Saf April Saf Helping your business reach further with hosted at UK based, ISO 27001, Tier 4 data centres.

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1 Saf April 2015 Secure cloud solutions with guaranteed UK data sovereignty. Saf Helping your business reach further with hosted at UK based, ISO 27001, Tier 4 data centres. Detailing the key benefits of Exchange 2013, this white paper will help you realise the true value of adopting Hosted Exchange in to your business Learning Possibilities Ltd, 506 Centennial Park, Centennial Avenue, Elstree, Herts, WD6 3FG, UK. info@cloudpossibilities.com Telephone: +44 (0)

2 Saf Helping your business reach further with hosted The importance of to a business In today s modern organisation, is central to running business on a day to day basis, and keeps people in contact when the telephone or a meeting is not convenient. According to a 2013 report from Warwick Business School, British workers each send 10,000 s per year, with almost 3 in 5 (57 per cent) workers claiming to log into their inbox outside of work hours. Further, 85 per cent of those who do, say that it makes them more productive. So it makes sense that one of the key areas of cloud adoption among organisations, as discovered by CIF, is services. Over the last 18 months, is the third most used cloud or hosted service by companies of all sizes in the UK with almost a fifth (17 per cent) of organisations, ranked only behind web hosting (40 per cent) and niche vertical applications (25 per cent). 1. Reduce capital and operational costs The benefits of hosted and cloud services in general have been well documented, but the biggest benefit that most users cite above all else are the flexible payment options. Saf gives you enterprise grade infrastructure at a much more cost effective price point. Saf is very much a pay for what you use service, and there are a variety of cash flow friendly options when it comes to subscriptions. Even adding new mailboxes for new starters, for example is inexpensive, since there are no hardware, labour or technical installation costs. is always on, and heavily relied upon by the business; therefore it can be a huge strain on an on premise server. After capital expenditure on hardware, licenses, servers and firewalls, operational fees such as support and on going maintenance ensure that the corporate wallet is tied into a constant drain on finances. Support and maintenance costs are also near eradicated, since your service is hosted remotely by Cloud Possibilities, updates and fixes are their responsibility and covered in the cost of any subscription as standard. What could Saf do for your business? So why are organisations picking over many other applications, software, systems and resources, to migrate to a hosted model? What value does it truly bring to businesses? The aim of this paper is to bring together the key benefits that your business could experience from moving to the Saf service from Cloud Possibilities so that you are informed enough to decide whether Saf is right for your workforce. In addition, since the platform is hosted at our data centres, there is no need to purchase and maintain annual software licenses. As a direct result, you can ensure that your company remains fully compliant with copyright and software licensing laws and regulation. 2. Access the same information from any device With new UK flexible working laws coming into play, British productivity has never been so focused on. We can now work when, where and how we want to, because the tools are there to enable us to do it. Saf ensures that all employees devices from desktop computer to mobile device, with any client 2

3 are constantly synchronised with our data centre, delivering real time , calendar, contacts and document updates as they happen. As long as your workforce has access to an Internet or mobile data connection, they will be fully updated and informed at all times and can also access information stored within the solution offline. With this in mind, critical business decisions can be made more quickly and information gets to the right person at the right time faster than ever. With smartphone ownership in the UK now hitting 75 per cent of the population in 2013 not being in the office is no longer a hindrance to businesses. Managing your service is also no longer the labour intensive administrative slog it would be inhouse, since Saf enables you to configure your set up via any major browser and a web connection, no matter the device. Collaboration is also firmly supported, as employees are able to share diaries, address details and other business information in real time. Shared mailboxes, calendars and tasks also ensure that colleagues can access relevant information immediately. 3. Easy to use Saf is easy to use and intuitive with added benefits. The user interface enables your employees to keep all of the most important data in one, central location, including archiving. The user interface enables workers to access, read and write , set up and accept calendar invites, access, add and amend contacts, and tasks and when you use another device, such as a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone it s all synchronised. It also works with multiple and different operating systems, from Android and ios, to Windows and Linux. 4. Business continuity Cloud services are frequently turned to for back up, disaster recovery and business continuity, because it offers a cost effective, offsite solution and alternative to traditional tapes and disks. surveillance from backup specialists and consistent monitoring so that any issues can be caught early. In an ideal scenario, data will be replicated for double protection, meaning that in the highly unlikely scenario of loss of data from one location, it is still 100 per cent backed up and up to date to restore your business s straight away. Hosted on fully redundant infrastructure, all data can be replicated and exists in two separate data centres guaranteeing 99.99% uptime and business continuity. 5. Security Security still remains organisations number one concern when it comes to cloud and hosted services. CIF s 2013 research found that over half (56 per cent) of businesses are subject to specific regulations around IT services and data, and of these over half (54 per cent) again are required to store data in a specific location. This is why Saf is hosted at a Tier 4 data centre in the UK. Using Saf organisations can provide employees access to corporate applications, data, and resources from virtually anywhere on almost any device, while keeping corporate information secure. Together with secure UK based data centres that are fully staffed with experienced, audited IT experts, you can rest assured that we use the latest in antimalware, anti spam and content filters, and the highest level of anti virus software available. We also implement data loss prevention capabilities so that individual users are unable to accidentally (or maliciously) send sensitive business information outside of the allowed access roles. Since the data is in our cloud, managers can also remotely delete it or wipe mobile devices from any Internet browser, should there ever be a data breach or a device is lost. Cloud Possibilities ensures continuous data backup and swift recovery, whenever you suffer from any potentially damaging incident. We provide 24/7 3

4 The diagram below shows the lines of defence provided by the Saf system. 1st line of defence: Firewall The firewalls connect with Internet Mail servers to establish SMTP or secure TLS connection 2nd line of defence: Networkbox/Antivirus/Antispam All s are checked for viruses and spam using Enterprise class mail filters 3rd line of defence: Exchange frontend and Antispam Agent The frontend servers re check s for viruses and spam using Enterprise class mail filters 4th line of defence: Exchange backend and builtin Antispam Agent The backend servers re check s for viruses and spam using Exchange antispam agents Figure 1 Security levels provided by the Saf system 6. A comprehensive mobile strategy Saf can be remotely accessed from an array of different mobile devices, often cause for concern for IT managers. Saf can in fact help you to create approved mobile device lists a must for a basic mobile strategy. With Saf platforms, employees can access all of the functionality via a mobile application, including calendars, group scheduling, tasks and publicly shared folders. 7. Hassle free hosting One of the major benefits a lot of businesses experience when migrating to a cloud or hosted platform is the reduced pressure on the inhouse IT team, or if you outsource to a managed service provider, being able to divert all of the users and management s attention to the business. Business managers do not have to worry about maintaining and updating physical hardware, because there isn t any on premise. Third party IT professionals are able to take care of your needs offsite, enabling you to concentrate on the bottom line. Cloud Possibilities can also manage the switch from in house for you, with no downtime or data loss. On going maintenance and fixes are also managed by the provider, but ensure that this is included as part of the subscription fee, to reap the cash flow benefits. Seamless integration with your other business applications is also much easier with Saf . From Microsoft SharePoint to Lync and more, all applications are synchronised with updates as they occur. 8. Complete scalability and control Saf means that you have complete flexibility and transparency when it comes to storage capacity, mailbox numbers and individual configurations. Adding space or mailboxes, scaling up as your business grows, is as easy as a couple of clicks. 4

5 Start with as many or as few mailboxes as your business requires (for any period of time even temporarily), and some providers will even offer discounts for volume purchases and a wide choice of subscription contract lengths. One of the primary benefits for Small Medium Businesses when using Saf is the 24/7 access to enterprise class technology and resources. Smaller businesses also benefit from extra agility compared to their larger competitors, so reacting in line with market changes is swifter. Saf can be completely customised to each business, user group or individual user based on requirements. From control panel to features, reporting and more, Saf ensures all preferences are synchronised across multiple devices. Key features of our hosted solution Customized mailbox Storage, based on the customer requirements Client Access: Outlook 2013, Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2007 Client Access: Outlook Web App Mobile device support Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync Multidimensional antivirus and anti spam filtering Unlimited Customized address list Inbox Rules Delegate Access Customer Content retained in the UK Language supported English and Welsh Reporting service and operational Single site resilience with Service Availability 99.9% Backup and disaster Recovery Additional Features: Security and encryption using TLS domain to domain Mailbox Archiving (Personal) Compliance Archiving (Service) Legal Discovery Exercise Legal Hold Blackberry Mobility Add an ActiveSync device to the approved list External Mail Hygiene Services Enable POP and IMAP Mailbox Services Multi Site: Service Availability 99.99%. 5

6 About Cloud Possibilities Cloud Possibilities is a division of Learning Possibilities, providing private and hybrid cloud solutions to the public sector for over 10 years. Our cloud platforms are currently used by over 1 million users across the UK. The organisation has recently joined the G Cloud framework to provide Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to support the UK Government s drive to transform public sector IT and delivery of efficient and effective services to the public sector. The company has been a long standing Microsoft Gold Partner with key competencies in Hosting. In 2014, Learning Possibilities won the Education Investor Award for Technological Infrastructure. In 2012, Learning Possibilities won the national contract to provide the LP+4 learning platform to over 1500 schools in Wales. The cloud project, funded by the Welsh Government, offers a bi lingual, customised Microsoft SharePoint based learning platform solution that is available anytime, anywhere through a simple Internet connection. By signing into the solution, schools also have single sign on access to Microsoft's cloud service, Office 365 for teachers and learners. Cloud Possibilities 506 Centennial Park Centennial Avenue Elstree, Hertfordshire WD6 3FG UK info@cloudpossibilities.com Phone: Website: 6