In the Post PC era, we have started working with cross platform devices and need information in real time. We have shifted our focus from legacy email servers to a Zimbra Collaboration Suite. It’s become a challenge for the IT departments to equip their organization with the best-fitting collaboration suite.
Collaboration suites include the email, contacts, calendar, document sharing, IM and Unified communication. All these can be accessible from cross platform devices such as Smart Phones (Blackberry, Android, Windows and Symbian), Tablets, Laptops, and PCs.
There are many collaboration suites available in the market:
- Microsoft Exchange
- Lotus Notes
- Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS)
- Google Apps
- Office 365
- Lotus online
But ZCS is gaining popularity as one of the best collaboration suites.
Features that make Zimbra Collaboration Suite, ZCS popular in the market are:
- Lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership): ZCS always gives you lower TCO in comparison to other solutions. It has very simple license cost i.e. Per User Basis. You need not worry about Server License and User CAL separately.
- Deployment: Zimbra can be deployed in a single server mode, clustered mode on bare metal or Virtual Environment. It also supports 2 tier deployments (Split Domain, where you can use Zimbra and other mail servers for one domain). It can be deployed on premise or on cloud. It can cater to the needs of 100 users and is scalable to 1 million users.
- 3rd Party Authentication: ZCS supports external authentication with Microsoft Active Sync or external ldap.
- Complete Collaboration: ZCS provides several features, which include mail, contact, calendar and document sharing. For this, one need not install other applications such as SharePoint etc. Zimbra Zimlets gives you IM (in webmail and on desktop client) and Video call features. ZCS enables you to share your mailbox, contact, calendar and documents.
- Mobile Sync: Zimbra supports 100% mobile sync for Android, IPhone, and Blackberry, Windows and Symbian devices.
- Platform Compatibility: ZCS is the messaging application which runs on all platforms such as, Windows, Linux and Mac.
- Desktop client: ZCS supports all desktop clients via IMAP/POP or MAPI. It also has a free desktop client called Zimbra Desktop.
- Unified Communication: ZCS already provides unified communication facility with Cisco and Mitel Devices. In ZCS Version 8.5 it includes API to connect any UC devices.
- Administration: Zimbra provides a very simplified admin console to manage users, monitor mail server and configure all the custom policies.
- Legal Compliances and Data Security: Zimbra supports almost all the major legal compliances. Zimbra provides inbuilt Archive and Discovery, Backup and Recovery or mails, Email Encryption, Email Retention and custom security policies.
- User Acceptance: From the end user perspective, ZCS is one of the best solutions. Its simple web interface makes users feel accustomed to it. They find it similar to Microsoft Outlook.
ZCS is user friendly, economical, reliable, and robust application, which improves the productivity of your users while minimizing your cost.