E-Mail-Collaboration Migration and Consolidation: Factors Buyers Should Consider
IT-decision makers frequently ask IDC whether there are benefits of migrating from multiple, separate e-mail and collaboration environments to a single, centrally managed e-mail collaboration platform such as Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook.
Separate e-mail and collaboration environments may have come into play due to a merger-acquisition, or as a by-product of a decentralized IT organization. A strategy of consolidation to a single, centrally managed platform is a valid strategy that can lower costs to deliver critical IT services such as e-mail:
- Single vendor environments: There are successful cases of migration from separate Notes environments to a single consolidated Notes environment, or from separate Outlook environments to a consolidated Outlook environment.
- Mixed environments: There are also successful cases of migration from a mixed, heterogeneous e-mail environment to either a single consolidated Notes environment or a consolidated Outlook environment.
Buyers seeking to consolidate need to assess their current environment, their objectives, and the estimated costs for alternative approaches in order to assess the optimal path to achieve the benefits of consolidation. In some cases, security considerations may dictate continued separation of at least a portion of the enterprise's e-mail delivery.
So, what factors should an organization consider when evaluating its strategy for e-mail and collaboration software? The answer ist that today buyers have many choices for addressing e-mail and collaboration needs:
- Software can be installed and managed on-premise. Alternatively, a variety of hosted (ASP) or cloud service alternatives are available. Most major business email vendors have provide sourcing and deployment options for customers ranging from on-premise, outsourced/run by 3rd party, and SaaS/cloud service, all of which provide customer choice.
- The majority of on-premises email server products are build to work on widely-used hardware such as x86 hardware and Windows or Linux-based operating systems, so consolidating multiple sites, reusing hardware, or deploying email software on virtualized x86 systems should not limit a buyer's choice.
- A predominant consideration should be a thorough assessment of workforce requirements, from highly mobile executives to "deskless" workers, to license email applications with appropriate functionality. Most major business email vendors have a range of products with tiered pricing, functionality, and licensing to support this user segmentation.
There is an expectation, driven in part by rich business email clients, and flexible webmail services, for integration between collaboration products (email, calendaring, Web conferencing, instant messaging) and business workflow and authoring applications (sales automation, web portals, office productivity applications). The largest 4-5 vendors of email products have broad portfolios with all the collaboration components, and many of the workflow and authoring components, all from the same vendor, and integration tools and plug-ins to use products from different vendors side-by-side.
Informationen zu IDC Central Europe
IDC ist der weltweit führende Anbieter von Marktinformationen, Beratungsdienstleistungen und Veranstaltungen auf dem Gebiet der Informationstechnologie und der Telekommunikation. IDC analysiert und prognostiziert technologische und branchenbezogene Trends und Potenziale und ermöglicht ihren Kunden so eine fundierte Planung ihrer Geschäftsstrategien sowie ihres IT-Einkaufs. Durch das Netzwerk der mehr als 1000 Analysten in über 110 Ländern mit globaler, regionaler und lokaler Expertise kann IDC ihren Kunden umfassenden Research zu den verschiedensten Segmenten des IT-, TK- und Consumer Marktes zur Verfügung stellen. Seit mehr als 44 Jahren vertrauen Business-Verantwortliche und IT-Führungskräfte bei der Entscheidungsfindung auf IDC.
Weitere Informationen über IDC finden Sie unter www.idc.com oder www.idc.de.
