SMB Tech Roll-up: HyperOffice Upgrades Cloud Offerings, Google Gives SMBs a Boost

By David Roe (@druadh20) Oct 28, 2010

In the SMB space this week, HyperOffice has launched a new cloud-based project management offering, while Google looks to release a new online advertising product.

HyperOffice Offers Cloud Project Management

Just when you thought the Microsoft vs. Google, Web Apps vs. Google Apps couldn’t get any tetchier, HyperOffice (news, site) has upped the ante with the introduction of its new online project management application that aims to give SMBs a project management tool integrated with HyperOffice’s collaboration suite.

In fairness to HyperOffice, this release doesn’t seem to have come in a fit of pique over the release of Office365 by Microsoft (news, site), the pricing of which is clearly aimed at SMB markets, or a reaction to Google’s continued inroads into the SMB market with its slow but sure upgrades to Google Apps.

This release keeps doing what HyperOffice has been doing for a long time - providing affordable and effective online tools that enable even very small businesses to collaborate through email, document collaboration, Intranets and Extranets, shared calendars and all the rest.

With this update, HyperOffice offers the first cloud project management solution designed for SMBs that is powerful enough to manage business-grade projects in a collaborative environment. It adds task dependencies and interactive Gantt charts to an existing list of project management and collaboration features that SMBs can immediately start using.

What’s more, Google Apps doesn’t really have project management features, which means SMBs currently have to buy a solution separately or go to Google Apps marketplace and try and source one from the huge number of offerings available there. Not an easy task. Let’s see where Google goes with this.

Is Google’s Boost Enough for SMBs?

From Google this week, there have been further moves to secure SMB advertising revenues. In the Google Lat Long blog this week, Google announced that it is releasing a new online advertising solution to help local businesses connect with potential customers in their area.

Entitled Boost, it enables business owners to create online search ads directly from their Google Places account, which once set-up requires no ongoing management. And that is one of the principal differences between books and regular Google ads. To create an ad, all that is needed is a short business description, a web or Place page, your business categories and a monthly budget.

From there, Google automatically sets up your ad campaign, figuring out the relevant keywords that will trigger your ad to appear on Google and Google Maps, and how to get the most out of the budget you allotted.

Boost ads are eligible to appear in the “Sponsored Links” section of Google.com and Google Maps search result pages.

While the beta is currently available to select local businesses in San Francisco, Houston and Chicago, Google says it will “review the data and effectiveness of this trial and may make changes before making decisions about any future expansion and this.”