Whoever said “all good things in life are free” must not have worked in the hotel business. For an industry that has cut so close to the bone that budgets look frighteningly skeletal, the concept of “free” is as far-fetched as Santa Claus, the tooth fairy or the Cleveland Browns winning the Super Bowl.

Or is it? Not so, says Jules A. Sieburgh, the tech-guru extraordinaire of O’Neal Consultants and amicable former president of the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals. With a twinkle in his eye, he dispelled my cynical financial worldview during a presentation on freeware at the recent European Hospitality Technology Educational Conference in Amsterdam.

Freeware, Jules informed me and a crowd of equally pessimistic and downright stingy industry professionals, is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional cost. The term speaks for itself, really; it’s a combination of “free” and “software.”

I could feel my sense of whimsy returning already.

The software serves a variety of disciplines, from accounting to customer relationship management to multimedia to basic office utilities. More often than not, it’s easy to use and incredibly intuitive. But it does come with its limitations—whether that’s size of files or number of times used before you have to pay, depending on the program. There also are security concerns, as most of these programs lack the high-tech firewalls needed to ward off hackers.

Because of this, the big hotel chains will probably prefer to use their own systems and resources, Jules admitted. But for smaller mom-and-pop operations, a lot of the freeware out there will meet and exceed their current needs.

If nothing else, freeware provides some interesting capabilities for personal use as well. (Jules delivered an effortless walkthrough of photo editing software that let him crop and enhance a picture of his son’s high school lacrosse team.) 

To help get you started, Jules put together a rather thorough list for his presentation. You can reach him using the following contact information with any questions or kudos:

O'Neal Consultants
7412 Honesty Way
Bethesda, Maryland 20817
cell: 240-372-8630
e-mail: jsieburgh@onealconsultants.com

So without further ado, let’s have at it. (Suddenly Santa Claus doesn’t look so fanciful anymore, does he?)

Accounting:
quickbooks.intuit.com
-Basic bookkeeping software solution for small businesses.
www.thisispearl.com
-Online Accounting and CRM software for small businesses.
www.saasu.com
-Professional online invoicing, expenses, inventory and payroll.

Customer Relationship Management:
www.zoho.com
-CRM software if you track prospects and communication.
-Free for three users.
www.sugarcrm.com
www.freecrm.com

File sharing and collaboration:
www.officezilla.com
-Manage and collaborate on projects.
www.circleup.com
-Manage e-mail conversations, including both voting and comments.
www.groupsite.com
www.surveymonkey.com
-A simple way to create online surveys.

Office utilities:
www.nitropdf.com/free
-Edit and convert PDF documents to MS Word or Excel files.
www.primopdf.com
-Allows you to create a PDF file from any file you can print.
www.zamzar.com
-Online file conversion site, with many options.
www.openoffice.org
-Similar to MS Office with word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software.
www.sun.com/software/star/odf_plugin/index.jsp
-Plug-in for Microsoft Office that provides the ability to read, edit and save from MS to Open Document Format (ODF).
docs.google.com
-Create documents, spreadsheets and presentations online.
-Allows uploads and downloads.
www.smartsheet.com
-Online collaboration tool that’s similar to a spreadsheet with project management features.
drop.io
-Site to privately share project documents and files.
www.yousendit.com
-For large files that cannot be sent via e-mail; includes the ability to track who, when and how many times files were downloaded.

Communication and multimedia:
www.freeconferencecall.com
-Provides your own conference number and pin.
www.google.com/voice
www.xobni.com
-Outlook plug-in that makes searching your inbox and finding information about your contacts fast and easy.
www.jabbertext.com
-Bulk text messaging service at 2 cents to 3 cents per text.
www.slideshare.com
-Upload and share your PowerPoint presentations, Word documents and Adobe PDF Portfolios.
www.authorstream.com
www.prezi.com
-More advanced presentation software.
www.skype.com
-Free calls over the Internet.
www.animoto.com
-Create short videos from uploaded photos.

Miscellaneous:
www.bigfirstname.com
-Simple way to print name tags, yes, BIG.
www.tripit.com
-Builds a complete online itinerary by e-mailing your flight/hotel/car confirmations to a specific e-mail address.

Other great sources to find free stuff:
http://freesourcing.org
www.makeuseof.com