| A secure and reliable email solution is vital for any | | | | viruses and Trojans hijacking computers. You will also |
| form of business today, whether your business is an | | | | need to purchase a new email server approximately |
| SME (small and medium enterprises) or large | | | | every 5 years. |
| enterprise level. An inadequate email hosting solution, | | | | Investments in staff, server hardware, server |
| especially for an SME business, can make or break | | | | software licensing, exchange enterprise software and |
| your business’s external and internal messaging | | | | Blackberry server software is a factor you need to |
| and can ultimately risk your reputation as well as | | | | consider when going for in-house email solutions. Did |
| sales. This article aims to briefly explain what in-house | | | | you know that in-house email maintenance alone |
| email is, what its downsides are and what the | | | | makes up about two-thirds of a SME’s total |
| alternative to an in-house email solution is. | | | | messaging costs? |
| What is in-house email “hosting”? | | | | What is the alternative to an in-house email solution? |
| In short, in-house email is having physical on-site | | | | The alternative to having in-house and on-site email |
| emails which means that your business sets up and | | | | servers is to outsource your email servers to an |
| manages your own email servers. An email server is | | | | email hosting provider. If your business aims to invest |
| a computer within a network that basically works as | | | | in other areas rather than a large IT budget or hiring |
| your virtual post office. Popular and most used email | | | | technical staff to implement and maintain an entire |
| servers are Microsoft Exchange Server, Novell | | | | in-house email server infrastructure, email hosting |
| GroupWise and IBM Lotus Domino. | | | | outsourcing is the ideal solution. |
| What are the downsides of having in-house emails? | | | | Outsourcing your emails to an email hosting provider |
| A long lived myth is that in-house email is believed to | | | | obviously means you no longer need to have the |
| be a much cheaper solution than outsourced | | | | physical-in-house, on-site email servers. Choosing a |
| exchange email hosting. There is some truth in the | | | | reliable email hosting provider comes with high |
| fact that in-house email servers can give your | | | | reliability, performance, installation of the latest |
| business emails some flexibility and control since you | | | | antivirus, hardware and software upgrades plus |
| are not paying for storage. However in fact having | | | | administration and support 24/7/365. To summarize |
| in-house email servers is actually very costly. Your | | | | email hosting outsourcing: the email hosting provider |
| email servers need software and hardware upgrades, | | | | owns and is responsible for the data centre, |
| and you need to hire staff to maintain and support | | | | network, devices, operating system and application |
| the email servers 24/7/365. Maintaining and updating | | | | infrastructure components. |
| security software leaves your business with the sole | | | | One of the most reliable and secure email hosting |
| responsibility of backing up emails and making sure | | | | companies on the market has to be FatCow. Their |
| that you store the backed-up data in a separate and | | | | email hosting services recognize your businesses |
| safe location. This is very costly and both time and | | | | messaging needs and their email hosting solutions |
| labor intensive. | | | | ensure your emails are available and secure 24/7/365, |
| In-house and on-site email servers require on-call | | | | with total collaboration and mobile compatibility so |
| maintenance and need to have all the latest anti-virus | | | | your business can always be connected. Rackspace |
| subscriptions and security update upgrades installed. | | | | customer service, named “Fanatical Support”, |
| Internet is still very much like the wild-west where | | | | has won several customer service awards. |
| outlaws hijacking steam trains has been replaced by | | | | |