One of the questions I get asked most frequently is “why should I outsource my email. If I keep it on site, I have more control over it”. While this is true to a degree, let me explain why you might want to consider using a hosting company, such as Robson Communications to host your email.

Email is a big part of any company’s infrastructure. In order for a company to be successful, it is critical that they manage their resources and focus on what they do best….that is, running their company. If a company can minimize their expenses and maximize their efforts in doing what they do best, they can reduce costs and free up staff for other tasks related to running the business.

Microsoft Exchange is the most popular mail server platform in the industry. It also has the reputation for being rather complex. Smaller companies have the ability to consolidate the entire organizations email onto a single server, although this can be risky because of security and reliability issues. There are also performance problems that can arise in a single server environment as well as scalability issues and a lack of redundancy in case of failure.

Even a simple Exchange Server deployment is complicated. With that complexity comes cost. Firstly, training your administrative staff to design, deploy and maintain and effective Exchange Server organization. Secondly, there are the costs that come with the number of servers required to host Exchange Server 2007 in a secure and reliable manner.

With each server come hardware costs, software costs (Windows and Exchange Server licenses paid to Microsoft) including anti-virus, anti-spam and client access licenses. You need to keep spare parts on hand to keep the hardware in tip top shape, overtime for your administration staff if you hope to keep everything running 24/7 and other maintenance related expenses. More often than not costs associated with maintaining the server far outweigh the costs of buying the server in the first place.

Outsourcing not only allows you to avoid the initial startup costs, but it also allows you to lower the ongoing costs as well. Why? Typically, hosting companies divide server resources among multiple clients. Several clients are sharing the expense of the hardware, software and monitoring and maintenance costs.

There are other benefits as well. Availability is usually guaranteed in writing using an SLA (service level agreement). Another benefit is disaster recovery. Most companies use backups for their Exchange Server, but few companies thoroughly test their backups on a regular basis. Hosting companies test their backups regularly and often provide guarantees for speed of service for backup restoration.

If you are considering switching to a hosting company, you need to be aware of a number of questions you should ask before signing a contract with the hosting company you have chosen. Some companies initially appear to be a bargain (you get what you pay for!), but you might end up sacrificing reliability and support. If the company you have chosen doesn’t have a redundant infrastructure, or doesn’t have robust backups you might want to rethink your decision. If they tend to tack on extra fees for service or use dodgy tactics to keep customers from leaving, this is a sign that you might want to think before you sign anything.

One of the most important questions is whether the hosting company provides a managed solution. In a managed environment, the hosting company takes care of all server maintenance. They backup the data, apply security patches and handle any other server maintenance issues that come up. Many non-managed hosts simply allow you to rent a server in their data centre. Maintenance and management of the server is left up to you. This usually defeats the purpose of outsourcing in the first place.

With the ever increasing complexity of Exchange Server, it is becoming far too expensive for companies to host their own mail servers. The outsourcing of Exchange Server is becoming a necessity for any company that wants to eliminate the costs of deploying and maintaining an Exchange Server environment. It is also essential to eliminating costly down time. If you decide to move forward with Managed Hosting, you will start to see the benefits almost immediately. You will now be able to focus on the essentials - running your company.

If you have any questions at all or would like to talk to me about a custom solution for your business, please give me a call or send me an email.

David Brekke

Sr. Sales Account Executive

(604) 576-8150 Ext 2005

Robson Communications Inc.

david@robsoninc.com
www.robsoninc.com