Technology is constantly changing from day to day. Due to these updates there are often changes in pricing and offerings for particular services. One of those services is handling email. There are two options to choose from in most businesses in order to handle email. The first is managing email in-house using software such as Exchange on a Windows server. Then there is the option to use a 3rd party hosted email solution. In the past the pricing for a hosted email solution was not cost effective and did not include several benefits that an in house solution offered. Some things have changed over the past few years to make hosted email a more viable solution. For one the mailbox sizes for the hosted Exchange accounts have increased drastically, mainly due to disk space costs decreasing over time.
Another shift that has indirectly changed things is that Blackberry has fallen out of favor with most companies due to the rise of Androids devices and iPhones. This is dropping the pricing of hosted solutions as support for these newer devices is a bit cheaper than Blackberry devices. The prices do vary, but most hosted providers charge an access fee of $10/month per device for a Blackberry and only charge $3/month for other phones such as the iPhone or Android. Each solution does have their own pros and cons, so let’s take a peek at them.
Local Exchange:
- Pro – No monthly fees for Exchange
- Pro – No cost to receive email on phones
- Pro – No mailbox limits
- Pro – Intra-Office email is faster
- Con – Exchange must be purchased upfront as well as user licenses
- Con – A server is needed to run Exchange
- Con – A third party subscription for spam filtering is needed
- Con – Owner is responsible for maintaining the Exchange server
Hosted Exchange:
- Pro – No need to buy Exchange or licenses
- Pro – Spam filtering service is included
- Pro – No need for a local server for Exchange
- Pro – If local network is down you can still get email outside your office
- Con – Cost ranges from $5-$20/month per user
- Con – Phone access is an extra charge monthly (free to use IMAP or POP though)
- Con – Mailbox limits (although they usually start at 5GB now)
- Con – Downloading large emails takes longer
It is important to mention that not all hosted email providers are the same and one should compare each email provider as they may offer very different services and support. There are email providers out there that will provide email services that are much cheaper but at the sacrifice of features. We typically will recommend going with a provider that uses Microsoft Exchange over an account that just provides IMAP or POP3.
If you have any questions about email solutions for your company or any other IT topic that you may have, please contact us at info@rnhconsults.corn or 866-964-8324.
Categorised in: email, hosted email