It's a decent full featured more structured on line meeting solution akin to GoToMeeting (as compared to Skype, Google Meet (nee Hangouts) etc.

Pricing is about the same and you can run it for free when for up to 100 participants that last less than 40 minutes. You can host unlimited 1 to 1 meetings. Features on the free package include:

Online support
Video Conferencing Features
Web Conferencing Features
Group Collaboration Features

Personally we prefer GoToMeeting but there's not much to chose between them.

Meetings can be attended by people running Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android / Chrome.

Make sure you use the internet for audio content (actively discourage people using dial in as the call quality as phone companies no longer invest in voice over copper is nowhere near as good).

Seriously, forget your phone!!

Like GoToMeeting you don't need to install the optional client software, you can just attend / run a meeting all through a browser.

Hello. Of course....well with Aqilla anyway!

a) relatively seamless "controlled" access - not relatively, absolutely.

Users can be configured with specific roles, permissions and workflows to manage their activity. The monthly subscription fee for each also depends on what they need to do. Someone processing purchase invoices and say timesheets and running reports etc. costs less than the someone tasked with the actual payment and reconciliation processes.

b) but, retain ownership of the data - That's a given with most 'designed for cloud' solutions.

The data always remains the property of the customer and you can take it away any time you like (including if you switch to a different solution).

c) Pay a fee for the server or blade, if that is what they are called, but we retain ownership and control the access to our data - Forget that. You don't need to pay for physical computing resource.

You just subscribe to the service - hence 'Software as a Service' or SaaS as it's sometimes known. No hardware, operating system, software or database updates to worry about. We take care of all of that.

All you need is a browser and an internet connection and you're away. Best of luck with the project.

Zuora manages subscription and deferred income and also I believe can output to Sage.

Of course if not stuck on Sage then we'd welcome talking to them about Aqilla which does pretty much of what they probably need.

Finally on the R&D Tax credit backlog, a company can make a restrospective claim for R&D tax relief for the periods ending in the past two years.

Aquilla might not, but Aqilla could!

It can manage cross period processing (past and future) and features a neat automatic transaction matching facility for auto-reonciliation of payments against invoices, and another separate function for automatically reconciling  the bank account against an uploaded bank statement. It's cloud based. Prices from £50 a month (plus some setup costs).

Try Ubuntu - Great Desktop OS Without The Mac Tax

Hi Shirley,

I have recently switched two desktops to Ubuntu. It's free, you get all the software you need again for free (albeit most of the software I use now is Cloud based). Talks to everything, has file compatibility with everything (Windows and Macs) and just works, and very well at that. 

You can even run Oracle's free VirtualBox to create a virtual PC if you need to run from time to time anything completely Windows specific (the only thing I use it for is to test some very specific Microsoft Excel tech).

If you are fortunate to be a Google Docs user then the new range of Chromebooks represent excellent value for money in terms of providing new laptops to staff as well.

As others have said, if you go for Windows 8, make sure you install the free update to 8.1. In addition take a look at this excellent Windows 8 Missing Instructional Video. It'll save you hours of effort trying to work out where everything is.

Good luck.

Hugh

Aqilla - doing the right thing

Hi all, at Aqilla we strongly believe in doing the right thing. Yes, really! 

We provide reduced subscription rates as standard (we don't wait to be asked)  to ALL registered Charities and Not for Profit organisations. Instead of £50 per user per month for a Pro User, we offer it at £30 per user per month. In addition we provide (again as standard and not just when pressed) a reduced service day rate for implementation consultancy and support.

Whilst we would accept it is not for everyone, if however you are an organisation which needs functionality which goes beyond basic book-keeping (SORP reporting out of the box, restricted and unrestricted funds management, straight forward integration with popular fund raising packages, project costing, Timesheet and Expenses processing or just support for multi currency) then we believe Aqilla to be the best and most cost effective solution available today.

As ever there are no up front licence costs and no annual maintenance charges. We also wish to continue to challenge some of the less than ideal norms in terms of vendor behaviour towards the Not for Profit sector. If you want proof, talk to one of our customers. 

Things have changed in 2013

The Renewable Energy Association (http://www.r-e-a.net) know quite a lot about this.

Also take a look at http://www.gaia-wind.com/events-and-news/press-releases/gaia-wind-praise...

..and for those that haven't seen it...

..here's the anglicised version of the 46 Stages of Twitter originally posted originally in 2009 by Shane Nickerson.

Hear the word Twitter.  Scoff.Hear it again from someone else.  Scoff again.Hear about famous celebrity who is apparently "On Twitter."  Scoff, but make mental note to check it out.Log into Facebook to comfort self.Sign up for Twitter.Give up because it seems dumb.Loudly criticize others on Twitter.Follow @stephenfry, @afneil, @SallyBercow, @Reuters, @ruskin147 and one other person you actually know.Post tweet that is a variant of: "Trying out this Twitter thing."Attempt to dig a little deeper into Twitter.Notice rampant usage of words: "Tweet," "Twitter," "Twitterverse," "Tweetie," "Tweetdeck," and something called "RT."Scoff again, this time in confusion.Tell friends you "tried that Twitter thing, but didn't get it and it's stupid anyway."Log into Facebook because that site at least makes sense.Read story about Twitter somewhere. Log back into Twitter.  Try to avoid saying Tweet, Twitter, Twitterverse, Tweetie, Tweetdeck, and ReTweet.Respond to @rainnwilson.Curse self for fanning out.Log off for 4 months.Come back, just to see.Post something relatively funny.Get RT'd.Discover that RT means ReTweet.Make it your life mission to get RT'd.Install Twitter app on your phone.No longer ashamed to say "I've gotta Twitter that."Attend events with the sole intention of "Tweeting" them.Pray to get RT'd.Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh. Refresh.Close computer.Open computer.  Refresh.  Refresh.  Refresh.Think in 140 character sentences.Compulsively check phone all day every day.Tweet that you compulsively check phone all day every day.Alienate actual people in your life in an attempt to impress ones you don't know.Lose weight because you forget to eat.Place phone by bed so you can check first thing in the morning.Defend Twitter to the death from detractors.Hear self, and vaguely recognize that you have become "That Guy."Feel like, and start to behave like River Tam.Vow to quit Twitter to preserve sanity.Read this and change mind.  Think to self, "I should twitter that."Recognize irony.Twitter it.

LOADS!

We use it to inform customers. We use it for Marketing. We use it to keep us informed. It's fantastically fast for news delivery, albeit you have to add perspective depending on who posted what. We use it to promote good causes. We use it to wind up competitors. It's also important to learn to ignore a certain people (like in real life) It's great to find out instantly why you are sat in a traffic jam (the person at the front often knows more than the RAC or the local radio). We even recruited someone who applied for a job via Twitter. BRILLIANT.

@ Paul - Normally do!

Hi Paul. Sorry! Typed in haste (and I did implicitly endorse two other solutions! :-)