCentral (VOIP) With RingCentral you no longer need to spend thousands of dollars on a phone systems and related equipment. All you need to get started is a high speed Internet connection. RingCentral provides you with the "big company" unified communications features without local phone system maintenance headaches. You get integrated, phone, fax, voice mail, extensions, business rules and more. We help clients with RingCentral setup and training. Phone systems often perplex customers, even those with technical inclinations. We help you quickly get up the learning curve. To learn more about RingCentral click here.  Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) SaaS vendors have done an excellent job of providing highly available and scalable services. However, as an insurance policy against catastrophic failures, we recommend that organizations leverage Amazon's S3 service to ensure redundancy of mission critical data. Amazon S3 has a simple interface that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web. It gives an organization access to the same highly scalable, reliable, fast, inexpensive data storage infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites. The service aims to maximize benefits of scale and to pass those benefits on to others. We help clients quickly identify and establish an appropriate level of security and redundancy. To learn more about Amazon S3 click here.