Do people in your company need to collaborate fairly intimately with others who are geographically distant in order to get their work done more quickly? By ‘intimately’ I mean a mix of voice and screen sharing among a smallish group of people.

And would you like to do this at a low fixed cost and with no technical faffing around? If so, I think that Citrix Online has recently excelled itself (and everyone else) with the announcement of its latest GoToMeeting service which can now carry good-quality web-based voice as well as screen sharing. And it has been written from the ground up for either PC or Macintosh computers, although the latter is still missing one or two of the non-mainstream functions at the moment.

GoToMeeting allows people to set up meetings instantly, or by arrangement. The primary user pays £25 per month for unlimited meetings while other participants just need a web browser, a headset (ideally) or a microphone and a speaker. It is possible to join meetings using a conventional phone at local rates, whether you use the screen element or not. The service uses a clever technique to make voice over the internet (VoIP) sound really good and another to make sure that the screen displays stays in synch with the conversation, regardless of the available bandwidth.

Once in a meeting, anyone’s screen can be displayed, it doesn’t have to be the main user’s. And anything that appears on a screen can be shared. It could be a presentation, a sketch pad, a spreadsheet, a movie, even the output from a screencam although, if the participants already know each other, this wouldn’t add a great deal of value to the meeting. It is possible to give control of the mouse and keyboard to another participant, to enable them to operate the application. And, reading the user guide, I notice that participants can be allowed to annotate the current screen.

Meetings using the standard £25 licence are capped at 15 participants, although you can go for the ‘corporate’ version which allows up to 25 users and offers additional management facilities as well as a variety of subscription packages.

The primary business benefits of GoToMeeting are enhanced productivity and reduced travel, all for a fixed and known monthly cost for unlimited usage. Plus the cost of calls for those who have to dial in. Citrix Online sells primarily to small to medium businesses or to departments of larger businesses. ‘Up to 1000 employees’ is the rule of thumb. You can try it for 30 days at no charge (but you do have to provide your credit card details and remember to cancel if you don’t want to continue.)

The software is exceedingly easy to learn and use. It has, for example, play and pause buttons, giving you the chance to change your display locally without others seeing all your navigation and logging in activities.

You can record conversations and screen displays. You can chat in an instant messaging window – to all or selected participants. Typically, the active participant would be showing a presentation, a website, part of the intranet or documents such as spreadsheets. It’s like sitting at someone’s desk or in a meeting room but without the associated technical and physical overheads.

If you’re new to Citrix Online, you might be interested in the company’s other services. GoToMyPC allows you to reach your PC from a browser and use it just as if you were in front of it. GoTo Assist lets you share a mouse, screen and keyboard with a remote user. GoToWebinar allows you to present to up to 1000 people concurrently.

Well worth a look, I’d say.

It’s always good to discover new British business voices blogging. One such is Nick Saalfeld, founder of communications company Wells Park. His new blog True Business, sponsored by Microsoft, is already shaping up to be a good read. I’ve known Nick for a little while as he’s been a supporter and proponent of podcasting.  He’s a great character and knows a thing or two about building successful businesses, having sold his first web business back in 2000 for £9 million. Well worth checking out.

American billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks basket ball team, Mark Cuban, is also a blogger.  Although his blog isn’t specifically focused on entrepreneurship a recent post on sweat equity begins a series on ‘Rules of Success’ in business.  A must read for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs alike.

Yorkshire Science provides a very focused, but nonetheless useful site to inspire innovation and invention among startups and businesses in the region.  There are some interesting case studies, information on funding and a good use of multimedia to bring some of the business stories alive.  Worthy of recommendation and worth a look even if you’re not based in the white rose county.

Some may only have one good business idea in them.  Others are veritable serial entrepreneurs.  For all those that don’t have the time or inclination to turn a business idea into reality, or who simply want to give something back, check out Business Idea of the Day.  The purpose of the site is a simple, yet inspiring one: “To give away business ideas for free to spark the imagination of people to create a business to change their life for the better. To see opportunity where there once was no hope. To do a good thing.”

Of all the SEO sites, SEOMoz.org is very white hat (i.e. good and Google friendly). Here’s an example of some really useful tips on how to use Google for keyword research. Very handy, if you’re optimising your site, checking out your competitors or simply running an adwords campaign.

seo, small business, keyword search

A post on favourite films about business caught my eye and I was hooked on another excellent blog with plenty of practical advice for startups. Although posted to a little irregularly, The Startup Game has some real gems. Take a look at posts on mobilisation capital, creative finance for startups and the business plan.

When it comes to understanding how to get the best out of people in business, Anna Farmery knows a thing or two. She became a managing director at the tender age of 25 and has 20 years experience in director roles in the corporate world. Fortunately for us she’s sharing what she knows on her blog, like these ten tips on how to boost profits.

profits, small business, personnel, anna farmery

I don’t know about you, but other people’s new businesses very often spark off an idea in my own mind.  It’s not about copycatting, but more about the inspiration of seeing how others are disrupting markets.  The spotters at Springwise are always uncovering new business ideas and they’re well worth keeping an eye on.

Matt Remuzzi at Capforge.com is another blogger who regularly focuses on practical advice for startups and entrepreneurs. Here he takes the Dyson hand-dryer and deconstructs the market research behind a new product launch.  A good guide.

From the excellent Web Worker Daily comes this handy list of ways in which you can get the most out of LinkedIn for business. Sites like LinkedIn provide terrific ways in which to do some serious networking. But even some of the less obviously business oriented sites like Facebook are worth checking out too.

networking, linkedin, hr, recruitment

Here’s some great practical advice, which I’ve used for my wife’s dance school. Because Google is looking to increase the relevance and value of search, it has recently developed its local search and maps to allow local businesses to be found more easily. Follow these steps from SmallBusinessHub to keep one step ahead of your competitors.

google local, google maps, small business

Marc Andreesen of Netscape fame and now an investor in the likes of Digg and current project Ning has just started blogging. He has an interesting writing style and plenty of practical business insight. Check out his post on how to hire the best people you’ve ever worked with.

andreesen, netscape, small business, hr, hiring people

Cash is king – a truism hardly worth repeating, you’d think. But for many a startup or rapidly growing business, it’s still cash flow problems that are a killer. Good advice on managing income can be found over at BusinessPundit.

cash flow, startups, small business, income

If you’re planning on growing your business, you really need to look beyond your current horizons. Great advice for big fish at John Jantsch’s legendary Duct Tape Marketing blog.

growing business, small business, business growth

Ben Yoskovitz’s Instigator Blog has a wealth of insight, practical advice and reasons to be passionate about startups. Read his thoughts on why starting a business is no more risky than working for a corporate, then read 10 reasons to join a startup.

yoskovitz, startups, start-ups, small business

If you use Google adwords as part of your online marketing push, then tips like these from Small Business Hub could save your business time and money.

google adwords, SMB, small business, adsense

A bit of positive press coverage can go a long way for startups and small businesses. For a journalist’s eye view of what to do and what not to do when you’re dealing with the press, head over to David Tebbutt’s guide to handling the media.

SME PR, media relations, tebbutt

Guy Kawasaki, the former Apple evangelist, venture capitalist and mensch, writes a bloody good blog. His post on bootstrapping (starting a business with no borrowing) is a classic.

Every small business owner or entrepreneur needs signposts – a pointer to send them in the right direction even if they’ve already got a map.

Well, you may have noticed the ‘Recommended‘ section here on the blog. The plan is that this will help signpost a few ‘must read’ blogs, blog posts and web resources for startups and SMEs on a variety of vital topics.

Signposts aren’t normally text heavy and SmallBizPod’s won’t be either. A couple of sentences (at most) and a link should do it, together with a star voting system so that you can rate its usefulness.

SME, SMB, signpost, business blogging, links