ID Number: G00209782



Field Research Summary: Can E-Mail Be a Utility?
23 March 2011
 
Bill Pray  

With the growing availability of software-as-a-service (SaaS) e-mail, enterprises are rethinking everything about e-mail, including vendors, implementation strategies, and costs. However, the option of maintaining e-mail on-premises remains attractive because vendor modifications to e-mail's architecture have made running e-mail in-house less expensive and e-mail server applications more virtualization friendly. With SaaS suggesting that e-mail is now a utility, enterprises need to decide whether they can truly turn e-mail into a utility. In this document, the first in a series of reports, Research Director Bill Pray provides a summary of the research obtained from the field research project.





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Table of Contents

Contents
  • Summary of Findings
  • Research Findings
    • Market Conditions Making Enterprise E-Mail a Hot Topic
      • SaaS Is Promoting a Utility Mind-Set on the Enterprise for E-Mail
    • Can, How, and Should the Enterprise Turn E-Mail into a Utility?
      • The Business of E-Mail
      • The Technology of E-Mail
      • What Enterprises Can Glean from Early Adopters
  • Recommendations
    • Do Not Treat E-Mail as a Utility
    • Segment the Users
    • Optimize All Delivery Models
    • Remember All the Moving Parts and Pieces
  • Methodology and Demographics
    • Methodology
    • Demographics
  • Recommended Reading
  • Notes
Tables
Table 1.
Examples of Determining Factors for E-Mail as a Utility
Figures
Figure 1.
E-Mail System Management Consolidation
Figure 2.
Industry Demographics of Organizations Participating in Study
Figure 3.
Regional Distribution of Participants




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Resource Id: 1601723