(Image: Google)

Just as Google has come to own a significant portion of my online life, the same can be also said about many businesses around the world. Continuing with this trend, the Goliath of a search engine recently launched the Google Apps Marketplace, allowing third-party developers to take advantage of the increasingly powerful Google Apps platform.

Conventional wisdom will have businesses running their own internal servers, but Google Apps can put all of that information “in the cloud.” By doing so, employees can access the equivalent of the company intranet from anywhere they have an Internet connection.

Google Apps has been around for a while, but it has been restricted to in-house solutions from Google like Gmail for Business and Google Documents. With Google Apps Marketplace, businesses of all sizes can take advantage enterprise-level solutions that integrate directly with these Google solutions.

In no particular order, here are eight of the best offerings from the Google Apps Marketplace.

1. Manymoon

Collaborating with your team on a project can be a challenge. Emails get lost in the mix and they’re hard to organize. With Manymoon, you get an application that was designed specifically to manage your team collaborations.

In some ways, it takes some of the best aspects of social networking and applies it to a team project context. Manymoon integrates with Google Calendar, Contacts, Documents, and Spreadsheets. It can also be used to manage your tasks.

Manymoon is free to use.

2. Expensify

Expense reports are made easier with Expensify. Using this software, employees can automatically import their expenses from 95% of US credit cards, making it much simpler to generate the expense report each month.

Further still, many of the imported transactions are accompanied by eReceipts, which are digital versions of their paper counterparts. These eReceipts are just as acceptable to the IRS as regular receipts. Cash expenses can be entered via the mobile tracking application too, which is available on several smartphone platforms.

Expensify is free to create and submit reports, but there is a $5 charge for each submitter per month beyond the two free users.

3. Intuit Online Payroll

Google Apps is designed to put everything up in the cloud and this includes most things that would normally be performed locally. Rather than having the payroll managed by internal servers, you can use Intuit Online Payroll for Google Apps.

This is equivalent to the local installation of Intuit for payroll, except it allows you to run payroll anywhere you can log in to Google Apps. The paychecks can be shown in Google Calendar and you can print checks (or use direct deposit) directly from the application.

Intuit Online Payroll is $39 per month for one employee filing in one state.

4. OffiSync

Some people have made the full migration over to Google Documents, but others still prefer the familiar environment of Microsoft Office. For that group of users, there is OffiSync.

In effect, you get Google Docs-like collaboration from within Microsoft Office. After installation, a new toolbar appears inside Office applications, allowing files to be saved directly to Google Docs. Users can also take advantage of Google Search to find existing documents.

OffiSync is free to download and use.

5. TripIt

Just as Manymoon appears to be a great tool for project collaboration management, TripIt can serve the same purpose for organizing business travel among colleagues.

The software allows employees to organize and share their travel plans, integrating their custom itineraries with Google Calendar and Google Contacts. These plans can be further enhanced with weather, maps and directions. The accompanying mobile app for Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry completes the package.

TripIt is a free app.

6. FreshBooks

Invoicing can be a big hassle, especially for smaller businesses that are strapped for time. FreshBooks online billing streamlines the process.

The software caters mostly to freelancers and subscription services, but can be used for a wide range of other businesses. The invoices can be managed and sent from within the application, including the ability to track their progress. The app is also used to manage contractors.

FreshBooks charges based on number of clients. Prices start at $19 per month for up to 25 clients.

7. Capsule

Need a way to better maintain your customer contact lists? Capsule is a simple customer relationship management (CRM) software package that is flexible and versatile.

By using this software, you can maintain “one turbo-charged address book for your company” and “keep track of your sales pipeline and activities.” Capsule lets you see who said what and when with a full history of the contact and helps to ensure timely follow-ups by creating tasks about customers that can then be shared with co-workers.

Capsule is free for the first 30 days and $12 per month per user after that.

8. TimeBridge

Google Calendar is great for managing your own schedule, but what about collaborating on meeting times with other co-workers and colleagues? The TimeBridge web apps helps to schedule these meetings, finding a time that is suitable for all attendees.

Meetings can be scheduled quickly, because the software automatically finds the time that works for everyone. This is because the availability is shared across calendar systems and the calendar can then be synchronized.

TimeBridge Basic is free. TimeBridge Plus starts at $12 a month with a free 30-day trial.

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(Photo: Brasil2 / iStockphoto)

It would certainly be nice to have the same kind of expense account as high-ranking corporate executives, but not everyone is quite so lucky. This applies to people who are self-employed, as well as regular employees who need to fit their regular business travel expenses into the company’s budget. This is especially true given today’s economic climate.

According to the IRS, deductible travel expenses can include such costs as airplane tickets, in-town transportation, hotel stays, dry cleaning, business calls, and equipment rental. All of these can add up very quickly, so how can you cut back on business travel expenses without having the business suffer as a result? Here are six handy tips to consider.

Book Flights Well in Advance

They say that if you fail to plan, then you should plan to fail. A similar philosophy can be taken when it comes to travel expenses. When you know that you’ll need to be in a certain city on a certain date, it pays to book the flights well in advance. Scrambling to find a flight at the last minute can prove to be an expensive endeavor.

By planning your itinerary in advance, you also afford yourself the time to shop around to find the best deals. Use online booking sites like Orbitz and Priceline to compare fares across multiple carriers. Better yet, hire a virtual assistant through a service like YourManInIndia and have him or her do the comparison shopping for you.

Pack Some Extra Snacks

When traveling for business, you may find yourself burning the midnight oil on some nights. During those later evenings, you may find yourself craving something from the vending machine in the hotel or, worse yet, something from mini-bar inside the hotel room.

While it would likely be unrealistic to cook your own meals while on the road, it’s very easy to pack a few granola bars or other small snacks as part of your luggage. Save even more money by buying your snacks in bulk from Amazon Groceries or other online retailers.

Skip the Rental Car

Even if you opt for the cheapest economy class vehicle, you still have to deal with additional costs like insurance, fuel, and parking. Again, with proper planning in advance, you can save a lot of money by skipping out on the rental car altogether.

If you are attending a conference or trade show, try to get a hotel within walking distance of the venue. Alternatively, most of these venues will be easily accessible by public transit, so book a hotel that will only require one train or bus.

If your smartphone is equipped with GPS, use Google Maps Mobile. This not only provides nearby points of interest and driving directions, it can also supply directions via public transit.

Forget the Overpriced Hotel Wi-Fi

Many hotels charge an arm and a leg for in-room Internet access. The typical rate for a Las Vegas hotel on the strip is about $15 per day. That’s quite pricey and, depending on the hotel, the wireless broadband may leave much to be desired in terms of reliability and speed.

Ideally, you’ll want to find a hotel where the in-room Internet access is included as part of your room fee. Alternatively, do a quick search online before you go to see what free Wi-Fi hotspots are available within close proximity of your hotel or the venue that you will be visiting.

For example, you can use this Google Map that shows a huge number of free Wi-Fi in Vancouver or this list of hotspots in Las Vegas.

If you already have a wireless broadband account for Internet access in your hometown, see if you can use this account in the town where you will be on business.

Yet another option is to enable your iPhone or similar device as an Internet Tethering Wireless Modem for your PC.

Remember You’re Not on Vacation

When you are traveling to another city for business purposes, it’s easy to forget that you are there for business purposes. You’re not there for sightseeing or to visit the local attractions. You’re not there to indulge in lavish dining or other expensive amenities.

These kinds of expenses might not be the kind of expenses you can submit for the purpose of a tax deduction, but they can easily deduct funds from your wallet. This is especially true for conventions that take place in places like Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

Minimize Travel Altogether

What is the single most effective way to reduce the amount of money you spend on business travel? How about minimizing the travel altogether? Given today’s technology and the ability to share ideas over the Internet, face-to-face meetings aren’t nearly as necessary as they have been in the past.

Nearly everything can be accomplished over a brief email exchange, an IM chat, or a short Skype call. Alternatively, you can use any number of free videoconferencing services, including those embedded in Windows Live Messenger.

There are certainly still instances where business travel can be a requirement, but many trips can be replaced by less expensive alternatives like the shipment of product samples. Shipping a box is cheaper than flying a group of employees and putting them up in a hotel.

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