In Search of the Softwareless Office

Not long ago I recall that the Holy Grail of business was something referred to as the Paperless Office. This was the notion that software and computers would allow businesses to operate without printing anything on paper. Funny thing is though it seems that while we are much more efficient and much more global, we still go through lots of paper.

The new Holy Grail, if you follow new things, is something I would like to officially term the Softwareless Office. At present, most any function that you might need a computer or working using that computer to accomplish, can be done with an application that is housed on the web and not resident as software. (Maybe this will lead to the officeless office next.)

Google (Google Apps) is driving this train pretty hard at the moment and Microsoft (Office Live) has taken note - mix in some pretty terrific upstarts like 37Signals and you've got a great environment for more development on this front.

Here's a list of prebuilt web based only applications to help run your business...

Email

• GMail
• IceMail
• WebMail 

• Skype
• GotVMail 

• SageCRM

• Salesforce.com

• Zoho CRM

• Drop Send

• Xdrive

• Box.net

• Google Docs

• Zoho Writer 

Spreadsheets

• Zoho Sheet
• Google Spreadsheets 

Database and Forms

• Zoho Creator
• WuFoo
• DabbleDB

Design

• Formatpixel
• SiteKreator
• Homestead

Project management

• Basecamp
• Collanos Workplace

Presentations

• WebEx
• GoToMeeting 

Accounting & Billing

• QuickBooks Online
• FreshBooks 

Collaboration

• HyperOffice
• Zimbra 

Office Suites

• Zoho Virtual Office
• Google Apps
• Office Live
• NetSuite
• WebOffice