Top Four reasons why IT managers are exploring Hosted Exchange
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 | 0 Comments
By Chris Rittmuller, Apptix Sales Executive
Many organizations are facing the need to upgrade from legacy email systems (at least 7 years old) to stay competitive in the market. Keeping up-to-date with newer, productivity applications is also a challenge.
In exploring options on the best way to upgrade, IT leaders have to decide - keep the email system in-house or go hosted?
The catch 22
While organizations rely more heavily on technology, IT budgets and staffs aren’t growing to keep pace. How are IT managers dealing with this? Many are reviewing and selecting components of their network that they can off-load and put in the Cloud to save on costs without sacrificing service. One of the easier and well established components of the network to move to the Cloud is email.
So, why are many IT managers moving to the Cloud for their company's email needs? Let’s take a look at some of concerns IT managers face in upgrading legacy email systems.
Investment in hardware & software – IT managers try to anticipate the needs of the organization now and 3-5 years out. Anticipating these needs, developing a budget, and keeping technologies current is challenging. How many of us saw the current recession coming? Those companies that made huge upfront purchases for licensing of software, hardware, and warranties before the recession will be hard to recoup that investment if they had to downsize substantially.
Limiting Impact to the business with upgrades/migration – Besides the upfront costs of upgrading, the disruptions that upgrades/migrations may cause to their employees are big concerns. Moving from an outdated legacy system or from a 32 to 64 bit system is not easy and takes planning and many hours to complete. Keeping pace with new advances in technology and keeping systems integrated presents ongoing challenges for IT.
It’s no longer a question if companies will move a portion of their network to the Cloud, but when. With costs of storage coming down dramatically over the last couple of years and the relative ease to setup, migrate, and manage users in the Cloud, Hosted Exchange is fast becoming the choice for many IT managers.
A Hosted Exchange solution can lower their overall IT costs and decrease IT burden by:
Eliminating upfront or reoccurring costs for hardware, software, licenses, warranties and support
Reducing costs by foregoing the need to build & maintain support systems for backups/redundancy/power supply/cooling/VPN
Do more with less by off-loading email server patching and service pack updates, regular system maintenance and upgrades, current IT staff can:
- Focus on IT projects that can drive the company to be more efficient and productive
- Less network infrastructure means less to manage, maintain and upgrade
- Put a “Fixed Cost” per user to better manage IT dollars
Increase network uptime and reliability – good hosted providers offer Hosted Exchange in a fully clustered, TIER IV, SAS 70 II facility. On top of that, they should have multiple internet carriers on multiple GB pipes using a BGP protocol to have high access to data for their clients. The best will back up the data in real time to geo redundant data centers.
If you’re responsible for your company’s email system and considering email in the Cloud, give Apptix a look - we’re sure to have a solution to meet your needs.
Many organizations are facing the need to upgrade from legacy email systems (at least 7 years old) to stay competitive in the market. Keeping up-to-date with newer, productivity applications is also a challenge.
In exploring options on the best way to upgrade, IT leaders have to decide - keep the email system in-house or go hosted?
The catch 22
While organizations rely more heavily on technology, IT budgets and staffs aren’t growing to keep pace. How are IT managers dealing with this? Many are reviewing and selecting components of their network that they can off-load and put in the Cloud to save on costs without sacrificing service. One of the easier and well established components of the network to move to the Cloud is email.
So, why are many IT managers moving to the Cloud for their company's email needs? Let’s take a look at some of concerns IT managers face in upgrading legacy email systems.
Investment in hardware & software – IT managers try to anticipate the needs of the organization now and 3-5 years out. Anticipating these needs, developing a budget, and keeping technologies current is challenging. How many of us saw the current recession coming? Those companies that made huge upfront purchases for licensing of software, hardware, and warranties before the recession will be hard to recoup that investment if they had to downsize substantially.
Limiting Impact to the business with upgrades/migration – Besides the upfront costs of upgrading, the disruptions that upgrades/migrations may cause to their employees are big concerns. Moving from an outdated legacy system or from a 32 to 64 bit system is not easy and takes planning and many hours to complete. Keeping pace with new advances in technology and keeping systems integrated presents ongoing challenges for IT.
It’s no longer a question if companies will move a portion of their network to the Cloud, but when. With costs of storage coming down dramatically over the last couple of years and the relative ease to setup, migrate, and manage users in the Cloud, Hosted Exchange is fast becoming the choice for many IT managers.
A Hosted Exchange solution can lower their overall IT costs and decrease IT burden by:
Eliminating upfront or reoccurring costs for hardware, software, licenses, warranties and support
Reducing costs by foregoing the need to build & maintain support systems for backups/redundancy/power supply/cooling/VPN
Do more with less by off-loading email server patching and service pack updates, regular system maintenance and upgrades, current IT staff can:
- Focus on IT projects that can drive the company to be more efficient and productive
- Less network infrastructure means less to manage, maintain and upgrade
- Put a “Fixed Cost” per user to better manage IT dollars
Increase network uptime and reliability – good hosted providers offer Hosted Exchange in a fully clustered, TIER IV, SAS 70 II facility. On top of that, they should have multiple internet carriers on multiple GB pipes using a BGP protocol to have high access to data for their clients. The best will back up the data in real time to geo redundant data centers.
If you’re responsible for your company’s email system and considering email in the Cloud, give Apptix a look - we’re sure to have a solution to meet your needs.
Labels: Cloud Email, Cloud Services, hosted Exchange
