But unlike their large counterparts, most small business owners opt for free email hosting because it is cheap and easily acquired. What do they not know is that free email is often plagued with spam, security, capacity and connectivity issues – things that they do not have the time and extra resources to deal with.
One solution to this bundle of problems is by using hosted emails. An example is Microsoft Exchange, a professional business email communication service that is now readily available to small businesses with even at least five employees only.
DataOne Asia Philippines, the leading independent provider of managed IT services, is offering Microsoft Exchange through its cloud enterprise product, CloudSecure. The service aims to provide small and medium businesses (SMBs) with a highly-secure and affordable, professional email domain that comes with expert round-the-clock local support.
Cyril Rocke, DataOne Asia’s president and chief executive officer, explained the headaches brought about by free email hosting. For instance, free email hosts are the usual targets of spam mail or those unwanted emails which bring harmful viruses and malware and infect the email account, a problem that a small business owner does not have the time to attend to.
“A hosted email like Microsoft Exchange has a multi-level anti-spam feature that is similar to a water purifier. Microsoft Exchange coupled with CloudSecure’s enterprise-grade security applications has seven layers, while the free email hosting, you don’t even know how adequate their mechanism for scanning is. This powerful built-in anti-spam feature detects and prevents malicious content from going through,” said Rocke.
“CloudSecure and Microsoft Exchange’s anti-spam feature is so powerful that it blocks an average of 5,000 spam mails for a company of 20 employees in a single month, which is staggering. Remember, even a single virus brought by spam can wreak havoc to any business.”
SMBs using free email hosting may also experience a significant downtime when hackers infiltrate their email hosting site’s servers. Rocke said that this is prevented in Microsoft Exchange as it is carried by CloudSecure.
“CloudSecure has a wide array of enterprise-grade security software that prevents the system from being hacked. DataOne also has an expert team who monitors the system 24/7 to make sure that everything is running smoothly,” he said.
Another concern involved in free email hosting is connectivity. Free email hostings can be accessed using any Web browsers, which means that SMB owners can only log in to their email as long as they have an active Internet connection.
Unlike free email hosting, Microsoft Exchange comes with offline capabilities which allow users to view the local cached copy of their email when there is no Internet access.
“SMB owners can draft emails and view their calendars, notes, and contact list even when they’re not connected to the Internet. The changes they make automatically sync with Microsoft Exchange when they go online,” Rocke explained.
Additionally, business owners can stay connected to their emails anytime as Microsoft Exchange can be conveniently accessed through any Android, iOS or Windows smartphone.
While users of free hosting email are only allowed up to 500 MB in storage capacity, Microsoft Exchange through CloudSecure users enjoy up to 2 GB of storage capacity per mailbox. This can also be scaled up depending on the need or as the number of users change.
Other notable features of Microsoft Exchange include a group scheduling function, which allow users to organize meetings and other appointments easily. It also has a public folder for file sharing which enables users to upload and share tasks, calendars, contacts and other documents with the entire team.
Microsoft Exchange is available through a Start-Up Communication Package that can be further upscaled to a Standard Package, which has additional collaboration features, and a Bundle Package, which includes instant messaging, video calling and online meeting capabilities. Since this is on subscription basis, customers can just opt to stop their subscription when they no longer need the service.
Through DataOne’s CloudSecure, Microsoft Exchange is made affordable to business owners who can avail of the service for as low as Php 200 per month, per user, starting at 5 PCs. And since business owners are always on the go, DataOne ensures a simple and speedy application process to help save time.
“After negotiating with Microsoft resellers, SMB owners may use their brand new, professional emails as early as one business day after the confirmation of their order,” Rocke said.