One of the big changes when your startup gets acquired is that the software and hardware that a big company standardizes on is rarely the software and hardware that you would pick for a startup. Startup solutions are low cost, easy to use and easy to maintain – Google Docs, Google Apps, AIM and Netsuite did just about everything for us – we were close to 100% in the cloud.
Ingram, on the other hand, is a Microsoft Exchange shop, so after dragging my feet for awhile, I’ve finally moved to Microsoft Entourage on my MacBook and use Exchange on my iPhone 3G for intracompany communications. Although I’d forgotten the sense of security that you get when you use a software email application, I find that I am missing all my cloud applications - especially Gmail.
The big change is speed. Exchange and Microsoft Office have far more features, and are more compatible with the millions of docs out there, but you have to wait. for. everything!
