Are you risking your business by using free online tools?

We are all take free online tools for granted these days. From social networking to file sharing, there is always a free tool available on the web. However, most come with usage limits or time limits attached, after which we are expected to pay. Sometimes the company will suddenly turn around and ask us to pay - because their business model isn't working and they need more revenue - or we have to go elsewhere.

This can be a problem if the tool is business critical, especially if you haven't budgeted for the increased cost. We have to ask ourselves, what are the risks attached to using these free tools? I have been hit a few times with this, with AntiVirus software and the cost of supporting Open Source applications - the latter included our telephone system which had a major affect on our business at the time, as you can imagine.

I cam across a good article about this very subject the other day on WebWorkerDaily called When Free Is No Longer Free by Aliza Sherman - it's worth reading. The article explains more about the issues and recommends the following approaches:

• Don't go for 'mission critical' tools
• Go free, but budget for future fees
• Use free trials to Test Drive, then commit
• Stay free by migrating

It's all sound advice that we support, but remember the price of free can be far greater still in terms of personal information and security. For me, the bottom line is, if it's important to your business then it's probably worth paying for.

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