Startup business server or saas

[StuntMonkeh]

There is a good chance I will start working freelance this year and am looking at how to better manage my workflow and data.

I have previously worked with the usual Microsoft tools with a network share and various folders. In this day and age this seems pretty archaic.

Essentially the work will be project management and design. Files will be documents, photos and CAD files. Ideally I would like some way of linking emails to projects somehow so I wasn't forever searching emails too.

Would I be best with my own small server with offsite backup or paying for saas?

Can anyone recommend some software? I have had a look at 'project open' and a few other open source solutions but would be interested to see other suggestions.

Thanks in advance....

 

[StuntMonkeh]

Thanks for you input. I want to make the right choice early on rather than go down a route and get stuck with something that would be hard to migrate from.

There is a vast array of SAAS tools out there. Just had a look at Teamworkpm and that looks pretty good. Maybe I should trial a few to see how they fair but they all seem to support the same things.

The geek in me wants a server to play with but I know at some point it would fail and I would then spend an insurmountable time fixing it when I would be better off generating revenue....