MyBusiness, the company that claims to have everything a business needs to run its back office functions in one easy-to-use program, will release version 2 of its product this month. This includes automatic chasing of invoices with pre-written follow-up letters and prompts as to when to send them. It will also track costs associated with an invoice and tell a business owner how much profit has been made on every individual sale.

The company is also releasing its payroll product, which takes an employee's details and stores them, then logs onto a site on the internet that updates it with any tax legislation that may have changed since the last payroll run before issuing payments. The idea is to make payroll easy and mistake-proof.

Alcatel is looking to move into the small business market for the first time with its OmniPCX Office product. This is a voice, data and e-communications system in the one box. It is basically a pre-configured server that has telephony, controllable internet access, email server and network security services as well as a local area network switch all in the one system.

The company denied that having so many key functions in a single device was a risk, adding that its reliability was more like that of a telephone than that of a computer so it shouldn't go wrong.

Small businesses don't like web designers handling their electronic business, according to a new survey by Dragnet E-Business. The company, which charts small and medium enterprises' take-up of technology, found that 71% of managers wanted to maintain their web presence in-house rather than use consultants and designers, who the managers considered too costly.

On average, the 127 small businesses approached for the service believed that taking their websites inhouse would save them £25,000 a year.

Small business isn't buying enough messaging software, believes unied messaging software company Tobit. So it's asking its dealers to attach messaging software to every sale they make to a small or medium enterprise, whether the purchase is of accounting systems, contact management or networking infrastructure.

The company says it believes messaging delivers serious benets to business and that smaller traders are missing out by not using it. No doubt the fact that it will be increasing its own sales too is a coincidence.

Hungry? Then look out for the prize promotion lastminute.com will be pushing throughout October. The company wants to encourage ofce workers to order their sandwiches online through its site and will be giving away 1 million sandwich bags through the City and West End, and you'll be able to win £2,500 worth of food. Happily you don't have to eat it all at once, as the prize will be spread over a year's worth of free food delivery to the workplace of your choice.

If you hadn't heard already, next week is e-business week and the Government has a lot of events planned to help companies considering making better use of the technology. The DTI's website (www.ukonlineforbusiness.co.uk/ebw) details local events and promotions, highlighting seminars to attend and adding basic explanations of some of the technology being promoted.

The online home of the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative, (www.sfedi.co.uk) offers online advice and help including ideas for start-ups, existing businesses, business support and pre-incorporation help.

Alodis (www.alodis.co.uk) is an organisation for self-employed people which offers a magazine and plans a number of services. So far they include a discount on bills and a virtual PA for people who work in isolation, but the plan is to grow these and also to act as a pressure group for better treatment of the sole trader.

www.better-business.co.uk is the site for a magazine on business practice for the smaller trader. The website has a cut-down sample issue for which you'll need Adobe Acrobat reader - go to www.adobe.com and you can download it for free.

An excellent site for downloading software is www.tucows.com. If you need a utility or program but aren't sure it exists, it's well worth checking here rst; everything is virus checked before being dispatched.

www.businesslink.org is a government-backed site for business advice. Well worth a look and worth comparing with the SFEDI site as the Government's take on a given subject contrasted with that of a private organisation.