# An IT set up for a startup/SME: Nextcloud, Mattermost, Mailcow and more

I had a client who wanted to avoid vendor lock-in.

They wanted:

- Mailboxes under 7 different domain names
- an alternative to Google Drive, docs, sheets
- an alternative to Slack
- an alternative to Calendly
- an alternative to Airtable
- an alternative to Zoom
- an ERP for HR and accounting 
- a password management system for the whole organisation

Solutions:

- Mailcow
- Nextcloud
- Mattermost (MM)
- Nextcloud's applications Calendar and Appointments
- Grist
- Big Blue Button
- ERPNext
- Vaultwarden

We customized Nextcloud as such: 

- Shared folders per team/department with 'Workspace'
- Set up collaborative documents: spreadsheet, slides/decks and documents with Collabora
- Activated Nextcloud's application Forms to run surveys
- Activated Nextcloud's Calendar and Appointments to have a booking system (alternative to Calendly)
- Connected MM and Nextcloud to share files from MM to Nextcloud
- Activated Nextcloud's application Deck, a Kaban system within Nextcloud

For mailboxes, we use an instance of Mailcow which includes the ability for them to:

- manage the mailboxes of multiple domain names
- create unlimited email addresses
- create common email addresses e.g. <code>contact@example.com</code>
- create wildcard email addresses e.g. <code>client-\*@example.com</code>

Next steps are: 

- set up LibreSign to their Nextcloud instance to sign documents
- set up an instance of Grist to replace Airtable
- set up Big Blue Button and link that to their Nextcloud instance as well as a Mattermost to start calls from within either apps
- set up ERPNext for HR and accounting
- set up an instance of Vaultwarden to store, share and manage permissions of passwords