37signals Product Blog

Using Basecamp and Highrise to move your small business to the cloud

"How to move your small business to the cloud?" [Techworld] offers up "what you need to know about cloud computing: what it is, pros and cons, suggested services, and tips for applying it to your business." The article mentions two 37signals products, Highrise and Basecamp.

Highrise for CRM and Basecamp for project management ($24 to $149 per month each, depending on the level of service you choose) both come from 37signals. A number of small businesses we contacted recommended these services for their feature sets and ease of use.

Read the full piece.

Basecamp and other tools for improving an eCommerce Site

"Tools and Tips for Improving or Migrating an eCommerce Site" recommends Basecamp and a bunch of other tools.

The 37Signals’ Basecamp product is a planning and project management tool for everyone, designers to geeks alike. It allows team members to collaborate around common projects, adding comments and sharing attachments in a centralized manner.

Read the full piece.

Chicago Tribune article discusses how Basecamp and other software can make telecommuting easier for companies and employees

"A shift toward working from home" is a Chicago Tribune article that discusses how software can make telecommuting easier for companies and employees.

[Ross Gordon of advertising/marketing firm Tribe9 Interactive] uses Basecamp collaborative software from Chicago-based 37signals to share files with workers and clients and improve communication.

"Just the fact the Internet is everywhere today makes it easier to use these Web-based tools from anywhere," said Jason Fried, co-founder of 37signals and co-author of the book, "Rework," which offers thoughts on more efficient ways to work.

"People should work in an environment where they're most comfortable," Fried said, because they'll be more productive.

By cutting their commutes, most workers would gain the equivalent of two to three weeks of vacation time per year, according to an expert mentioned in the article.

Startup toolbox includes Basecamp and Highrise

In "One Startup’s Toolbox," Eric Gonzalez writes:

I’ve spent a bunch of time trying to put together the right “toolbox” for our start up, and have shared it below in the hopes this will help all you would be starter uppers out there.

Basecamp and Highrise make the list:

Basecamp - We like basecamp for managing product development sprints and document templates for the same reason we hope our customers like us : powerful and simple.

Highrise – The second of 37 signals’ products on our list, mostly since their design philosophy is pretty similar to our own. Deal management on Highrise is way simpler than other systems (even free ones), and the iPhone app is indispensable for quick look ups while traveling to conferences, client meetings, etc.

View the complete list.

Article details how entrepreneurs use Basecamp and other tools to run an office-less business

In "How to Run a Business Without the Office Space" [Atlanta Small Biz], Devesh Dwivedi talks about how he uses Basecamp to bring together team members in India, the Philippines, and America.

“One technology that helps us the most is Basecamp,” Devesh Dwivedi, an entrepreneur with multiple lines of businesses, a virtual office and team memers in India, Philippines and the U.S., told the E-Commerce Times. “It allows every possible function and feature a project management solution can offer or an SMB would possibly need.

“It’s very inexpensive and even the clients love it, because once the administrator has subscribed, any individual or business — clients, vendors, employees — can simply join in without a need of downloading.” he explained.

SEO pro recommends software for your small business

Kristoffer Sandven, a professional Search Engine Optimizer (SEO), wrote a piece recommending software for your small business. Three 37signals tools make the list:

Basecamp:

After using it for a while I can’t believe I managed without it. Keeping everything in one place is invaluable. The software keeps track of emails, to-dos, milestones and writeboards (notes), as well as files (documents, pictures, screen shots etc) and makes it available for all participants. I find the messages function especially useful. You can enter a message and notify participants by email. They can then comment on the message directly by email by replying to the notification. Very neat.

Highrise:

Highrise does exactly what I need in a very nice interface. Keep track of contacts and leads, deals and todos in one place. Love the email to Highrise functions. I can forward emails to a special dropbox email address to add new contacts or add emails to the history of a contact. I can do the same to add tasks, even assign them to be done today, tomorrow, later etc.

Campfire:

Campfire is a web-based group chat tool that lets you set up password-protected chat rooms in just seconds. Using the software you can Invite a client, colleague, or vendor to chat, collaborate, and make decisions. You can also link to a room on your intranet for internal communications. Campfire is elegant, easy, and web-based. You don’t need to download, install, or configure anything. Just like the other 37signals applications it is iPhone compatible too.

Read the full piece for more of Sandven's suggestions.

Criminal defense lawyer keeps clients informed with Basecamp

Chuck Peterson is a criminal defense lawyer in Boise, Idaho. In this review of REWORK, he mentions how he uses Basecamp in his practice:

We have used Basecamp for years, to keep clients better informed about their cases and in the loop at all hours of the day. Better than email - the messages function in Basecamp insures that your concern will get to me and my response will get back to you with the least grief possible. If you are a lawyer go check out Basecamp and think how easy life can be for you and that client. And you can post documents to the client's project for review without the grief of sending a fax or the worry of lost emails. No $6 faxes needed!

Are you a lawyer who uses a 37signals product? Tell us about it.

Design studio uses Basecamp to bring together collaborators in London and Italy

Work Smarter: 37signals is a WIRED UK profile of 37signals. Along the way it mentions how design studio Tinker.it! uses Basecamp.

"Basecamp really helped us communicate in the early days of our business when we had collaborators both in London and in Italy and needed to share what everyone was up to," says Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, co-founder of design studio Tinker.it! "It allowed us to be on the same page with the way projects were going, edit proposals for clients and share files."

Read the full piece.

How WooThemes uses Basecamp for internal management and interacting with outside collaborators

WooThemes provides WordPress themes for all types of web publishers. The team there recently posted "Behind-the-Scenes: How we use Basecamp."

Before I get into the nitty-gritty of our Basecamp-usage, I need to explain why we use the platform… For obvious reasons, we’re trying to eliminate unnecessary e-mails (those where everyone needs to be CC’ed) between team members; so with Basecamp the information is accessible to everyone that might need to see it, but only the people that need the info to act upon it, get notified. The whole team thus knows what’s going on (with Basecamp acting as a status report of kinds) and they have the option of checking in on this any time they want or need to (not when they’re e-mailed unnecessarily).

The second main reason for using Basecamp (over e-mail), is the fact that all of our most important data, decisions & discussions are kept in one, central place. This is important, considering our geographical differences, as well as helping us when we’re not at our normal workplace (i.e. traveling). We’ve also found that this is great for accountability & efficiency in making sure that all to-do’s are handled in due time & as planned...

Basecamp is an integral part of the way we operate and whilst I wouldn’t go as far as saying that we’d be lost without it; we’d definitely not be able to run as smoothly as we do without it.

Read the full piece for more details on how WooThemes uses Basecamp for internal management and interacting with outside collaborators.

WooThemes: "When you’re doing WordPress development day-in, day-out, it becomes difficult to see the holistic view of all the activities, but with proper milestones, we are constantly reminded of upcoming stuff."

"Sams Teach Yourself Basecamp in 10 Minutes" is a comprehensive guide to Basecamp

Sams Teach Yourself Basecamp in 10 Minutes [Amazon] by Patrice-Anne Rutledge is a new book that's the most comprehensive guide to Basecamp we've ever seen. If you want to know everything there is to know about Basecamp, this is the book for you.

By working through 10-minute lessons, you’ll learn everything you need to know to quickly and easily get up to speed with Basecamp.

10 minutes is all you need to learn how to…

•   Choose the right subscription plan for your needs
•   Get started fast with collaborative project management
•   Customize your Basecamp workspace
•   Efficiently manage people, companies, and permissions
•   Define, populate, search, and manage projects
•   Enter and track milestones, “To Do” lists, and scheduling information
•   Use iCalendar and integrate with your company’s other calendar tools
•   Post messages and share files
•   Collaborate with Basecamp’s Writeboard, Chat, and RSS tools
•   Quickly view project activity on the Dashboard
•   Simplify access with 37signals ID and Launchpad
•   Extend Basecamp with reporting, charting, billing, and accounting
•   Integrate Basecamp with the iPhone and other smartphones