Sharing files with colleagues needn’t break the bank
Answer: Hi Luke- and congratulations on taking the plunge. There are several cost-efficient ways that start-ups like yours can use to exchange documents. I’ve picked out three that you might consider: The first is Microsoft Office Live Workspaces, which comes free with Office Live Small Business, a set of Internet-based tools to help you get your business online. It allows you to upload files to a secure online storage area, share them, and create individual workspaces for fellow collaborators. Creating a workspace is quick and easy - so you’ll have a central location for your Office, Excel and PowerPoint files within minutes. Access is through an ordinary web browser, which means you can access your files from any machine and from anywhere in the world. Once you’ve put files into the workspace, you can invite not just your business partner, but also clients and suppliers to access them. They don’t need their own account to work on the documents in the shared workspace, and you can individually set different permissions for each individual. So your partner could have access to everything, whilst customers and suppliers might only get to see documents specific to individual projects. Office Live comes with a copious 500Mb of space and you’ll never need to perform backups as your files are safely stored online.
My next contender is Windows Live SkyDrive, which provides similar functionality and again involves minimal capital outlay (indeed your first 5GB is free). It offers economical, reliable and practically unlimited online storage for all your files. SkyDrive is a slightly less sophisticated offering than Office Live Small Business, but which you may find simpler to use. Think of it as an online filing cabinet. To get started, all you need is a Windows Live ID. If you already have a Windows Live or Hotmail account, you’ll already have your ID sorted out. You and your partner (or any of your authorised users for that matter) can then access and work together on files. You can create three different types of folders that will be stored on a server managed by Microsoft:
My next suggestion is also ideal for smaller businesses looking to grow. Microsoft Office Live Groove is a piece of traditional desktop software which makes sharing easy:
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Once you’ve put files into the workspace, you can invite not just your business partner, but also clients and suppliers to access them. They don’t need their own account to work on the documents in the shared workspace, and you can individually set different permissions for each individual. 
