Many web 2.0 business applications seem like a good idea, but it's far too easy to get carried away with cool features rather than actually getting the job done.

If the first thing you have to do every day is tidy up your inboxes, task lists, workflows, IMs, forecasts and reminders, and reports before you actually do any work then you’re trapped in a smiling, happy administrative hell. Goodbye, lost soul.

Now I’m no fan of top ten lists and I’m not too keen on gimmicky buzzwords (like web 2.0) but there are a few web 2.0 apps which can make a real difference to your business. None of these tools should replace common sense, best practice or a focus on your objectives. Good business acumen doesn’t come from the internet – it comes from far wiser people than me who have it hard-wired into their brains from years of study and/or experience. Having said that – these are pretty cool...

Task Management

To avoid those aforementioned pitfalls, Remember The Milk is a smart choice. We all love task lists: you may have one in Outlook, iGoogle, Skype, MSN, on your iPod and on your mobile phone....in fact you've probably got several, spread across a number of these places and beyond. Actually doing any of the tasks can result in updating several lists. Remember The Milk solves this by providing you with one central task list. It can be accessed anywhere – by email, SMS or IM. It will integrate seamlessly with Google Calendar, iPhones/Pods, Twitter, Skype, mobile phones and more. The latest beta even hooks up to Google Maps too. That meeting you have pencilled in this afternoon? There it is, marked nicely on the map, allowing you to see where today is taking you. Simple, innovative and time saving.

Good Alternative: Backpack

Project Management

Basecamp is a must for anyone who needs visibility of all their business’s projects being managed. Whether or not you think you need Basecamp, its popularity comes from a simple, clear interface and logical structure. Rather than list a bunch of features (which you can find on their website), I'll just say that Basecamp makes even the most lengthy and complicated project seem small, organised and fully manageable, keeping track of everything you do from day one to completion. Who doesn’t want that?

Good Alternative: Huddle

Document Creation

You know that Microsoft Office thingie that’s been hanging around on your computer for over a decade? Well, Zoho is basically that - but online. What’s the point? Granted, at the moment, there are few sectors that actually, truly, really, honestly benefit from an online office suite. But some do. Online word processing, spreadsheets and presentations mean that you can get to your documents anywhere with just a browser. Even if you aren’t quite ready to move all your documents online, you should definitely check out some of Zoho’s other cool offerings.

Good Alternative: Google Docs

Web Conferencing

What? You still travel to meetings? Good lord – haven’t you seen Doctor Who? We’re living in the future, you know. Reduce your carbon footprint with WebEx the market leader for online meetings. With WebEx you can do video conferencing, audio conferencing, private and public seminars, document sharing, online presentations and more. It is brilliant for long-distance training, allowing you to have control of an attendee’s mouse and show them what to do on their very own computer.

Good Alternative: GoToMeeting

Accounting

Organising your accounts is pretty tiresome. There are a few online accounts packages emerging, but Freshbooks wins out for me. It is highly focussed and extremely practical, allowing intuitive organisation of invoices, estimates and expenses - and easily managing all (alright, most) of the trouble that money throws at you. Brilliantly, Freshbooks allows your invoices to be paid online, automate reminders and final notices, export data, generate reports, customize its look and feel and generally act like a swotty little accountant...except it doesn’t charge you a fortune. Even better, it integrates with Basecamp (see above) so you don’t have to duplicate all your project information.

Good Alternative: BlinkSale

Customer Relationship Managemen

CRM software is everywhere and it is all, without exception, pretty boring. At least HighRise keeps it simple. It is an online contact manager which does what you expect it to do. Rather than all of your staff having their own address books full of their own notes and knowledge, HighRise keeps them all in one place with a full log of notes and contact history. Now everybody in the company can see exactly when and why contacts have been... contacted. If nothing else, it helps reduce that dreaded ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have that information.’ In true web 2.0 style, you can also tag all your contacts with appropriate (or inappropriate) keywords.

Good Alternatives: Salesforce

So there you go – this list could go on forever (or at least 'til ten), but I’m going to end with six of the best. A bit arbitrary, but then, arbitrary is what web 2.0 apps are at the moment. Try them on for size and, if they fit your business, you can sit back and smile, safe in the knowledge that not only are you improving the efficiency of your organisation, you're also very trendy and completely on top of this whole 'computer' malarkey. Of course, if you find that efficiency hasn’t improved, then don’t feel bad – it’s fun to try these things. Just make sure you bin them and get back to work!