The Appeal of Cloud-Based E-Mail
Another great article from the November 9 issue of Information Week on "The Appeal of Cloud-Based E-Mail." IBM is mentioned in the article:
At $36 per user per year, it's a compelling argument and one that many customers are looking at as they compare the cost to delivering services in-house. That said, it can be challenging for IT organizations to break down the costs of delivering workstation services (e.g. hardware, OS, network, help desk, systems management, e-mail, applications etc.) in order to do a true apples to apples comparison.
IBM is also charging hard on cloud e-mail. In addition to its hosted Lotus Notes offering, last month it unveiled LotusLive iNotes, an online e-mail platform that offers a mailbox, 1 GB of storage, mobile device support, spam and antivirus protection, monitoring, and administration tools to companies for $36 per user a year.
At $36 per user per year, it's a compelling argument and one that many customers are looking at as they compare the cost to delivering services in-house. That said, it can be challenging for IT organizations to break down the costs of delivering workstation services (e.g. hardware, OS, network, help desk, systems management, e-mail, applications etc.) in order to do a true apples to apples comparison.
1) The Appeal of Cloud-Based E-Mail
If you are just after email then sure, you can take on these web services. For many companies, however, there can be lots of integration between the various systems (our Notes enviroment has integration with our ERP system, for example) where you just cannot make this break. Until you can run all of your applications, with all of your integration, then you will always be owning your own. Some companies may well have their apps outsourced into a datacentre but that is still 'your enviroment' and not the pay-as-you-go services being touted as cloud systems presently.
Also with reference to the question of workstation services - you will always have to have something to access your apps from, regardless of where they sit. I do not know many companies that just have email, and thats it (I work in manufacturing, but maybe other industries do this), so you will still have these costs to provide services for those apps.
You're certainly not wrong with references to the cost of providing email in-house vs the cost outsourced, but in reality most companies have other systems to take into account.
Just my two-penneth worth!
GarryL 11/13/2009 4:20:31 AM2) The Appeal of Cloud-Based E-Mail
@Garryl
I agree in part with what you have to say. However, I am at the point whereby a hybrid system of mail is sounding appealing. You could have mail in the cloud, convert all of your Notes apps to browser based with Domino running on an internal server.
Vaughan Rivett
Vaughan Rivett 11/13/2009 2:45:06 PM