In a recent study ZDNet Australia's test lab has investigated alternative solutions for Microsoft Outlook and as a result, Groupwise 8 has scored the second best rating of a survey of top alternatives to Outlook. The review considered 11 alternatives and Lotus Notes just beat Groupwise. In summary, it scored well for the interface, but was seen as a little expensive.  This is a reputable research lab and a great result for Novell.

If you're using a Microsoft Windows operating system there is also a good chance that you use Office and Outlook as your email client. But is this really a choice?

More than likely it was a default option; the software is there, so why not use it? Why? Because there might be something out there that suits your needs far better. Other email clients can be highly customised to suit particular industries and may include options not available in Outlook.

How much you can expect from an email client depends on your company size and procedures for communication. For example, many organisations must have shared calendars, while other companies can be quite efficient with individual calendars.

If your staff are frequently on the road, you might need to consider whether your email client needs to be operated on a small PDA screen. You might also like to implement instant messaging and integration with IP telephony, undertaken as part of your email implementation.

Some companies will require customised functions, and will need to know if macro scripts can be readily created or if there are plug-ins available.

Before selecting a client, the server side of your email system must also be carefully assessed. Is the client able to take advantage of all mail server security and collaboration options (and vice versa)?

There are 11 alternatives considered in the ZDNet review. They advise you to trial a couple of alternatives before settling for one. Downloads are available for most products and links to the vendor's websites can be found on each page.