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.
