Lotus Notes to Outlook Migration vs. Software Coexistence
Long-Term IT Options for Lotus Notes Shops
SharePoint® integration with email is a proven strategy for encouraging mainstream users to adopt Microsoft® SharePoint for document collaboration and project management. For Lotus Notes® customers, there are two IT options for accomplishing this integration: continue to use both Lotus Notes and SharePoint, or migrate to Microsoft Outlook® and Exchange®. Both IT strategies have their merits. A Lotus–SharePoint coexistence strategy enables Notes customers to extend their existing investments in Lotus technology while embracing SharePoint, whereas a Lotus Notes migration to Outlook delivers an integrated back-end and front-end platform from a single vendor.
SharePoint-Lotus coexistence
More and more Lotus customers are choosing a long-term SharePoint-Lotus coexistence strategy. Mainsoft SharePoint Integrator transforms Lotus Notes into a universal collaboration counsel and encourages user adoption of SharePoint, for a fraction of the total cost of a SharePoint or email deployment, and less than 10% of the cost of implementing a new email infrastructure with Outlook and Exchange.
According to Ferris Research, a Lotus Notes to Outlook and Exchange migration costs $300-$700 per user, depending on whether an organization needs new servers and operating systems software, in addition to new client software. The migration is even more expensive if Domino applications are migrated to SharePoint.
Email migration option
For Lotus Notes organizations pursuing an email migration strategy, Mainsoft enables IT organizations to promote SharePoint adoption by integrating SharePoint first with Lotus Notes, and then with Outlook. Available the first half of 2010, the software will offer the same document- and email-sharing capabilities within Outlook as in Lotus Notes.
Both email platforms (Outlook, Notes) offer the same great document collaboration experience for accessing SharePoint.
Mainsoft's SharePoint-Outlook integration is a significant leap forward compared to Outlook's built-in SharePoint support. It includes side-by-side access to SharePoint document libraries from Outlook emails; drag-and-drop support for document links; the ability to access SharePoint's basic library services and document metadata from Outlook, and more.
Because both Lotus Notes and Outlook email clients will be supported under the same license, no incremental costs will be incurred as the users are switched to Outlook; more importantly, there are no new training requirements.
Contact sales@mainsoft.com if you are interested in participating in an Outlook Beta trial.
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