There’s a lot to think about when you’re running a business. At Office Online we’ve teamed up with the Small Business Centre to offer these resources to help you run your business better. We’ve got lots of advice about how to use Microsoft Office in your business too – for instance, did you know it has CRM capabilities built in? Or that you can download Office Accounting Express 2008 free of charge?

Small Business Essentials

Microsoft Small Business Centre - sales, marketing and product resources

Smart Business Newsletter - stay informed on relevant news and products

Ask the Experts - our Microsoft experts answer your technology questions

Software to make the smallest businesses big and growing businesses thrive

Whether you’re just starting up in business or expanding and developing your organisation you’ve got enough to think about without adding technology to the list. Microsoft software can help reduce your workload so you can focus on your customers and developing your business.

Find customers and keep them coming

Finding and then keeping customers is your first priority when you’re setting up your business.Download a free trial of Office 2007 Small Business or take an online test drive and learn how technology can help you manage customer and contact information. Watch a demonstration of how Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager integrates information management features with your email and calendar. Save time and effort by using existing templates to create your own professional-looking stationery. Setting up your own website is not the painful process it used to be. Today, you can create a professional website, quickly and easily, with Microsoft Office Live – free. Not sure where to start? Take a look at the our Office Live webcasts, which are designed to help with signing up for the Office Live service and setting up your email accounts, website and more.

For the growing business, strengthening and deepening your customer relationships becomes ever more important. Microsoft Office Outlook with Business Contact Manager is powerful customer and contact management toolset that will help you save time, improve sales and marketing, and deliver better customer service. Customisable Publisher templates will help you deliver professional, high-quality brochures and newsletters, and wizards will guide you through the process of creating and tracking your own campaigns. Download a free trial today. If you’re looking for a more sophisticated customer management tool to help you drive consistent, measurable improvements in every business process that touches your customer, take a look at Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Sign up to Office Live Small Business for free website hosting, storage and reporting, plus business email accounts. Add an Office Live Workspace (also free) for an online work area to store and share information about billing, project status, and contact or business information. Powerful search advertising tools will also help you drive new customers to your site.

Money matters

When you’re just starting up, managing finances is critical to your business success and tools to help you smooth accounting processes and procedures can be a huge benefit. Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2008 is designed for starting businesses and home-based businesses that currently use pen and paper or spreadsheets to run their business. Download it today, free of charge, and get your finances organised. Make use of profit & loss, invoice, budget and other finance templatesand explore Office Excel tools that can help you make more-informed business decisions.

As your business grows so does the need for vigilance in managing your finances. Download a free 60-day trial of Microsoft Office Accounting Professional and see how this easy-to-use, comprehensive accounting package can save you considerable time and effort. Dozens of business templates plus a familiar interface will immediately boost your productivity. The right software applications will form the core of your business as it develops, and knowing how and what to buy, or whether you should consider hosted services can be difficult. Take advantage of software downloads to try new products before you buy, and download our 20-minute guide for growing businesses.

Stay secure

Even the smallest of businesses has to address security threats, so how do you stay safe, not sorry? Becoming the victim of a serious security breach can not only cost you thousands of pounds, it could also put you out of business. Windows Vista is our most secure and easy-to-use operating system. It offers account control, a spyware blocker, built-in diagnostics and trouble-shooting. For optimum security, chose Windows Live OneCare. You can get a free 90-day trial here, which will show you how you can keep your PCs problem-free. If you’re not sure how or why your computer could be at risk you can learn more about the steps you can take to protect it and how the 2007 Microsoft Office system new file formats help to keep your files safer.

As online security threats increase, it's more important than ever to protect your system from viruses, intruders and crashes. When it’s all too easy to lose or have your laptop stolen, Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate offers the reassurance of maximum data protection with its Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption. For larger organisations, Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 R2 will keep your business up and running with its protected, reliable operating system and automated patch and update management.

Share data and work with others

Working with colleagues, sharing data, and mobile technology are essential attributes of today’s successful organisation. And it needn’t be a problem. We've got the tools to help you be productive, wherever you may be. Office Live Small Business products can get you started on collaborative working, and boost you productivity.

As your business grows you’ll probably find that you need to adopt mobile technologies and solutions. You’ll need to stay connected to your business, and mobile versions of familiar Microsoft programs on your Windows Mobile-powered smartphone will help you to stay productive wherever your business takes you. With Outlook Mobile, your email, contacts, tasks, calendar and important information are always close at hand. And if you spend time travelling and meeting customers, Microsoft Office Live Workspace will enable you to access your documents from almost anywhere and share them with others.

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