Business E-mail Solutions: What to Choose?
When choosing a business e-mail solution there are many options and choosing the right one for you can be overwhelming. Many small and medium sized businesses may need a little guidance navigating the choices and their features. For most business owners, it comes down to cost and functionality. Let’s explore some of the options:
Incoming and Outgoing E-mail Only
- Available since the ‘70s, POP e-mail, has longevity and reliability as key features. POP is supported by virtually all devices. It is inexpensive and no license is required. You can download your e-mail onto one specific device and e-mails are accessible from that specific device. No information is stored once downloaded, making it extremely secure.
- IMAP has stood the test of time since 1986. Accessible from anywhere, on multiple devices, at any time. IMAP allows users folder support for easy organization of your e-mails. IMAP also requires no license, which makes it inexpensive as well.
- An additional benefit of using both POP and IMAP e-mail is their SMTP (outbound e-mail) functionality. The sending of outbound e-mails allows integration with fax, printers and scanners to send e-mail directly from those devices.
The cost for POP e-mail is a fixed monthly cost because the e-mail messages are downloaded to the device. Whereas, the cost for IMAP e-mail is directly related to the gigabytes stored on the e-mail server.
This business e-mail solution can be billed on a per user basis (Software as a Service os Saas) or as Platform as a Service (PaaS). PaaS is very beneficial to organizations that have a large number of users because it allows the organization to control the cost of e-mail.
Licensed Integrated E-mail Services
- A step up from Exchange, Microsoft Office 365 integrates e-mail, calendar and contacts into a single interface using Microsoft Outlook. Office 365 also offers the option of licensing the Microsoft Office suite within your subscription. Folders automatically sync to the devices you use to check your e-mail. When you send an e-mail from your office desktop, you can check your sent items from your phone. If you file an e-mail document in a client’s folder on your tablet, it will be in your desktop computer e-mail folder in the office.
Depending on your business needs, the calendar function can be even more of an indispensable tool. It allows you to check your schedule, those of your employees, invite attendees to meetings and conference calls, all synced to accessing devices. MS Office 365 is a true counterpart for the modern, hectic, on-the-go business lifestyle. This is critical when ability to access centralized information from anywhere, anytime is the norm.
There are three licensed options to choose from depending on needs of your business, number of users, and cost. Feel free to contact FirstLink to discuss which license options are suited for your needs. It is noteworthy that not all individuals must use the same license level. You can mix and match different levels of use for each individual’s needs within a company.
- Google offers a whole office solution, Google Suite, including Google Gmail, Google Drive and the entire G suite of office products, like Google Sheets for spreadsheets and Google Pages for documents. Google Suite is free to use, but Google does reserve the right to use your information and expect to see advertisements throughout your workday.
- Built on an IMAP platform, a savvy IT company, like FirstLink Technology, can create and host a branded business e-mail solution specifically designed for your company. The benefit to this option is getting the exact functionality you need in an e-mail solution without extraneous features or price.
If you need e-mail, calendar, hosting, maintenance and management for six users with the ease of upgrades at any time, no problem. Do you need hosting and an e-mail solution on an unlimited user platform? We can do that too. Perhaps you need a complete e-mail, calendar and office suite, hosted and managed for multiple users. Any configuration is possible. FirstLink will sit down with you and determine which option is best for your business.
As you can see, there are many possibilities when it comes to a business e-mail solution to satisfy your specific needs. Choosing the right one for your business is a matter of functionality, cost and support needed after implementation. Consult with FirstLink, a knowledgeable IT professional, that understands the full range of services involved in running a successful enterprise such as hosting, e-mail solutions, IT services, web services, digital marketing and more. FirstLink is a one-stop-shop for all your IT service and web needs.