After the filing for bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the rescue of AIG, bad economic news have become pretty much the only kind of news we get. Everyone is dull and aiming at barely keeping what they have. No one is considering expanding their business and because of the reigning instability, no one is willing to increase spending or investment.

The bad mood might be blamed for making people neglect the fact that there is an increasing number of cheap products and services available which are, nonethelss, very effective and can be of great use to companies of all sizes. 

The availabity of fast internet links has given rise to a whole new set of opportunities to small and mid-sized businesses. As a result, these companies now require much less manpower to accomplish tasks that used to drain the HR departments. They also have access to cutting-edge goods and services, once reserved for giant companies alone.

There are now many low cost (or even free) applications now available to do most company processes like accounting, customer service, production, marketing, sales, back-office, data warehousing, for all. Software as a Service, Open-source movement, freeware, all contribute considerably for this ‘going cheap strategy’; and now cheap no longer mean less-effective.

Add to above is the availability of cheap workforce. Outsourcing of services and tasks made companies more competitive and stable. The developing of internet as a worldwide market place have offered opportunities to even smaller firms.