Free Google Calendar Keeps Telecommuters in Sync

Forget the iPhone. The high price of gas is now story No. 1 here on planet small biz.

While most Americans are contemplating life at $5 a gallon, small businesses are already living this grim reality. Diesel fuel -- the lifeblood of most smaller-company delivery and work vehicles -- is now averaging that scary number in some parts of the United States, the Energy Information Association says.

That's nearly $1.80 higher than the average this time last year. And the effect on profits has been grim: Businesses have begun laying off workers and cutting back on new investment, due in part to higher fuel costs.

And if the stream of questions I am getting is an indication, any solution that keeps employees off the road and away from the gas pump is now top of mind for small business owners. And that means once touchy-feely, lifestyle-oriented concepts like telecommuting are losing their new age spin. Now everyone is looking to get virtual ... and fast.

The problem with remote employment -- as we will be covering until gas prices ease or new technologies come to replace fossil fuel -- is not the lack of choice. Every techno-body makes powerful and vast remote productivity software: Apple (AAPL Quote), Salesforce.com (CRM Quote), 37Signals and its signature product Basecamp, and Zoho among many others. Microsoft (MSFT Quote) has even gone so far as to market its Microsoft Office Live to fuel-squeezed small businesses.

The trick is getting these tools to actually work in small businesses with limited time and resources. That means finding the sweet spots in systems that can keep workers at home, are easy to install and don't cost a heck of a lot.