TechCrunch Disrupt Startups Show Small Business Tools

15.09.2011
At this week, start-ups presented a slew of new cloud-based services built to help small businesses. These include business management, analytics, and conferencing tools. The freemium payment model, whereby a free service has premium features available for a price, is the model of choice. Here are some highlights from the start-ups with tools and services for small businesses.

ZeroPC

is building a cloud-based, desktop-style workspace. Customers will get 1GB of data storage for free, in addition to integrated access to up to 14GB of free storage from other popular cloud storage services, with more storage available for a fee. Inside any Web browser, ZeroPC creates a workspace to let you integrate documents, emails, photos, music, videos, and social media content from services such as Box.net, DropBox, Evernote, Facebook, Flickr, Google Docs, Instagram, Picassa, SugarSync, Twitter, and with your own local computer storage. (However, ZeroPC recommends the latest versions of Firefox or Chome, as some features require HTML5.) A suite of Web apps and native apps are also included for working with the files in the browser, and the workspace and content can be shared with a single URL or published to Facebook or Twitter, so you can collaborate with your friends or share with the world.

vCita

vCita is targeting small businesses, including consultants and others who book informational appointments with clients, with a widget they can add to their website. This can replace an existing Web contact form with a vCita "contact and schedule" integrated form that lets visitors to your website schedule a video meeting or phone call directly. You can offer free meetings, or charge either by the hour or by the service. Payments are secured by PayPal or credit card to book the time, and then finalized at the end of the meeting. vCita enables Web video meetings and conference calls, accessible from a single management dashboard. If you charge a fee for your meetings, vCita costs $21.95 per month, or $13.95 monthly if you sign up for an annual plan.

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