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New software suite slashes groupware costs for small and medium size businesses
Softalk Collaboration Suite is a new suite of three integrated software products designed to cut the cost of groupware for small and medium size businesses. WorkgroupShare is a cost effective alternative to the Outlook collaboration functions of Microsoft Small Business Server and Exchange. WorkgroupMail is a cost effective mail server that not only provides scaleable, secure messaging but also email message archiving, integrated anti-virus and spam protection. Softalk Organiser is a web-based collaboration client that enables remote workers to access Outlook shared folders.
WorkgroupShare lets users of Microsoft Outlook share any folder including calendars (with free/busy), contacts, tasks, notes and email with their colleagues. It also includes the WorkgroupMail mail server with integrated email message archiving, anti-virus protection anti-spam protection, rule based content filtering, SSL encryption, web mail, relay control, multiple ISPs, auto responders, IP screening, mailing lists and IMAP/POP3. Softalk Organizer is a web-based collaboration client that enables you to remotely access Outlook folders and also provides a group view of Outlook calendars, a feature that is not well implemented in Exchange Server.
“Softalk Collaboration Suite enables you to benefit from all the advantages of better team working such as quickly seeing when a colleague is free or finding a customer’s contact details, without any of the additional expense of a Microsoft Exchange or Small Business Server solution,” said Simon Bates, joint CEO of Softalk. “Small and medium size businesses don’t want the complexities of a huge, enterprise level system that has artificial limitations simply so that it can be sold to a different market. Instead we’ve designed and built a system that specifically meets the needs of small and medium size businesses as well as education, government and voluntary sector organisations.”
Softalk Collaboration Suite provides similar benefits to Microsoft Small Business Server and for 50 users it costs just $40 per user compared to $100 for Small Business Server (which also imposes a maxium limit of 75 users while Softalk Collaboration Suite is scaleable to cope with future expansion). The ease of use and lower hardware requirements for Softalk Collaboration Suite mean that the long term cost of ownership is also significantly less than for Small Business Server or Exchange.
“Not only does Softalk Collaboration Suite cost less to buy than Microsoft Small Business Server or Exchange but the long term cost of ownership is also considerably less. SCS can run on a much less powerful PC than is needed for Exchange, and doesn’t even need a dedicated server meaning that the PC can be also be used for day to day office work,” explained Simon Bates. “Setting up, configuring and maintaining Exchange Server all require a very high degree of technical expertise that most small and medium size businesses don’t have. In contrast any user with reasonable IT skills can have SCS up and running in just a few minutes.”
Pricing and availability
Softalk Collaboration Suite is available immediately including a 30 day free trial from Softalk (www.softalkltd.com) or its resellers for $450 for five users, $1425 for 25 users, $2750 for 100 users and $9995 for unlimited users. All prices include one year’s free email support, version upgrades, anti-virus updates and anti-spam updates.
About Softalk
Softalk provides a range of messaging, collaboration and contact relationship management software solutions specifically designed to benefit small to medium size businesses. Softalk was set up in 1993 and is a privately held company headquartered in Maidenhead in the UK with a US office in New York. Customers include American Express, British Chamber of Commerce, Cancer Research, Cap Gemini France, Cisco, Lufthansa and Xerox. Its products include WorkgroupMail, an email server for small businesses; WorkgroupShare to enable organisations to share Outlook folders without the need for Microsoft Exchange; and OfficeTalk, a low cost contact and customer relationship management solution. For more information visit www.softalkltd.com or join in the conversation at our blog at talk.softalkltd.com.
ENDS
For further media information please contact:
Stuart Bruce, Bruce Marshall Associates LLP, stuartb@brucemarshallassociates.com
+44 (0)20 7870 5322 / +44 (0)113 282 5321 / +44 (0)7900 985960
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New software suite improves productivity and slashes costs for small and medium size businesses
Small and medium size businesses can now cut costs and improve productivity by introducing a new software suite that enables them to save time and money by slashing the time it takes to work effectively with colleagues. British employees are wasting up to 80 working days every year as a result of inefficient working practices[1] including dealing with colleagues to set up meetings and searching for information.
The new Softalk Collaboration Suite lets users of Microsoft Outlook share calendars, contacts, tasks, notes and email with their colleagues. Softalk Collaboration Suite includes the WorkgroupMail email server with integrated anti-virus and spam protection. It also includes Softalk Organizer, a web-based collaboration tool that enables workers who are away from the office to access all of the data in the shared Outlook folders, including synchronising email that has been sent and read on the road with that in Outlook in the office.
“Softalk Collaboration Suite enables you to benefit from all the advantages of better team working such as quickly seeing when a colleague is free or finding a customer’s contact details, without any of the additional expense of a Microsoft Exchange or Small Business Server solution,” said Simon Bates, joint CEO of Softalk. “Small and medium size businesses don’t want the complexities of a huge, enterprise level system that has artificial limitations simply so that it can be sold to a different market. Instead we’ve designed and built a system that specifically meets the needs of small and medium size businesses as well as education, government and voluntary sector organisations.”
Softalk Collaboration Suite (SCS) comprises of three integrated products with a shared database. SCS includes updated versions of Softalk’s flagship products, WorkgroupMail and WorkgroupShare, as well as Softalk Organizer, the new web-based collaboration client.
WorkgroupShare is a cost effective alternative to the Outlook collaboration functions of Microsoft Small Business Server and Exchange. WorkgroupMail is a cost effective mail server that not only provides scaleable, secure messaging but also integrated anti-virus and spam protection. It also now offers email message archiving, searching and retrieval to enable businesses to comply with new laws regarding storing data and correspondence for several years. Softalk Organiser is a web-based collaboration client that also provides a group view of calendars, a feature that is not well implemented in Exchange Server.
Softalk Collaboration Suite provides similar benefits to Microsoft Small Business Server and for 50 users it costs just £22 per user compared to approximately £60 for Small Business Server (which also imposes a maxium limit of 75 users while Softalk Collaboration Suite is scaleable to cope with future expansion). The ease of use and lower hardware requirements for Softalk Collaboration Suite mean that the long term cost of ownership is also significantly less than for Small Business Server or Exchange.
“Not only does Softalk Collaboration Suite cost less to buy than Microsoft Small Business Server or Exchange but the long term cost of ownership is also considerably less. SCS can run on a much less powerful PC than is needed for Exchange, and doesn’t even need a dedicated server meaning that the PC can be also be used for day to day office work,” explained Simon Bates. “Setting up, configuring and maintaining Exchange Server all require a very high degree of technical expertise that most small and medium size businesses don’t have. In contrast any user with reasonable IT skills can have SCS up and running in just a few minutes.”
Pricing and availability
Softalk Collaboration Suite is available immediately including a 30 day free trial from Softalk (www.softalkltd.com) or its resellers for £250 for five users, £795 for 25 users, £1650 for 100 users and £5995 for unlimited users. All prices include one year’s free email support, version upgrades, anti-virus updates and anti-spam updates.
About Softalk
Softalk provides a range of messaging, collaboration and contact relationship management software solutions specifically designed to benefit small to medium size businesses. Softalk was set up in 1993 and is a privately held company headquartered in Maidenhead in the UK with a US office in New York. Customers include American Express, British Chamber of Commerce, Cancer Research, Cap Gemini France, Cisco, Lufthansa and Xerox. Its products include WorkgroupMail, an email server for small businesses; WorkgroupShare to enable organisations to share Outlook folders without the need for Microsoft Exchange; and OfficeTalk, a low cost contact and customer relationship management solution. For more information visit www.softalkltd.com or join in the conversation at our blog at talk.softalkltd.com.
ENDS
For further media information please contact:
Stuart Bruce, Bruce Marshall Associates LLP, stuartb@brucemarshallassociates.com
+44 (0)20 7870 5322 / +44 (0)113 282 5321 / +44 (0)7900 985960
Notes to Editors
[1] Research conducted by independent market research agency ResearchNow! on behalf of BACS Payment Schemes Limited. Full information at www.bacs.co.uk.
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UK businesses threatened by email melt-down as employees send holiday photos and videos
Thousands of small businesses are in danger of their email systems collapsing as employees heading off on summer breaks send and receive holiday photographs and even videos as huge email attachments.
British messaging and collaboration software company Softalk says that small and medium sized businesses are particularly vulnerable as they don't have large IT departments to manage and monitor their email systems.
"For many small and medium sized businesses email is now as important if not more important than phone calls and traditional post," said Simon Bates, director of Softalk. "Yet many businesses are relying on old email systems that they first implemented when email first became widely available and before it became a business critical system."
Softalk says that businesses can take some simple steps to ensure the integrity of their email systems:
• Use the email server to set limits for maximum size of attachments that can be sent and received
• Set quotas for individual users mailboxes to prevent employees using the email server for storing hundreds of megabytes of personal photographs and videos
• Use the email server to prevent users from sending or receiving certain types of attachment
• Install up to date anti-virus filters to prevent viruses slipping through disguised as holiday pictures
• Install anti-spam filters to cut down on the amount of unproductive email clogging up users in-boxes
• Implement anti-virus and anti-spam security at the email server level so that you can always ensure that filters are up to date without the need to update every individual user’s PC
• Have clear policies in place so that employees understand how they are allowed the company email system for personal use
• Ensure that policies include rules to ensure that employees don’t send or receive inappropriate images
• Check that your email server is robust enough and has the capacity to cope with the demands of today’s email traffic which has increased from an average of 15 billion emails a day in 2001 to an average of 132 billion a day in 2005.
• Ensure that you are backing up and archiving your email database on a frequent and regular basis
About Softalk
Softalk provides a range of messaging, collaboration and CRM software solutions specifically developed to benefit small to medium sized businesses. Softalk was set up in 1993 and is a privately held company headquartered in Maidenhead in the UK with a US office in New York. Customers include American Express, British Chamber of Commerce, British Transport Police, Cancer Research UK, Cap Gemini France and Xerox. Its other products include Workgroup Mail, an email server for small businesses; and Workgroup Share to enable organisations to share Outlook folders without the need for Microsoft Exchange.
ENDS
For further media information contact:
Stuart Bruce, PR Counsel, Bruce Marshall Associates LLP
+44 (0)20 7870 5322 / +44 (0)113 282 5321
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Softalk appoints its first PR company
Messaging and collaboration software developer Softalk has appointed
Bruce Marshall Associates PR as its first retained public relations
consultancy. BMA PR will initially run a PR and marketing
communications campaign primarily targeting business and technology
media. The consultancy will also develop a business blogging strategy
for Softalk.
Maidenhead-based Softalk has briefed BMA PR to raise the profile of
Softalk and its products amongst small to medium sized businesses in
the UK and USA. As part of the brief BMA will run a campaign to launch
Softalk Collaboration Suite which enables individual Outlook users to
work together as a team without the need for an expensive Microsoft
Exchange server.
“We appointed BMA PR because of their extensive experience and in-depth
understanding of the SME sector and marketing software products,”
explained Simon Bates, director, Softalk.
“We are delighted to be working with Softalk, not least because as
satisfied users of their software we can talk from first hand
experience about the business benefits of messaging and collaboration
software that has been specifically developed for small to medium sized
businesses,” said Stuart Bruce, partner, Bruce Marshall Associates.
About Softalk
Softalk provides a range of messaging, collaboration and customer
relationship management software solutions specifically developed to
benefit small to medium sized businesses. Softalk was set up in 1993
and is a privately held company headquartered in Maidenhead in the UK
with a US office in New York. Customers include American Express,
British Chamber of Commerce, British Transport Police, Cancer Research
UK, Cap Gemini France and Xerox. Its products include Workgroup
Mail, an email server for SMEs, and OfficeTalk, a CRM solution that
enables businesses manage customers by both company and individual
contact; track documents, emails and phone conversations; share diaries
and task lists with colleagues; schedule use of resources such as
meeting rooms and office equipment; and provides an entry-level project
management system.
For further information visit www.softalkltd.com .
About Bruce Marshall Associates
Bruce Marshall Associates is a business-to-business and technology
public relations specialist. According to PR Week League Tables its
technology fee-income means it is the north’s largest technology PR
specialist. Founding partner Stuart Bruce has extensive experience of
managing public relations campaigns for both large and small technology
companies such as ICL Fujitsu, Sanderson Computers, ITnet, Ascom,
Premier Farnell and Computer Sciences Corporation.
For more information visit www.brucemarshallassociates.com.
ENDS
For further media information contact:
Stuart Bruce, Bruce Marshall Associates LLP
+44 (0)20 7870 5322 / +44 (0)113 282 5321
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OfficeTalk - affordable small business customer relationship management software now available direc
OfficeTalk, the UK-developed customer relationship management solution
for small business, is now available directly from its creator.
OfficeTalk was previously published by Sareen Software but marketing
and support is now direct by Softalk, its original developer.
More than 30,000 small businesses use OfficeTalk to manage customer
information and to communicate within the team. OfficeTalk enables you
to manage customers by both company and individual contact; track
documents, emails and phone conversations; share diaries and task lists
with colleagues; schedule use of resources such as meeting rooms and
office equipment; and provides an entry-level project management system.
“Now that we are once again directly responsible for OfficeTalk we can
concentrate on supporting customers and developing OfficeTalk as the
only customer relationship management system for small businesses that
simply works without any complicated set-up,” said Simon Bates,
director of Softalk.
OfficeTalk user Keith James of Celtic Recycling said: “OfficeTalk is
perfect for small businesses like ours as it means our management team
can share vital information with each other and see at a glance what is
happening with all of our customers. I am sure that OfficeTalk
will continue to increase in popularity as the easiest and most
affordable way for small businesses to manage internal and external
relationships with customers, suppliers and employees.”
“Many extra features of OfficeTalk have been added as a direct response
to users asking for additions that will provide real benefits to the
way they work. Bringing OfficeTalk back in to our product family means
that we will be able to listen and respond to our customers even more,”
added Simon Bates.
A free 30-day trial of OfficeTalk is available from www.softalkltd.com.
OfficeTalk is available from £349 for a five-user licence and can
support up to 500 users across multiple offices in different places.
OfficeTalk is also available through a network of resellers.
About Softalk
Softalk provides a range of messaging and collaboration software
solutions specifically developed to benefit small to medium sized
businesses. Softalk was set up in 1993 and is a privately held company
headquartered in Maidenhead in the UK with a US office in New York.
Customers include American Express, British Chamber of Commerce,
British Transport Police, Cancer Research UK, Cap Gemini France and
Xerox. Its other products include Workgroup Mail, an email server for
small businesses; and Workgroup Share to enable organisations to share
Outlook folders without the need for Microsoft Exchange.
ENDS
For further media information contact:
Stuart Bruce, Bruce Marshall Associates LLP
+44 (0)20 7870 5322 / +44 (0)113 282 5321
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