The unnamed Microsoft reseller has it half right, Google Apps^TM does provide many of the functions of Microsoft Exchange, Office Communications Server and Office at a vastly reduced cost. Where he goes wrong is in his assertion that businesses are not using Google Apps.  They are.  In large numbers.  To date more than 1.75 million businesses, schools and organizations have gone Google. Every day 3,000 more organizations join them.  Some, including Delta Hotels (8,000 users), Avago Technologies (4,100) and 2nd Wind Exercise (360), have made the switch from Microsoft Exchange while others like Valeo (30,000 users), JohnsonDiversey (10,000) and Hamilton Beach (500) upgraded from Lotus Notes.

These companies, and thousands like them, have discovered the awful truth; that hosting, operating and maintaining your own email system and required ancillary products (anti-virus, anti-spam, archival and retrieval systems) is an ongoing IT project with an appetite for resources, in terms of both staff and cash, that will never be sated. 

To Hamilton Beach, a leading distributor of small kitchen appliances with 500 employees in offices in Canada, the United States and Mexico, email is a vital business tool.  The version of Lotus Notes/Domino that they had been running for the past five years was being retired by IBM.  The company had three choices; upgrade Lotus Notes, migrate to another solution or, do nothing and continue running the now unsupported software. To the delight of their management, the email project team discovered that going Google would provide enhanced functionality (specifically global remote access which had previously been available only to select members of the company) at a cost 60% less than doing nothing.

Unbelievably, for some of our smaller clients, the percentage-wise savings have been even greater.  Many of our clients are running Nitix based servers from Net Integration Technologies.  IBM has purchased the company and is forcing customers to upgrade to their new Lotus Foundations offering before they are allowed to renew anti-virus and anti-spam licenses.  For Mayo & Associates, a leasing broker in Scarborough, Ontario, going Google saved them 76% of that cost.

Want to know more about going Google?  Contact us to see how your company can experience increased functionality, better security, greater reliability and reduced costs.