A reliable email system forms an integral part of a successful business strategy, facilitates long-distance group discussions, delivers targeted marketing and informs a large audience quickly
Unfortunately, not all email systems offer the same degree of reliability. System outages interrupt communication at inopportune moments. Malware creeps in through infected attachments. Disasters result in lost data. And not all providers stick around for the long haul.
Earlier this year, for example, Verizon announced its plan to shut down its email services, affecting up to 4.5 million customers. Those customers were notified that they have 30 days to either:
- Transfer their email accounts to AOL (now owned by Verizon)
- Migrate to another email provider
- Or, allow their email accounts to be deleted after six months of inactivity
Verizon customers have begun to scramble. While the company has outlined a relatively straightforward transition path to AOL, allowing customers to retain their existing email addresses, users may experience some deliverability issues in the interim.
On the other hand, industry pundits predict that many Verizon customers will take the opportunity to switch email providers, choosing from an array of options. This will necessitate a more complicated migration process, particularly for businesses.
Choosing a Reliable Email Service
For small to medium businesses, the process of choosing and maintaining a reliable email service holds significant ramifications. Given the business critical nature of email, an organization should look for features such as:
- System uptime guarantee
- Ample storage and archiving services
- Mobile data synching
- Spam filters
- Scalability to allow for rapid or unexpected growth
- Virus protection and removal
- Content and attachment filtering (both inbound and outbound)
- Rapid deployment and ease of use
In addition to a feature-rich solution, organizations need an email service provider with longevity. As the Verizon example illustrates, a business decision on the provider’s part to move away from email support can have a profound effect on customers that depend on that service.
Benefits of Email Hosting
In addition to choosing an email provider, businesses need to decide whether to manage email services in-house or move to a hosted solution. Ultimately, the decision comes down to factors such as cost, security and maintenance.
- Price tag: Instead of investing in costly email servers and experiencing unpredictable expense spikes for licensing fees and maintenance, with email hosting you pay a reasonable, regular monthly fee. Upfront costs are minimal, and there is no need for hardware or software licensing.
- Security: Competitive, reliable email hosting providers maintain up-to-date virus and spam protection, as well as redundant backups and 24-hour support. Your critical data is protected and accessible, while you focus your resources on your core business.
- Scalability: No need to add software licenses or additional hardware as your organization grows. Adding (or subtracting) users is easy. You pay for the resources you use.
- Deployment: With no hardware to purchase and configure, initial implementation is quick.
- Ongoing Maintenance: No more worrying about regular backups, system upgrades and a myriad of tasks required to keep your email servers, software and network running smoothly. Your email service provider handles the headaches behind the scenes.
Email security with eMazzanti Managed Services
With its award-winning MXINSPECT, eMazzanti helps your organization reduce IT costs while providing reliable email and supporting increased employee productivity. Tailored to your specific needs, MXINSPECT offers a multi-layered defense against a wide variety of email threats.
The combination of eMazzanti’s comprehensive Managed Services and Microsoft Office 365 for Business provides an elegant, cloud-based, scalable and secure solution for your business communication needs, including email. Focus your experts on the business at while eMazzanti provides customized, 24/7 protection for your critical assets.
