Why go to the cloud?

 If you’re a small business you have to decide how you’re going to handle your email and collaboration needs.  Most small businesses are reliant on the Microsoft Office programs which include Microsoft Outlook.  With a Small Business Server, the Microsoft Exchange email server is included.  For organizations that want better communication, then Exchange provides an important piece.  Besides the obvious ability to send emails, an organization can share calendars and contacts with others within the company.  

If you’re one of my customers, chances are you have a Small Business Server (SBS).  With those with a SBS 2003 server you may be looking to update that soon.  Since that server was released there are now 2 subsequent SBS servers that have come out.  The first replacement was SBS 2008.  As of this writing, two of 3 versions of SBS 2011 have been released.  These are the direct upgrades to SBS 2003 and SBS 2008.  These versions, which start at $1096, have Exchange and other technologies included. 

The version of SBS 2011 that is slated to be released soon is SBS 2011 Essentials.  Pricing for that is $545.  It does not have Exchange and other technologies included because it will have close integration with cloud based services.  The advantage to this stripped down version of SBS is that the support and upgrades for Exchange and other technologies are handled by the hosting companies.

In Microsoft’s case, their current offering is called Business Processes Online Suite.  It’s soon to have a name change to Office 365.  Microsoft is using their newest Exchange server to provide email.  All collaboration available in the more expensive versions is also available in Essentials.  

Although there is a monthly expense associated with an online subscription, overall costs are held in check because of the lesser onsite support needed.  Microsoft and other online providers give you support as part of the subscription price.  This is not to say that there aren’t problems.  As far as Microsoft support goes, however, they go the extra mile to make sure issues are resolved in a timely manner.

For those organizations without the need for greater collaboration, you can purchase licenses for Exchange only at a very reasonable rate.  Next time I’ll talk about the SharePoint part of their collaboration suite.