Because of cost constraints, technologies that improve workflow, efficiency, or business analysis are often left on the sidelines.

Small businesses and startups must spend most of their budgets on advertising and overhead costs. Because of cost constraints, technologies that improve workflow, efficiency, or business analysis are often left on the sidelines. With a little bit of time to invest, FOSS projects can optimize a company without denting budgets.

If you want to implement one of these tools but do not have technical expertise, let us geek it together for you.

Before we start, lets go over why FOSS does not always mean no-cost, but can mean low-cost. Unforseen costs for any software can come from equipment needed to run it, hosting if you want someone to run it for you, person-hours to learn the system, and person-hours to implement the software.

Below we will attempt to 'breadcrumb' you over to articles that cover options in greater detail.

When it comes to the variety of tools and software available, the sky is the limit.

Want an email server without limitations on mailboxes, forwards, domains, etc?

• H2S Media has their collection of the "12 Best Free Opensource Mail Server Software"

Would you like to keep your books using software, but QuickBooks Enterprise is a bit out of your price-range?

• The Balance Small Business has a good article on FOSS alternatives for accounting: "Top Free or Open Source Accounting Programs"

What about Human Resource Management Systems?

• FinancesOnline's "10 Best Free HR Software Solutions For Companies On a Budget"

Need to track inventories?

• Capterra's "The Top 6 Free and Open Source Inventory Management Software Systems"

Would Enterprise Resource Planning make your work easier?

• Check out OpenSource.com's "Top 9 Open Source ERP systems to consider"

Need better IT Security, incident, and error reporting for your business? Consider a SIEM (Security Informaion and Event Management).

• DZone compares 6 SIEM tools: "6 Open-Source SIEM Tools"

Does Business Intelligence pique your interests?

• Captera lists their "Top 8 FOSS Business Intelligence Software"

Customer Relationship Management is a hot item these days. What if I told you there were a variaty of good, free CRM systems?

• Capterra has details: "The 8 Best Free and Open Source CRM Software Solutions"

Anti-malware?

• FOSSHub has nice selection: "Anti Malware Category"

Concerned about Backup and Recovery?

• Check out OpenSourceForU's "Ten must-have open source tools for backup and recovery"

Encryption for Full-disk, file, email, chat, and web browsing?

• Privacy.net has an extensive list here: "Best free encryption software: 35+ free tools"