Switching clients to Office 365 or Google apps?

[rsarceno]

I switch several small companies form Exchange / Outlook to Office 365 (or Goolge Apps). Several consultants in my area have been turning the jobs down because it means getting rid of Exchange Server, Front End SMTP server, Spam Filter, Email Server Anti-virus application and more. Less equipment means less service call. If I didn’t do it someone will.

It hard not to recommend Office 365 / Google Apps. It only cost $5 per mail box and they get 25Gb of disk space. Just imagine how much they save by outsourcing SMTP services. Not to mention 24/7 support from Microsoft or Google at no charge.. Another bad thing for us.

__________________
Roel

Sarceno Network Consulting
http://www.snccomputerrepair.com/

 

[NETWizz]

I switch several small companies form Exchange / Outlook to Office 365 (or Goolge Apps). Several consultants in my area have been turning the jobs down because it means getting rid of Exchange Server, Front End SMTP server, Spam Filter, Email Server Anti-virus application and more. Less equipment means less service call. If I didn’t do it someone will.

It hard not to recommend Office 365 / Google Apps. It only cost $5 per mail box and they get 25Gb of disk space. Just imagine how much they save by outsourcing SMTP services. Not to mention 24/7 support from Microsoft or Google at no charge.. Another bad thing for us.


I switched us all at work for 8000 users to Google Apps... Now, that part of our Data Center doesn't need any staff...

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

We have started moving smaller clients of Office 365....
We don't bother with that $6/user package...we push the "E3" plan...$24/user

Reason being...
*Full suite of Office Pro included per user...basically with software assurance. That itself makes it a no brainer when pushing this plan to clients. They don't have to go out and purchase or upgrade their existing Office..if they have any. Deploying new workstations...they don't have to raise the cost of a workstation by adding Office OEM. If they already have Office 2007 or higher..well, the rest of the benefits of this plan are still an easy sell. Not to mention...when a new version of Office comes out...they're already entitled to it.
*Unlimited e-mail storage
*Only certain mid-range and up plans (the E plans) come with 24/7 direct support. The basic plans only have "community support". As a reseller/supporter, I only want plans that I can call support and get immediate help. I won't provide products to my clients that don't offer that.

 

[parker.casey]

I've asked before and I'll ask again ... in what crooked, horribly corrupt business is a bad thing when products work better? Figure out a new value for yourself, and quit hoping things will break just to keep you in work. Good lord, have some ethics.

I switch several small companies form Exchange / Outlook to Office 365 (or Goolge Apps). Several consultants in my area have been turning the jobs down because it means getting rid of Exchange Server, Front End SMTP server, Spam Filter, Email Server Anti-virus application and more. Less equipment means less service call. If I didn’t do it someone will.

It hard not to recommend Office 365 / Google Apps. It only cost $5 per mail box and they get 25Gb of disk space. Just imagine how much they save by outsourcing SMTP services. Not to mention 24/7 support from Microsoft or Google at no charge.. Another bad thing for us.

__________________
Roel

Sarceno Network Consulting
http://www.snccomputerrepair.com/

 

[FoolishTech]

I switch several small companies form Exchange / Outlook to Office 365 (or Goolge Apps).

Switching clients to GA I do have experience with, it is hard because people are habitual and if they use Outlook or OE, they want to keep using it.

Just a tip, if they are using Outlook/OE and use POP to fetch from GA, it will NEVER download SPAM. You have to login to EACH individual mailbox and create a rule for ALL MAIL (*) to never send mail to spam; else they will never get that message.

This was important for me because my client (now employer) is a non-profit dedicated to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. As you may imagine, many of their emails contain sometimes explicit words that are normally picked up by Google's spam filters.

Lots of little quirks like that.

Another example: you can't create a mailing list larger than 500 recipients. Ran into that issue as well when they had to mail out for newsletters and fundraisers.

A service like GA isn't for everyone; so there are a lot of little things that you need to consider before you recommend one of these services to a client. I only pushed it on my then client-now employer because they are poor and they were getting ripped on hosted Exchange, plus they get the full version of GA for free as they have certified non-profit status.

 

[16k_zx81]

I did some work at a small business setting up shared calendars. No Exchange Server so used LIVE to bridge them. (the other alternative without an Exchange Server is Email for shared calendars which is pretty much useless).

Got everything set up but theres some significant functionality loss without an Exchange server. Basic stuff they needed to do which wouldnt work through LIVE.

Long story short I suggested they use shared Google Calendars and they love them. It took about 20% of the time Outlook shares took to set up through Live, and have all the functionality they want.

Yeah I use Gmail and Gcalendar and couldnt be happier. I have no reservation recommending GA to businesses provided that they dont need the functionality of local install Office or 365. To me this is the critical distinguishing point - they have to be able to be clear about the level of functionality they need otherwise it could be a wasted exercise due to the tradeoffs in this regard to GA. Other than that, full steam ahead for ease of use, clean design, simple deployment, and cost-effectiveness.