We live in interesting times and while I haven't changed jobs in years, I now do IT for several companies. What makes this even more interesting is that some are on the IBM infrastructure, some are on Google and some are on Microsoft... ...and of course, there's a bit of change from one to the other.
I tend to get a lot of licensing-based invoices across my desk nowadays.
Recently, we shifted our IBM licensing to the new IBM Mail Dual Entitlement plan. It's basically a combined Notes and Connections licence. Since I've been doing a lot of Microsoft work for another company, I thought I might do a comparison... especially since numbers are so hard to find on the web.
Note that these figures are in Australian dollars and they're probably not entirely "apples to apples" (or entirely perfect -- I've rounded) but they still make for interesting comparisons. They're not intended to be proper comparisons.... more for interest sake.
IBM's entitlement also comes with a pretty impressive meetings package and IBM Docs, which is a web-based "office" suite. It would have been good once but it's not as good as google docs -- and the web versions of Microsoft Office completely blow it out of the water.
Archiving is extra. I'm not entirely sure of the cost.
Of course, what's missing is Sharepoint and Yammer which are required to at least "equal" IBM Connections. They don't quite manage the functionality and security that IBM provides but they're a good example of how to do an interface right.
If you're heading down the Microsoft route, you need to go for the full thing... Office and Sharepoint/Yammer (which will come with a few other bonuses, like Corporate Skype). This bumps the Microsoft price up to about $330 per user, per year, making it clearly the most expensive of the three -- but it's well worth it.
Google also has some pretty good mobile applications, including the google docs suite, hangouts, duo and plethora of other apps (arguably more third party apps that Microsoft or IBM in this space).
Of course, Google really doesn't have much more to offer in terms of social computing. They have no platform... well, they have Google plus but the less said about that, the better.
I tend to get a lot of licensing-based invoices across my desk nowadays.
Recently, we shifted our IBM licensing to the new IBM Mail Dual Entitlement plan. It's basically a combined Notes and Connections licence. Since I've been doing a lot of Microsoft work for another company, I thought I might do a comparison... especially since numbers are so hard to find on the web.
Note that these figures are in Australian dollars and they're probably not entirely "apples to apples" (or entirely perfect -- I've rounded) but they still make for interesting comparisons. They're not intended to be proper comparisons.... more for interest sake.
IBM $150pp pa.
IBM Mail Dual Entitlement works out at about $150 per person, per year. For that you get mail in the cloud, plus instant messaging, cloud storage, IBM Notes (which is a great App platform -- but if you're not already using it, it's probably too late to spend time on it). You also get access to IBM Connections which is the most "full featured" of the social platforms I've seen. Connections has lots of different kinds of plug-ins, such as Surveys & Wikis. The interface is terribly clunky though.IBM's entitlement also comes with a pretty impressive meetings package and IBM Docs, which is a web-based "office" suite. It would have been good once but it's not as good as google docs -- and the web versions of Microsoft Office completely blow it out of the water.
Archiving is extra. I'm not entirely sure of the cost.
Microsoft $330pp pa.
Microsoft works out at about $210 per user, but for that you get the entire Microsoft Office suite, Word, Excel, Powerpoint (and I think Access and Publisher, though what you'd do with those two nowadays is beyond me). More importantly, you use the software on the web or you can can install the software on various PCs, Mobiles and Tablets. It's a very impressive licencing plan and at only $60 more than IBM, it's clearly the better value option.Of course, what's missing is Sharepoint and Yammer which are required to at least "equal" IBM Connections. They don't quite manage the functionality and security that IBM provides but they're a good example of how to do an interface right.
If you're heading down the Microsoft route, you need to go for the full thing... Office and Sharepoint/Yammer (which will come with a few other bonuses, like Corporate Skype). This bumps the Microsoft price up to about $330 per user, per year, making it clearly the most expensive of the three -- but it's well worth it.
Google $120
Google is undoubtedly the cheapest option, at $60 per user per year or $120 if you want archiving. Google has easily the best mail package of the three (in my opinion) and while the Google Docs suite is nowhere near as full featured as Microsoft's, it's still a lot better than IBM's.Google also has some pretty good mobile applications, including the google docs suite, hangouts, duo and plethora of other apps (arguably more third party apps that Microsoft or IBM in this space).
Of course, Google really doesn't have much more to offer in terms of social computing. They have no platform... well, they have Google plus but the less said about that, the better.
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