Mail servers within organisations may soon be a thing of the past.
This as an increasing amount of companies migrate mail and other IT functions to the cloud and experience the cost and operational benefits associated with the shift.
So says Wayne Speechly, executive: communication services at Internet Solutions (IS), who adds that, as the cloud increases in popularity, there will be a natural increase in the uptake of products that service cloud applications.
According to Speechly, IS' cloud-based Hosted Exchange is likely to grow in excess of 25% year-on-year for the next two years, a testament to the increased utilisation of enterprise collaboration products like Hosted Exchange.
"The addressable market comprises any organisation running an in-house mail server. This provides a great opportunity for organisations to migrate their mail to the cloud, and importantly, to Microsoft's latest version of Hosted Exchange.
"Small to medium-sized businesses can gain a lot of value by leveraging this solution. Over and above this, large organisations are also becoming more comfortable in using cloud services, and e-mail is a quick win for many businesses," says Speechly.
"Where organisations are characterised by multiple sites, many employees and a number of mobile users, this becomes an increasingly viable option."
The benefits associated with utilising hosted products are not only operational, but extend to the company's bottom line as well.
"Cloud consumption of services like e-mail is very useful for business," says Speechly.
"It fundamentally changes the way organisations budget for and run IT services. The traditional financial model included capex for hardware, opex for people skills and ongoing running costs, and even the need to bolt on additional services as the landscape changed."
Speechly adds that, with Hosted Exchange, there is a fixed cost per user, per month.
"As your users scale, so does the solution provided to you, and in times of rationalisation, the cost of services aligns to your employee count."
Moving forward, there are many opportunities for further growth and development in the market, as Speechly points out.
These include VOIP, security, archiving and other messaging technologies, which represent an opportunity for organisations to enhance the way they communicate and the governance thereof, he said.
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