Zarafa Hosted EMail Solution: All the Benefits of MS Exchange at Half the Cost

zarafa hosted email solution all the benefits of ms exchange at half the cost

hosted-email Cloud computing has changed the way businesses set up and run their IT services and e-mail solutions are no exception. Running a traditional MS Exchange server in-house means an investment in hardware and software which can approach $10,000, plus the annual cost of an in-house engineer to maintain, update, patch and back up the servers. A second option is the hosted email solution which requires no up-front investments yet provides stable Linux server platforms, with full MS Exchange features, at half the cost.

Let’s take a look at the benefits of a hosted email solution versus an In-House solution:

  • Hosted e-mail requires no equipment costs.In-house requires hardware and software upfront costs of several thousand dollars.
  • Hosted e-mail requires no additional staff.In-house requires a dedicated engineer to maintain the server.
  • Hosted e-mail requires no software or hardware upgrade costs, it’s all absorbed by the host.In-house requires constant software and hardware costs in order to have support access.
  • Hosted e-mail allows you to work anywhere, any time, on any device.In-house limits you to working in your office computer as well as some limited OWA accessibility.
  • Hosted e-mail allows you to work off line and it will sync when an internet signal is available.In-house has some off line connectivity in the office, none off site.
  • Hosted e-mail is completely maintained by the host, including patches, upgrades and backups.In-house servers must be patched and upgraded on weekends, backups performed as desired.

An alternate MS Exchange / Outlook solution requires finding a reliable yet fully compatible software solution with a look and feel interface which will not detract from productivity. The feature set should be as complete as the MS Exchange solution and the hardware / software platform should be robust and well documented. Zarafa fill all of these requirements and a great deal more.

Zarafa is an open source e-mail and collaboration service. It’s interface is almost identical to MS Outlook, making company transitions very smooth since the software requires almost no learning curve (compared to Outlook). Zarafa provides the same feature set as MS Outlook, including calendar, e-mail and contacts sharing. Reliability is provided by Linux and MySQL, and client ease of use and portability is provided by an Ajax web application.

Benefits of Zarafa e-mail and collaboration service:

  • Open source platform means substantial cost reduction.
  • Linux servers mean industry standard stability.
  • MySQL server for reliable and secure data storage.
  • No learning curve, interface almost identical to MS Outlook.
  • AJAX based web app, full mobile device support and ease of use.
  • Remote access via SSL.

Summary: With today’s cloud based technology you are no longer limited to in-house servers to meet your e-mail needs. Hosted email solutions such as Zarafa offer all the features of MS Exchange with the reliability of known platforms such as Linux and MySQL. As a bonus, cost reductions of over 50% make Zarafa a great choice for companies large or small. Contact us and we’ll be happy to implement a free 25 user trial so you can see the power of Zarafa hosted email solutions for yourself.

A hosted email solution with five star reliability and collaboration for less money

a hosted email solution with five star reliability and collaboration for less money
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If we polled business owners as to what they thought the three most critical factors determining their success was there’s a good chance that the top three would be: reliability, collaboration, and low cost.

Achieving those three critical elements in a hosted email solution for your business should be considered a tremendous win for your company. The truth is that many business owners may not spend the necessary time and resources into really researching the best possible option. Microsoft Exchange is often thought of as the “go to” choice here purely for its name and recognition. Further investigation, however, does show that another option exists that could provide all the wonderful familiarity and usability of Microsoft Outlook with even better reliability and collaboration at just about half the costs. Introduce yourself to Zarafa.

Firstly, Zarafa can offer increased reliability with the full utilization of a Linux server, which saves your email and collaboration data to a MySQL database for added security. Collaboration is another strong suit of Zarafa, whereas it enables full Outlook sharing, including email, calendar, and contacts. It is also compatible with any mobile device.

The true strength in having Zarafa up and running for your business, however, is in its open source platform. Because it is open-source, the costs are significantly lower than those of its competitors. In some cases they are as little as 50% of the costs of some proprietary packages. It is also fully licensed under the Alfero GPLv3 software license.

Overall, it is the peanut-butter and jelly like combination of providing open, compatible, and enterprise level collaboration with Linux server reliability and all at a lower cost that makes Zarafa a real alternative to Microsoft Exchange in the eyes of its customers and partners.

“AE Technology Group” is a Managed IT and Cloud Hosting Solution Provider headquartered in Rockville Centre, NY. We specialize in offering enterprise class services to small and medium sized businesses including: Managed IT Services, Business IT Support, Cloud computing, Disaster Recovery, Email, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Hardware as a Service (HaaS), Hosting Services, and VoIP. Please contact us today for more information. We would love to hear from you!

Why Microsoft Exchange No Longer Has a Lock on Business Email

why microsoft exchange no longer has a lock on business email
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One interesting thing about Microsoft’s recent communications regarding its public beta of Office 2013 is that the emphasis has been entirely on the client-side and cloud-based aspects. To learn anything more about the new Microsoft Exchange server requires more digging.

This is a sign of how Microsoft is shifting focus, and though it is keeping and adapting most of its legacy office programs, it is starting to recognize that its models are becoming less viable in the face of Microsoft Exchange alternative providers.

Organizations Are Losing Fear of Hosted and Cloud-Based Solutions

Email has been one of the prime vectors of malicious attack, and in fact the combination of “Microsoft Outlook + VBScript” used to be almost synonymous with basic hacking. Companies have been forced to stay guarded when it comes to email content as it contains the core of all internal communications and is also a powerful resource for attackers. This has been enough to justify the overhead associated with storage, licensing, and upkeep of email systems.

However, things have changed in recent years. Enterprise organizations are willing to trust their email exchange to hosted/cloud-based third parties, finding that security is often more than adequate and that the ability to leverage web access and mobility creates returns in productivity that more than justify the risks of giving up control.

Competitors Have Established Viability

Microsoft Exchange market share has dropped accordingly. Gmail as a business solution may have not been a widely-embraced idea when Google first launched its services, but nowadays email as part of Google Apps for Business has become the go to solution for countless successful organizations.

In addition, open source exchange alternatives such as Zarafa have allowed businesses to build an entirely Exchange-compatible email stack on top of a Linux-based solution. This allows them to leverage the advantages of local control yet also sidestep massive ongoing licensing costs and easily implement mobile and web-based access.

If you are evaluating your long term email strategies and considering migration, contact a trusted Exchange alternative provider.

A Customer Relationship Management Software Developer Can Craft the Perfect Solution

a customer relationship management software developer can craft the perfect solution
CRM_mind_map

Customer relationship management (CRM) is one of many key business domains that is being enhanced by software. Like accounting, supply chain, and enterprise resource planning, the tools required for streamlining connections with future and existing customers are essential for any business. Not only that, but an effective CRM solution must have the ability to plug in to any other business process or functionality, allowing the user to achieve a complete view of relationships with all other core business areas.

There are a good number of CRM systems currently on the market. Some are cloud-based and fairly inexpensive. Others are installed on-premises and require a certain amount of overhead to operate. Most vendors offer several different tiers of service (including the option of cloud or local install), often bringing their clients in with basic, low-cost services and then offering more complete features and options for customization at a premium.

However, let us ask whether or not it behooves a company to look at customization as the core selling point for CRM. Almost every vendor offers some form of industry-specific template to set up the solution, assuming that companies in similar markets are well-off with similar configurations.

This ignores one crucial principle of business: it is important to differentiate from competitors. A template created with a whole industry in mind does not offer the client any form of CRM advantage. Keeping in mind how critically CRM ties into other business areas, this means that embracing a generic CRM solution can be detrimental to business overall. On top of this, a basic CRM solution will likely require a great deal of consulting and extra costs to bring up to speed with the inner workings of a business.

Given these considerations, it is important to think about customization from the very start. A CRM software developer can give a business an affordable, effective, well-tailored solution crafted to its specific needs. In order for a CRM system to become truly valuable, it needs a personalized touch. Contact a trusted CRM developer to learn how such a solution can serve your business.

Zarafa: The Premier Open Source Email & Collaboration Software

zarafa the premier open source email amp collaboration software 2

Email and collaboration are cornerstones of today’s business. Zarafa gives you the most reliable email and collaboration software on the market with more speed and greater stability than that of big name software!
Zarafa has some pivotal advantages that make it the superior choice over its competitors:

No learning curve

With a similar appearance and feel to Outlook, switching over to Zarafa could not be any simpler! With familiar features and layout, your work flow will pick up right where it left off!

Full device support

Convenience is one of the primary functions of Zarafa. Users can maintain that Web 2.0 Outlook “Look & Feel” via web access on any mobile device from any location.

Cost effective

Zarafa provides you all the same benefits of Microsoft Exchange and more bang for your buck!

Features of Zarafa:

Zarafa has simple email sharing features allowing you to drag and drop files making them into attachments. There are also public folders, enabling you to collaboratively share files instantly!

Another key component is zarafa’s user-friendliness. Zarafa supports various web browsers so you are able to use the web browser of your choice. A prominent feature is the multi-user weekly calendar which allows you to add multiple users to a single calendar, thus giving you everyone’s times in which they are available.

Zarafa also supports:

  • Active Directory / LDAP Integration
  • Advanced database storage
  • Brick-level backup
  • Single sign-on
  • Multi-server setups and high availability
  • Multi-tenancy

For more information contact AE Technology Group, a trusted technology partner that provides service with Zarafa, a leading open source email and collaboration solution.