Comment The only case is the business case. (Score 1) 621
I've been in your shoes, managing infrastructure for a company a touch bigger, and have some thoughts.
There are a lot of arguments that could be had about the technical merits of any given approach; I can't say that the Ultra 2s as described constitute a bad technical solution. Many of the responses I see to this issue focus on only the technology; I would argue that these arguments are secondary and irrelevant without the context of the business case... which, in the case of in-house email, really should focus on overall employee productivity. After the productivity arguments have been established then you can evaluate if your existing system can be bettered or if there are compelling arguments to adopt an Exchange or Notes solution. If your only argument is that the existing system runs extremely well, then you have no position other than a secondary one... which you will likely lose.
It really gets down to the single largest mistake many, very talented and skilled technical professionals make: they fail to realize that the technology is the means to a business driven end (unless the technology is the product, of course ;-) ) For instance, if going to an Exchange solution hits the IT department with some stiff upfront expenses and say an ongoing 5% loss in IT productivity supporting the damn thing, but the company generally speaking gains an on-going productivity increase of 20% then in all likelihood the Exchange solution is the best way; no matter how much more elegant and functional the Ultra 2/sendmail solution is over the Exchange because what's important is the overall productivity gains. Sure there are arguments once user needs have been identified: Exchange vs. Lotus Notes, arguments about how the solution gets implemented (which is where the technology discussion begins: well after the goal is set.)
My suggestions in your case are (in this order):
1. Get what you have implemented now out of your mind and find out why people want Exchange.
2. Project some numbers: not server costs, but likely impact to employee productivity in the short and long run. (Yes it's guesswork, but executive managers spend most of their time doing similar guesswork: earnings estimates, future market conditions, etc.) You may have to talk to non-IT managers to get a sense of this, but the PR couldn't be better (responsiveness, etc.)
3. Now look at what solutions are available, with 1 & 2 answers in mind, as well as what the IT impact is. Evaluate if your current solution meets this goal. Does the cost of implementation overshadow gains in productivity?
4. Be sure you evaluate after implementation and show how IT really helped; either by improving the existing system, or by implementing a new one. Without this reminder of what IT does in an organization, people will only every remember you when things are dead.
There are a lot of arguments that could be had about the technical merits of any given approach; I can't say that the Ultra 2s as described constitute a bad technical solution. Many of the responses I see to this issue focus on only the technology; I would argue that these arguments are secondary and irrelevant without the context of the business case... which, in the case of in-house email, really should focus on overall employee productivity. After the productivity arguments have been established then you can evaluate if your existing system can be bettered or if there are compelling arguments to adopt an Exchange or Notes solution. If your only argument is that the existing system runs extremely well, then you have no position other than a secondary one... which you will likely lose.
It really gets down to the single largest mistake many, very talented and skilled technical professionals make: they fail to realize that the technology is the means to a business driven end (unless the technology is the product, of course
My suggestions in your case are (in this order):
1. Get what you have implemented now out of your mind and find out why people want Exchange.
2. Project some numbers: not server costs, but likely impact to employee productivity in the short and long run. (Yes it's guesswork, but executive managers spend most of their time doing similar guesswork: earnings estimates, future market conditions, etc.) You may have to talk to non-IT managers to get a sense of this, but the PR couldn't be better (responsiveness, etc.)
3. Now look at what solutions are available, with 1 & 2 answers in mind, as well as what the IT impact is. Evaluate if your current solution meets this goal. Does the cost of implementation overshadow gains in productivity?
4. Be sure you evaluate after implementation and show how IT really helped; either by improving the existing system, or by implementing a new one. Without this reminder of what IT does in an organization, people will only every remember you when things are dead.
