Continuing our series of posts on how to implement the most popular cloud computing services for small business, we come to collaboration tools: advanced email, group calendaring, shared contacts and more.
For many, collaboration means Microsoft Exchange. But Exchange is costly for a small business.
If you have 500 users and spend the $13,000 a year it typically costs to own Exchange, the cost per user is a modest $26 per year. With 50 users, the cost per user is a whopping $260 per year. 10 users? $1,300 per user per year. Yikes.
What collaboration tools actually make sense for a small business?
Newer collaboration tools are better suited for the small business: less costly and less complex to maintain without sacrificing features. A thorough review by Network World ranks the top three options:
How can a small business get the most from a collaboration suite?
1. Identify time wasters.
Some companies still pay an administrative assistant to coordinate everyone’s calendar, wasting tens of thousands of dollars a year. Where are the disconnects in your company? Ask your staff what frustrates them and wastes their time. Start with what you want to fix and target your solution accordingly.
2. Be mobile.
Smartphones, Blackberries, iPhones, web access: you and your key staff either are or should be continually connected, and a solution should work everywhere you do. Can you get the same, real time access in and out of the office?
3. Keep your data.
Be sure your current email, calendar and contacts will move smoothly into the new system. And that you won’t get locked into proprietary formats that make it difficult to move your data in the future.
4. Tend to hidden costs.
Spam and system administration can soak up hours of time. Make sure you know how they will be dealt with. The best solutions have built in tools so you don’t need an IT technician for routine administration.
5. Train.
New tools bring new options to improve your processes and increase the agility of your staff. Train your staff on how to use those tools to fix the disconnects you’ve identified.
Have experience with Zimbra, Kerio or CommuniGate in a small business, or questions about implementing a collaboration platform? Tell us about it below.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 9:51 am and is filed under Cloud Computing, Email & Collaboration, Hosted Solutions, Software as a Service (SaaS).
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