RedMule » SaaS on Desktop

IBM Challenging Google in the Cloud

Richard — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:00:12 +0000

IBM has signed up Panasonic as a customer for its LotusLive SAAS programs. More than 150,000 workers at the Japanese electronics maker will use IBM’s hosted e-mail, social networking Web conferencing, file sharing, instant messaging and project management applications. The company unseated Microsoft’s Exchange e-mail server and a number of other collaboration solutions, including IBM’s original on-premise Lotus Notes and Domino server.

MWV – 12,000 Employees move to Google Apps

Richard — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:56:21 +0000

MWV (coffee cups, school notebooks, more) ups productivity as 12,000 employees move to Google Apps.

Replaces numerous instances of Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange to provide a single messaging solution across 34 countries.

Cloud Compliance

Richard — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:19:46 +0000

For organisations wishing to implement cloud services, a compliance evaluation should be mandatory.

How should organisations approach a compliance evaluation?

First consider the legal and regulatory requirements of the sector.

Second consider the adherence to these regulations in terms of the following:

Geographical – where are Datacentres located. Pay particular attention to any back up Datacentres or third party applications?
Operational – are Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery procedures consistent with requirements? Are procedures for Data Breach and Security consistent with requirements? Are tools being used to perform quasi real time vulnerability assessments?
Environmental – are current and future Green IT requirements met?
Auditable – are auditing procedures consistent with requirements in place?

RedMule provides services to ensure that cloud based services are fully compliant.

Google Apps email client usability

Richard — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:56:14 +0000

First hand experience in migrating clients and our internal team from Microsoft Exchange and Thunderbird email clients to Google Apps web clients are extremely positive.

Limited to no training has been required and calls to desk not increased. Maybe this is leveraging peoples familiarity with Gmail.

Usability is excellent, particular standouts being:

Labels as a more functional approach than Folders.
Search which given a 25GB mailbox means that you can always find archived emails.
Threading which brings clarity to long email trails.
Mobility and accessibility for Road Warriors

Never before I have I had the confidence to be so brutal about clearing out my inbox in the knowledge that I can always search for materials.

The hidden cost of Google Apps

Richard — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:27:44 +0000

Sometimes it says more when you look at what bad things have to say. Looking at CNN Money.com “the hidden costs of Google Apps” looks like a catchy headline, but with little substance to back it up.

Proper integration knocks out the “identity problem” as people merely log on to their company email. Single sign on makes it even smoother.

As for productivity, my first hand experience is that Google Apps is more usable “search for one”..”labelling for two” and “threading for 3″

Further our small business customers adopt it really quickly and stop raising tickets about setting up IMAP clients, synchronising mail boxes and finding archived email.

Rentokil Initial plans rolling out Google Apps

Richard — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:07:40 +0000

Rentokil Initial plans to rolling Google Apps to 35,000 users globally, consolidating 40 email systems including open source products and Microsoft Exchange, into a single email system.

“The company has evolved with each business buying its own systems. We also acquired a number of companies. We had difficulty in sending email across the company,” said Bryan Kinsella, chief information officer.

Kinsella has now mandated the use of Google Apps across the group for email, collaboration and video conferencing.

The company aims to rollout Google Mail to 35,000 during 2010. To simplify the rollout, the company will continue to provide access to their legacy email, while providing Google Mail, via a web browser, for all new mail correspondence