Email has effectively become the communications bloodstream of business today. Messages endlessly travel back and forth between teammates, as well as between a company and its clients. Most companies need to access and share this data among teammates and across multiple devices–without clogging up everyone’s computer hard drives. The solution: Hosted exchange email, a centralized, cloud-based system by which email and other shared communications can be stored, retrieved and accessed across many devices and platforms.
Advantages of Hosted Exchange:
- Not just for email. The term “hosted exchange email” is a bit outdated today (many people actually drop the “email” part), because exchanges also enable shared calendars, task lists and even business contacts between parties.
- Greater accessibility and synchronization. You can access the email, calendar and other information across many devices via the Internet. Data synchronizes easily, to the point that you can begin drafting an email on one device and finish it on another.
- Shared communication among teammates. Get all your employees on the same page with instantly updated, shared calendars and task lists.
- Secured offsite storage. Because emails are stored on an external server, you won’t lose them if one or more of your devices fail.
Limitations/Drawbacks of Hosted Exchange
- Dependent on Internet access. Email itself has always been Internet dependent, but with hosted exchanges, so are your shared calendars and tasks. These won’t update without a live Internet connection.
- Some file transfers may be restricted. Some cloud-based exchanges don’t allow XML file transfers, for example.
- Potentially greater costs for hosting. Hosted exchange email takes up a lot of bandwidth; you may need to increase your bandwidth requirements with your hosting service to accommodate it.
Signs You Might Want to Implement Hosted Exchange Email:
- Key emails have accidentally been deleted with no backup.
- You or your teammates require instant email access across multiple devices in different locations.
- Your company is processing huge amounts of email in the normal course of business.
- Your employees have trouble synchronizing schedules and tasks.
For small businesses that rely heavily on email and other electronic communications, hosted exchange email can help keep everyone up to speed, while minimizing the risk of data loss. For further reading, click the link below. And call our office to learn more about how a cloud-based hosted exchange can enhance your business.
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