Matthew Buck’s Blog - Principal Engineer at RatwareUK

I was doing some research for a third party in relation to accounting software, when I came across this gem. It’s called LessAccounting and it’s a web based accounting package for small businesses. They’ve got a neat CSS website and the product looks packed with functionality such as :

Customer Relations Management
Reporting
Invoicing etc..

It supports multiple users and as it’s web based you can securely access it from any machine. Less Accounting also handles all the backups and support. I thought it was worth a mention when I saw it, as it appears to be a niche in a corner market. If you’re a small company who basically just invoice and account, this is definately a cheaper and more efficient alternative to Sage - that’s worth considering.

Recently, RatwareUK has recommended OpenOffice to some SMEs as an appropriate and a financially sound alternative to Microsoft Office.

OpenOffice is an open-source project, free of costly licensing, which looks and performs almost exactly like Microsoft Office. It’s compatible too. You can open Microsoft files and save Microsoft files seamlessly without requiring any Microsoft Office software.

One great thing about OpenOffice is its ability to generate high-quality PDF files from documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Microsoft Office falls short of this and you have to purchase bolt-on software from Adobe. Sending documents to clients as PDFs via email is a much better solution than using the Microsoft formats.

If you are still undecided, you can try OpenOffice yourself. You can download it, install it, keep it or delete it and the best part is - it won’t cost you a penny.

To find out who’s using OpenOffice and why, visit Open Office - Why?

To download OpenOffice for free visit Open Office - Download

If you have any queries about how OpenOffice can benefit your business, please do not hesitate to contact us.