I covered Ridgely Evers’ (co creator of Intuit QuickBooks) NetBooks when it first launched in September 2007.
I have not heard from Netbooks in some time, but it recently released a press release announcing a name change – to Workingpoint to avoid confusion with the now quite popular “netbook” notebook computers.
Workingpoint is an online “bookkeeping and more” solution, specifically designed to help small businesses manage their finances (it competes with QuickBooks), invoice clients, access to dashboards, charts and reports to help you better manage your cash flow and it helps you manage contact and sales data and so much more.
Workingpoint was created by Ridgely Evers, who was instrumental in creating Intuit’s QuickBooks.
Workingpoint’s chairman, Tom Proulx, is co-founder of Intuit and author of Quicken.
Workingpoint point is free for the first account and only $10 per month for each additional account.
Outright is another online accounting solution, completely free and also the brainchild of two Intuit alumni, Kevin Reeth and Ben Curren.
Whereas Workingpoint provides inventory management, CRM lite and other tools, Outright, targeted to the freelance market, focuses on two things: easy data entry so you can know how much money you have or don’t have and an intelligence to help you maximize your schedule C deductions.
As more services are developed you can expect Outright to charge for them as premium services.
While we are on the subject of online accounting solutions, let’s not forget about Intuit’s own solution, from free to paid,- Quickbooks online.
What does all of this mean to your business?
If you’re a smaller business looking for an easy to use accounting/financial management solution for your business you definitely have a number of options.
There is no “best choice” for you. Sure, Intuit is the market leader in easy-to-use accounting solutions. On the other hand, you might find Outright has just what you need and you like the way it helps you figure out deductions. On the OTHER hand, maybe a more robust tool such as provided by Workingpoint is what you need – with inventory management, CRM and more.
Test them out and see which one is best for YOU.
Ramon Ray is the editor and tech evangelist for Smallbiztechnology.com
