Capital Hosting

Given all the arguments advocating a move to a cloud email solution, many Small and Medium Businesses are now considering adopting hosted exchange. But as they dig deeper, they find it hard to choose one provider over another provider. And, as it is commonly seen in the IT industry, most arguments are so technically detailed that it brings more doubt and uncertainty instead of helping SMB owners.

Indeed, a SMB manager would not "care" if the Hosted Exchange solution integrates LDAP, nor has it some other technical jargon that only IT specialists would be able to understand. So in this article, let's take layman's terms so as to help you, as a SMB owner, choose your Hosted Exchange service provider.

So, let's get things clear from the beginning: you first need to identify the features you want from your e-mail system - after all, you and your employees are the ones who are going to use it on a daily basis so you're better off having a clear idea of what you want. Fortunately, this can be the easy part as, most of the time you want the following: a reliable e-mail solution that allows you to work with it from anywhere, all the time and from any device. Simple, isn't it?

So, as a manager, what are the points that you need to look for when choosing a business grade Hosted Exchange provider?

• The migration process: This, in my honest opinion, is one of the biggest hurdles that needs to be correctly addressed. The Hosted Exchange provider should present you with a clear and easy-to-implement transition solution. No matter how your current e-mail system is, they have to provide a solution that makes the migration process as smooth as possible, and you need to be confident that you will be given all the support you need to get started.
• Reliability: This is the place where you can play the paranoid client and see how the Hosted Exchange provider addresses your concerns. Elaborate some worst-case scenario and see if they are prepared to handle it. Think about things like the following: what if a natural disaster should hit their office - how soon would they be able to get you up online and working again. A very powerful virus is spreading over the Internet - ask them how safe your e-mails are and how likely is it going to impact you as a user.
• Support: Along with my previous point, again play the paranoid client and check the quality of their support. Ask them how likely your issue can be quickly addressed if you woke up at 1am and had troubles with your e-mail.
• Availability: Check the availability as well as prices for enabling mobility for accessing your e-mail on the go. You want to be able to access your e-mail from your usual laptop, or from a public cyber cafe. But most of all, as smartphones are becoming more and more popular, check the availability of smartphone access to your e-mail. Depending on your company's policy, it may happen that your employees have eclectic brands/systems of smartphones (iPad, iPhone, blackberry, windows phone, android...) so you want to be sure of what's available on what devices.

Hosted Exchange 2010 is a business grade email service available from Giacom. For more information, visit www.giacom.com.