SaaS Email

What is SaaS email?

A cloud solution, hosted by the provider

SaaS, or software as a service, is software hosted by its provider and accessed over the Internet. The benefit of SaaS is freedom from on-premise hardware and manual software upgrades. Instead, SaaS is stored centrally on the provider’s servers and can be accessed by its users securely, from anywhere, on any device. Delivery of software in this way is a true cloud solution and supplies all the benefits of cloud computing.

Eliminating hardware requirements

In the case of email, SaaS removes the need for the most common type of hardware in any organization’s server room. Without a Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes server to patch and maintain, IT professionals can forget about dealing with off-site backups and confused users due to clunky, outdated applications.

Cutting costs and increasing productivity

Instead, users gain access to their email in an online client, or through their favorite third-party application. New features are added constantly and rolled out with no effort on the part of the IT department, giving users the most up-to-date and usable interface possible. Both IT and user efficiency and productivity rise with cloud-based solutions, while costs fall significantly.

How can I transition to SaaS email?

Live in the cloud with Google Apps

There are many options for SaaS email, but only some are true, cloud-based solutions. The most popular of these by far is Google Apps. Google’s email service, Gmail, made a name for itself by offering large amounts of storage and a great interface for consumers, but its organizational capabilities, advanced security, 99.9% uptime, and cost-effectiveness make it a great solution for organizations of any size, from enterprises to small businesses.

Google offers Gmail with addresses at your organization’s domain as part of the Google Apps suite for a flat monthly or annual rate for all users.

The challenges of switching to Google Apps

Organizations face many challenges when making a significant switch, on both the technical side and the user side. The technical aspect of migrating to Google Apps can be daunting. Depending on your legacy email system, there may be a tool available that will perform some of the cloud migration for you, though many systems will require some manual transitioning of accounts. Other mail systems have no publicly available product in place, and all data has to be migrated manually.

User-related challenges include the need for proper communication and sponsorship of the changes to come, as well as ensuring business readiness and providing training and support. An extensive, well-planned migration includes a detailed change management process so no users feel like they have been left in the dark.

How can I get help making the switch?

If you work with an Authorized Google Apps Reseller like Cloud Sherpas, you get the benefit of our massive experience working with every type of legacy mailing system out there, as well as our organized and effective change management processes. We can handle every detail of the migration, train your users, and provide great cloud management services once you’ve made the switch. We also provide the tools for your users to keep current in the cloud and an added layer of support should there be a problem with your Google Apps account.