Messaging in the Cloud

There are many different service offerings under the banner of the 'Cloud', one of which is communications, but can a fully hosted / managed environment deliver the functionality, performance and flexibility required to meet the growing collaboration needs of the business?

A string of vendors have started using the Cloud to develop and offer a range of email and collaboration services. The potential benefits of Cloud email are high, but many organisations remain wary of what are still immature services that typically lack the features found with on-premise email and messaging systems.

This workshop discussed what Cloud can offer in terms of flexibility and cost savings, and was attended by 16 delegates representing 12 organisations from a wide cross-section of industries including local government (county council), construction, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, transport, retail, utilities, petroleum, manufacturing, financial services, and healthcare.

This workshop considered the following Messaging in the Cloud topics:

• Messaging benefits and impacts
• Integration and interoperability
• The practicalities of migration
• Security of messaging data
• Relationship issues