Google Calendar vs. Zimbra by Synacor

Google Calendar is well suited for scheduling 1:1 and smaller group meetings and recurring meetings. It's also well suited to connect with scheduling software. However, there is still a lot of opportunity for improvement when you want to make a very well-organized calendar (for example, limitations with the meeting tagging & categories). It's also not as well suited for helping with scheduling for bigger groups.

Zimbra is great for an email system for a medium or large organization with appropriate IT staffing. The system is easy to use for end-users, and has a fantastic web interface. Unfortunately, it is overly complex, when considering staffing requirements and price, when compared with Office 365 or Google Apps for smaller organizations. For other education customers, it is hard to compete with Microsoft and Google providing their services for "Free" now though

Incentivized

• Makes it easy to schedule meetings and block off time
• I can see everyone in my org's calendar's as well which makes it convenient when scheduling calls with multiple people so I can see when they have overlapping availabilities.
• Integration with Zoom and Microsoft Teams for video calls that can be added from the calendar invite itself

Incentivized

• Filter emails with specific information required.
• Very good storage capacity.
• Has a mobile version and another web.
• It has a friendly and modern graphic interface.
• It is compatible with all operating systems.

• Being able to group a team much easier so I don't have to add the same people over and over again without having to have access right to create a Google group
• Room or space management, because of repeating events the rooms of the office tend to be always "occupied" but not everyone is there due to how the new hybrid way of working is
• Better way of working together in the calendar events where it's easier for the team to prepare if I give a clearer better UI of all the documents/presentations they might need to look over

Incentivized

• Zimbra's mobile application leaves much to be desired; it is its weakest point.
• This forces the use of third-party applications on smartphones, which only offer a more or less complete integration with the ActiveSync protocol.
• Zimbra allows for an on-premise scenario, which is not for everyone, especially considering that the trend nowadays is to outsource email; in any case, it also offers this alternative.
• The cost of Zimbra as a SaaS solution comes too close to that of more widely adopted competing options.
• Zimbra lacks a robust integrated chat system, which its competitors offer.
• It lacks AI integration.

Incentivized

It's a bit outdated on how things should be working, the UI per say hasn't changed much and I believe there is still a lot more room for improvement in how the calendar shows, the creating process, the parameters on setting up an event and it could be better integrated with the g-suite and other tools

Incentivized

The web usability of the solution is adequate, with all functions integrated into a single interface. However, it is important to note that in the desktop environment, it lacks its own application and relies on ActiveSync synchronization with reference solutions like Outlook or Thunderbird. Some features, such as the briefcase, will be excluded. The same happens on smartphones.It is also common for competing solutions to include integrated chat or video call tools, which Zimbra lacks. These shortcomings are among the most frequently requested by users.

Incentivized

Overall, we were satisfied with the implementation. We perhaps should have spent more time consulting with Zimbra or others regarding best practices but as we got to know the system better we were able to make changes relatively easily after the fact.

Incentivized

Most of the other services we would use don't have the same integration with other Google services that Google Calendar has. The ability to view and set things from your email is very convenient. So is the ability to have your notifications automatically show up on an Android phone as a reminder.

Incentivized

Zimbra is a significantly cheaper option than one of the Microsoft solutions, such as Exchange. It is able to run in a free environment, as it is in the case of Linux. It offers the advantages of a powerful mail manager, such as indexed searches and the integration of contacts and notes, all in one platform. It is constantly updated and the operation of its connection in mobile equipment is remarkable and very efficient. Additionally, it is able to easily integrate with Outlook solutions with its connector, which brings all the benefits of Zimbra to the user under the interface known as "mail manager." So far, I have been using Zimbra for several years and I have not missed my previous work platforms.

Incentivized

• Very significant improvement in employee productivity (more than 10%), because people spend much less time arranging meetings.
• Essential tool to develop remote work within the company during Covid.
• No need to build an email infrastructure (significant cost reduction in IT infrastructure).

Incentivized

• Zimbra is a cheaper email service than other similar platforms and in my point of view offers better features, that's why the company migrated services to this platform several years ago and without a doubt, it has been the best investment.
• Zimbra has a more user-friendly interface for employees, this has improved response times to external customers of the company.
• The implementation of Zimbra in the company motivated the IT engineering department to make improvements in open source to adapt it to the needs of the company.

Incentivized