Microsoft Exchange Email Hosting - A New Frontier in Web Hosting
(Published in Business Leader Magazine April 2006)
In this day and age of internet email has become as important to business as oxygen is to brain. A lot of business communication is done via email. For example, in an Ecommerce business environment order receipts, delivery notifications are emailed to buyers.
Another example would be a corporation with multiple offices and sales teams where tasks are delegated or sales results are reported via email. The possibilities of email uses are endless - they all share one important element: It has to be secure with uninterrupted delivery.
Email writing can take time and traditionally required a person to be connected to a secure server at home or at office. However, Small Business owners are busy people - they take on multiple responsibilities such as meeting with clients, managing employees, setting strategic goals etc. not to mention out of town business travel. In these situations, access to a secure server my not be readily available.
When you are stuck at the airport waiting for your scheduled flight or have a gap between meetings, a hosted solution with Microsoft Exchange Email can bridge that gap. With the latest technology such as "RPC over HTTP" or "secure Outlook Web Access" or OWA, you can safely log into your emails, delegate tasks to subordinates, communicate with your customers and partners, check and update your calendar and share it with designated colleagues, and much more. You can even synchronize your PDA and handheld devices to read emails from anywhere.
In conclusion, just as you would not think of running your business without a telephone, the same applies to conducting your business on the web. Email is the "dial tone" for your business on the web. Your customers can use email to effectively communicate with you and vice versa. However, email carries inherent risks such as viruses and spam. These have been on the rise as internet users grow from year to year.
A good secure email provider (also known as ASP) should offer content filtering and virus detection along with email services. Microsoft Exchange 2003 is the email platform of choice for many companies. This goes beyond traditional email services and opens doors to exiting new features that can potentially enhance productivity and growth within an organization. Our (localweb.com) clients' that are utilizing Microsoft Exchange hosting are as diverse as can be - from few users in a small business to hundreds of users in large corporations and government sectors. Another neat thing about this kind of hosting that fee is largely user-based. You can add / delete users any time you want unlike traditional virtual hosting where fees are based on web space and other features. Following beneficial features of Microsoft Exchange email hosting are discussed below:
Cost savings
It comes down to business economics. In- house email administration costs include cost of owning hardware, software licensing fees, skilled administrators and training. Outsourcing email administration is an attractive option for many business owners as cost per mailbox (email user) at a fraction of the cost. Typical costs per mailbox user are in the range of $10 to $20 per month, whereas the total cost of ownership should you wish to run your own Exchange mail server in-house can be tens of thousands of dollars in server hardware, software, license and labor costs.
Check emails anytime/anywhere
Retrieve and respond to emails remotely using a computer and internet connection. This is done via Outlook Web Access (OWA) in a web browser, or secure "RPC over HTTP" on your notebook, or "ActiveSync/Outlook Mobile Access" or Blackberry Exchange Server" for your PDA devices.
Collaborate effectively
Microsoft exchange email hosting comes with features such as Shared Calendars, Shared contacts, Public folders, Meetings scheduling, Tasks management. Some of the benefits are:
-
Information is centralized in one place and can be accessed by other designated team members (access can be reduced to authorized personnel only). This provides for better communication and reduces redundancy.
-
Tasks can be assigned and completion status checked online.
-
Meetings can be scheduled. Availability of attendees as well as meeting rooms and equipment can be checked online and booked.
Securely Store data
Information can be distributed across an organization using Public Folder feature. You can designate who has access to which files or folders, and what type of access they will have (read/write access, read-only access, no access, etc.).
Wireless Exchange Email hosting
Business professionals can keep it in touch with office and access information on servers remotely using their handhelds such as the Treo or Pocket PC PDA devices, the Blackberry, and other PDA devices.
This feature is particularly attractive to attorneys and sales professionals that typically spend a lot of time away from their desks and don't want to miss critical appointments and messages.
Mobile Access Functionality
Mobile Access Functionality means implementation of remote access to Exchange Server for wireless devices. Windows mobile extensions are built into Exchange Server. Exchange Outlook mobile access supports mobile devices browsers. We install and configure the necessary tools for you. You can then check your appointments, schedules and other important messages from mobile devices such as PDA, blackberry etc.
RPC over HTTPS - Seamless secure connectivity to your email RPC over HTTPS is a cutting edge technology whereby Microsoft Outlook 2003 users can connect to their mailbox on the Exchange Server securely without requiring a separate Virtual Private Network (VPN).
