We are expanding the business and are moving from 3 PC’s in a workgroup to 10 staff in two sites all of whom need microsoft exchange e-mail, the ability to share and edit files etc.

I have had a chat with fasthosts who seem to be able to do what we want (they already host some of our websites too), but I thought I would ask the tech minds of STW for recommendations and experiences.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks
Nick.

We’ve just moved from MS Exchange to Google App’s – and whilst initally sceptical and typically luddite in my IT knowledge it’s been amazeballs.

I can see/share/edit/save any document on any device from anywhere including my phone.

Same with the emails

I can open browser windows content on my laptop and see exactly where I left off in my PC or Tablet when I move somewhere else.

We’d been using Exchange Server 2003 for a good few years, needed a new server machine and understood also that there is no very limited support available from MS and others, so the whole thing was looking grim. For 6 users, on 3 sites, plus various others, we were being quoted server costs and changeover / software fees of between £5k and £15k As it is we’ve switched over for less than £1k plus a few ££’s per month per user for Google Apps – great value as well.

We explored a couple of managed cloud services from “IT” companies, and also putting our MS programmes in the cloud – they now seem like a total rip-off to me apart from the initial and ongoing costs.

Worth exploring….

Does the google e-mail app deal with multiple e-mails at different domains for instance me@mycompany.com and me@myothercompany.co.uk.

I have 3 domains that I need to be able to send and receive from.

Yes. I’m running 5 email address’s through one Gmail login. It’s set up to reply from the address the email comes into and neatly sorts them into folders also by inbound email address.

Massive PLUS ONE for Google here.

I rolled it out to our company of 30 (migrated from MS Exch), including staff smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, etc.

Email’s in my profile if you want some more info.

You do need a network connection though no?

Yes you do need an Internet connection, however you sync to a local drive. When away from the www I can still work on my files and then it auto syncs when I’m back in a connection. If I’m desperate I can see all my files with my phone, and push through to mi iPad, work on them, re-send to the cloud when done

Office 365.

P1 plans (small business) are £3.90 per user per month, for proper Exchange email, Sharepoint for document sharing / collaboration, etc.

No point in running this stuff yourself unless you have hundreds of users and/or absolutely need it to be in house.

I agree with the guys above, outsourcing is the way forward for a smaller organisation.

Both Office 365 and Googles offering are excellent bits of kit so you can’t go wrong either way. Just depends on which one you find easier to use.

Had a trial of office 365 which I must cancel, the online stuff is tough to use compared to the desktop.

Google docs/drive/mail etc is going well for us. Add in Zoho CRM, MailChimp and a few others thats out business software sorted. All usable through the phone and updated.

New contacts sync to our phones with no effort. We have the info everywhere. Great for travelling.

Article on office 365 here:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/realworld/373783/taking-the-plunge-with-office-365

Happy user here of 365. (but also use gmail for personal mail and here good things about its apps offering)

Office 365 is pretty good if you need the MS suite. Also, if you want to have just Exchange, plenty of companies sell “Hosted Exchange”

<tinfoil hat>
Do you do anything that an American company might find useful to know or have a business interest in? If you do storing your company data somewhere where the Department of Homeland Security and other Secret Squirrels can access it with minimal legal scrutiny may not be prudent.
</tinfoil hat>

I can see/share/edit/save any document on any device from anywhere including my phone

I’m just old fashioned and paranoid, but if you can do that, so can anyone who can hack any of your devices or probably, any of your 9 colleagues’ devices, or (I wouldn’t rule it out for professional East Asian hackers) Google’s servers. Not to mentioned anyone who can intercept the traffic. If it was my business, I’d be terrified.

The Data is reasonably sensitive (legal services and financial information of clients), but we already back it up with both Amazon S3 and Mozy.com whaich we are very happy with, so if it’s hackable on Office 365 and Google I guess it is a small extension of a risk we have already been taking for some time with our backups.

NJA – if you’re UK based and are storing information relating to legal services provided to clients then as a matter of course you should seek to keep any such information within European borders (Data Protection Act requirement). You shouldn’t be routinely transferring such information outside of Europe (i.e. no storage on servers located in the US or elsewhere). Do you comply with these?

Depending on what the information is, you may also have to comply with the Attorney-General’s Guidelines for Data Security (whole disk encryption to FIPS 140-2 standard, password strength requirements etc).

No prizes for guessing what I’ve been responsible for over the past 18 months at work…

NJA – if you’re UK based and are storing information relating to legal services provided to clients then as a matter of course you should seek to keep any such information within European borders (Data Protection Act requirement). You shouldn’t be routinely transferring such information outside of Europe (i.e. no storage on servers located in the US or elsewhere). Do you comply with these?

Depending on what the information is, you may also have to comply with the Attorney-General’s Guidelines for Data Security (whole disk encryption to FIPS 140-2 standard, password strength requirements etc).

No prizes for guessing what I’ve been responsible for over the past 18 months at work…

Having been fending off demands to put everything we have on the cloud for the last year, I always love it when someone who knows about info security wades in with a bit of a reality check.

I’m just old fashioned and paranoid, but if you can do that, so can anyone who can hack any of your devices

In order to hack my Gmail account you’d need to be sat at my desk (either home or office) which is unlikely, so you’d need my username, password and my mobile . So unless I’ve lost my mobile you’ve no chance.

Google Two Step Verification

We have checked and the data transfer is covered by the European Safe Harbour Directive for the mozy back up and the Amazon data does not leave the EU.

In order to hack my Gmail account you’d need to be sat at my desk (either home or office) which is unlikely, so you’d need my username, password and my mobile . So unless I’ve lost my mobile you’ve no chance.

Google Two Step Verification

Not really, hackers get round security thats what hacking is, also as your data is in the cloud (ie on other devices round the world – google data centres) they can hack it there. I don’t think the have your PC and mobile.

I do see the benefits and like what clouds offer but I’m doing it eyes open.