WinWeb

Software as a Service For Beginners

March 24, 2010

We often get asked about this, but WinWeb’s software is not available to purchase from a shop. You cannot get it on CD and you don’t need to download it. We prefer to offer our software suite as an on-demand application that can be accessed wherever you can find Internet access. This method is known as Software as a Service (SaaS).

If you have used web-based e-mail before then you already know how Software as a Service works. All of your data is stored on the servers of the service provider and not on your home computer. This means that even if your computer fails, you won’t lose all your accounting data or the important files that you backed up to our secure servers. They will be there waiting for you once you can get back online.

Because our software runs as a page inside your web browser it is not platform specific and therefore can run on Windows, Mac or Linux. This means you are not tied to a specific platform and can switch at any time.

You will never have to install anything to use our software. Whenever we update to a new version there is no need for you to do anything. This is great if you are using a computer in a public location. Your WinWeb account and the data it contains will be the same wherever you are in the world.

How we can help…

WinWeb.com believe that Software as a Service is the best way for small businesses to conduct their businesses; none of our software requires installation on your computer!

30 day free trial – WinWeb’s 30 day free trial allows your small business to try software as a service free for 30 days before making any commitment to our service.

Accounting Software – Our accounting software all functions through your web browser, meaning no need to download, and that your small business gains all the benefits of Software as a Service.

The best way to discover the benefits of Software as a Service for your small business to try it for yourself. If you have any questions just contact us, or try it for yourself free for 30 days!

How Can Your Small Business Reduce E-Waste?

February 26, 2010

The UN released a report this week that called for urgent action to tackle the amount of e-waste building up in developing nations. Countries such as China, India and many African nations are currently suffering a deluge of old computers and electronic equipment.

This problem is only going to get worse in years to come. India in particular is expected to see a 500% rise in the amount of e-waste by 2020. Developing nations are often happy to accept the waste in order to extract raw materials, but the UN believes that some countries are unable to handle the extraction process safely and efficiently. This can lead to environmental damage or serious health hazards for the local population.

In order to tackle this problem, it will require a change of thinking. We are all going to have to re-evaluate the decisions we make to purchase new electronic items. If you or your business upgrade your technology every six months because you consider it to be obsolete, try to consider the consequences of what you are doing.

If you do need to purchase a new mobile phone or computer, consider donating your old one to organisations that will be able to make use of it. If it no longer works, find a way to recycle it. Many companies will pay for your old phones if they are still worth something, or dispose of it for free in an environmentally friendly way.

At WinWeb, we do our part by reducing the need for you to upgrade your computer as our software is browser based. As long as you can still run a web browser on your PC or Mac then you will be able to use our software. Find out more about our Climatebyte technology here.

Could Mobile Broadband Boost Your Productivity?

February 23, 2010

There has been a lot of talk recently in the media about mobile broadband, but many people are still unaware of what it actually is and how simple and inexpensive it is to set up.

Mobile broadband allows you to do everything that you currently use your home broadband for, without needing a fixed telephone line. This allows you to access the internet while you are travelling (e.g. public transport) or away from home on holiday or a business trip.

The most common way of accessing a mobile broadband network is via a special USB stick (often called a ‘dongle’). An increasing number of new laptops and netbooks now have a built-in device that makes it possible to connect without needing a dongle. Both these devices connect to the internet using the same signal as mobile phones – meaning that you can receive internet access wherever you get reception on your phone.

There are a few downsides to mobile broadband which also should be pointed out. The coverage does not currently extend across the whole of the UK and connection stability can be an issue, even in those areas that have reception. The speed is great for most tasks, but it will struggle to handle streaming video or online gaming. You will also have to pay an ongoing subscription fee to whichever provider you sign up with.

However, this technology has great benefits for businesses. It gives small business owners the opportunity to run their company remotely from anywhere in the world. Combining mobile broadband with WinWeb’s online software suite makes it even more invaluable as a tool for small businesses.

It’s Browsing… But Not As You Know It.

February 20, 2010

Microsoft recently announced that they had formed an agreement with Europe’s Competition Commission that will give millions of European Internet Explorer users the opportunity to switch to an alternative browser.

On March 1st millions of XP, Vista and Windows 7 users will automatically receive the update and be asked whether they wish to stick with Internet Explorer. They will be able to choose from Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera.

Figures show that over half of the world’s internet users currently use Internet Explorer. For many people, the patch next month will be the first time they have even considered using an alternative browser.

If you are a Internet Explorer user of our online software suite and wish to switch to a different browser on March 1st you will be able to do so easily without any compatibility issues and log in to your account as normal. Our software is tested and supported on all the major browsers, so you can use whichever one is your favourite.

Can Your Small Business Wait 17 Years For A Software Update?

February 8, 2010

WinWeb didn’t fail to notice that this week saw the slightly surprising announcement from Microsoft that they would be patching a 17-year old bug. The vulnerability, present in all versions of Windows since NT 3.1, was only recently discovered and Microsoft have worked quickly to fix it. However, this does highlight an important issue regarding software updates that we at WinWeb take very seriously.

The traditional method that software vendors have always used when it comes to addressing problems often results in customers waiting a long time for a resolution. This is usually a necessary delay because the fix has to be tested many times over on different types of hardware and operating systems.

Big companies like Microsoft and Apple are now quite fast when it comes to patching urgent issues, but smaller software vendors often leave their customers waiting for months or years between patches. During this time the customer could be left with software that doesn’t work properly or leaves their computer vulnerable to an attack.

The software company also has to deal with the difficult issue of distributing their update to customers. Some software automatically checks for patches when connected to the Internet, but users have the option of ignoring this or declining to update.

Software-as-a-Service providers (like us here at WinWeb) are able to react very quickly to any problems that may arise. Although we release a totally new version approximately every 18 months, we are constantly updating on a weekly or daily basis without any disruption to our customers. There are no patches to download and being browser-based dramatically reduces the amount of compatibility issues that traditional vendors face.

Try OnlineOffice for yourself and see if you miss having to patch!

Is Your Business IT Strategy All 'Mashed-Up'?

October 3, 2009

‘Software Mashup’ is all the current buzz in the online business software industry – what it means is that most software vendors are only developing single applications, then finding out it really is not enough to solve the customers problems and as a result join forces with other software vendors to make up for their short-comings! The downside is, you as a customer will have to pay another license fee for another subscription, making your IT solution unacceptably expensive! And there is more bad news with this ‘mashed-up’ concept!

When you use our OnlineOffice all the features are integrated, your online sales and invoices are automatically booked in your accounting software, your customers records are synced with your accounting software and address book automatically, meetings with many of your contacts are organized automatically, your business plan is automatically updated with the actual business numbers in the cash-flow forecast in real time and so on.

But what happens if you have business accounting software that does not talk to your online shop or address book? That’s when your IT strategy gets all ‘mashed-up’, literally.

You could re-key the same information over and over, which is both time consuming and unproductive. You could also export the data and import it into your new application (and good luck to you too!) or you could use various forms of automated data-exchange. Data-exchange will only work if there is a such a link for the two software products you have decided to work with. Not to mention that you sometimes need to be a real geek to get this link working and debugged.

That is also the reason why software providers market each others products. Not only do they often get a share of your subscription with the other vendor, they will recommend this product because nothing else will work with their own software, which means you may get talked into something you may not actually need or even worth can not even use effectively.

These are the reasons why we have decided to provide a one-stop-shop for micro-businesses. Instead of having one application for many sizes of business, we have decided to have many applications for only the home business and small office marked. By providing a highly integrated software suite, we have been able to solve more problems for our business clients and all this at an affordable price.

But, before you get all ‘mashed-up’ about this find out more

@ WinWeb OnlineOffice – Your Office Online.