Why on Earth would you want to have managed email? I’m guessing that’s the first thing that came to your mind when seeing the title of this post. I definitely scoffed a bit when I saw it. Then I remembered: A fair number of people use Exchange. For those people, I apologize in advance – I’m going to be brutal.
There are valid reasons to use Exchange. Microsoft does provide a good (mediocre) range of linked productivity solutions that all revolve around their server platform. And for the enterprise use, it can be tempting. Possibly even the easiest way of having full(ish) collaboration happen in your organization – bringing together email, documents, workflows, accounting – the whole nine yards. A big piece of this pie is Exchange.
Exchange, left to itself, isn’t particularly adept at filtering spam, eliminating viruses, etc. But that’s not what it’s for, it’s just an email server. And for how much it sets you back, not a very good one either. So to bring all you’d like to have (and all you should have) out of Exchange, you’ll need to integrate it with a managed spam and email security solution, like what we offer.
But in the interest of being fair and balanced, I’m not going to haul off and tell you to sign up for Google Apps. No, I’m going to say you should look at Office 365 first, if you’re a Microsoft person/office. Using Office 365 with Microsoft’s hosted Exchange offering keeps you from having to localize Exchange, pay for managed spam and email security. And very likely keep your license fees down on the rest of Office as well. But Google Apps is still a better overall collaborative platform, especially with regards to the email portion. Which is the portion we’re discussing today.
Needless to say, with our more cloud-centric approach to business solutions, I very much don’t expect to sell a lot of Managed Email products. I’ve certainly come to grips with the simple fact that my clients expect HEADACHE REDUCTION/ELIMINATION from their IT. Not over-complication and multiplicative-gray-hair-from-business-processes-that-should’ve-been-simpler-but-my-IT-guy-told-me-it-was-a-good-idea disorder. They definitely don’t make a pill for that.
The true crux of this argument being: Use a hosted service – Google Apps, Office 365, Amazon WorkMail, etc. Your business is your business and odds are, you’d rather be doing that than worrying about whether your email server is up to spec.
If you need more information or for a free technology consultation, contact me!
Aaron Schlagel
Phone: 505-427-3085
Email: info@s2consulting.net
Web: www.s2consulting.net