Best free cloud apps to start small scale business
Most cloud apps are paid for platforms, but some of these offer a free service tier which offer significant features, which means they are perfectly fine to kick start your small scale businesses ideas.
It doesn’t matter whether you are using your PC or mobile, be it any Operating System like Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS and so on. These free cloud-based apps also offer the advantage of being able to offer cloud storage, which means you can sync and save your documents online. This means being able to switch between using your desktop PC and mobile device. Because all you need is a browser to run these services, it doesn’t matter which operating system you’re using, whether Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and so on.
BEST FREE CLOUD APPS FOR BUSINESS:
1. Bitrix24
2. Paypal
3. Slack
4. Wave
5. Google Drive
These free apps is also quite impressive with the range of service areas they cover and can include anything from collaboration software and project management tools for general business use, as well as accounting software and credit card payment processors.
Lets see some more details on these apps:
1. Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 is a collaboration platform which provides a suite of social collaboration, communication and management tools.
Bitrix24 allows users to create personalised invoices for clients. This is done through automatically inserting all client data.
It has a huge variety of functions & compatible with any size business. Bitrix24 centralise all collaboration and communications from its user dashboard. From here users can organise and track customer interactions.
Bitrix 24 free tier includes 12 users, 1 admin and 5GB of online storage.
There are paid versions which provide more features and online capacity, starting from $19 for two or more users, with increasingly expensive tiers according to the range of features and storage limits required.
2. Paypal:
As you might already know Paypal is one of the simplest and easiest to use online payment process.Sign up is easy enough, though expect to have to go through basic money-laundering checks at the beginning, which means Paypal adding a couple of small amounts to your business bank account and you let them know what these were.
The basic service level of Paypal is free, with a service charge of around 2.7% which is both common and reasonable.
Paid tiers are available at a monthly costs for higher volume merchants which can reduce payment processing fees, with additional offline processing options available.
3. Slack:
Slack was originally brought to life to be used as an online tool for the game Glitch, which is now defunct. It was officially launched in 2013 as a way of helping people collaborate online.
The Slack directory integrates with over 1000 apps which include Dropbox and Google Drive. You can drag and drop files, images and videos directly into Slack if needs be. The app also includes a handy screen sharing tool.
Slack has three tiers. The first tier is free and includes search for up to 10,000 messages, 10 apps and integrations and 1-to-1 video calls. This might be too limited depending on the size of your team.
4. Wave:
Wave provides a suite of financial services and online software for small businesses.accounting features are free of charge. It is geared not only towards small business but it also suitable for the freelance sector.
It has a dedicated invoicing tool where users can choose from a variety of templates. Invoices can be sent via email and credit cards can be processed through the platform.
5. Google Drive:
Google Drive is a cloud file storage service provider which encompasses all of Google’s own office suite such as Docs, Sheets and Slides.
Google Drive also allows users to create, edit and collaborate on documents online. It is a first choice for most Android users as it comes pre-installed on most Android smartphones and tablets. However, it can be easily integrated to use with iOS devices and has a web interface, which can be used across all platforms.
Google Account users get 15GB of storage free which can be used by Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos.