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When it comes to business communication, email is the number one means of contact these days. It’s quick, simple and, unlike many messaging apps, available to everyone. You can send both external and internal emails, attach documents or add links, and use it for all sorts of purposes. A business email address with its own domain is essential for any business. Although there are countless email services available, not all are the same. Here, we explain what to look for when searching for a business email hosting provider.
Security
As virtually everyone has an email address, email has become a popular tool for cybercriminals. Apart from the mountains of junk mail that can clog up inboxes and waste hours of employees’ time, emails are also used for fraud, phishing, spreading malware and extorting ransom from computer users. For businesses, the risk lies not only in receiving, opening and replying to such emails, but also in the fact that malware can be sent to recipients – including customers – from an infected computer without their knowledge. Furthermore, some cybercriminals may send fraudulent emails in your company’s name in an attempt to defraud your customers.
All these threats can have damaging consequences for your business and its reputation; that is why you need solutions that minimise security risks. These include email screening and filtering tools that detect spam, phishing and malware, prevent these incoming messages from reaching your inbox, and stop infected emails from being sent unintentionally. In addition, look for email signature certificates which, on the one hand, verify the legitimacy of outgoing emails sent to customers and, on the other, ensure the security of their content – including attachments – through encryption. You should also look for email backup services that ensure communications are never lost and can be easily restored.
Businesses that need to comply with regulations such as the GDPR and ISO should consider enterprise-grade email solutions. These detect, alert and block the sending of sensitive content, as well as archiving emails and providing effective auditing tools.
Reliability
Sending and receiving communications in a timely manner is vital for businesses. When a phone call ends with the words: ‘I’ll send it to you by email’, or your website tells customers: ‘Please check your inbox’, most people sit back and wait for the message to arrive. If this doesn’t happen, it leads to frustration and, sometimes, the loss of business. Companies cannot afford to store their emails on unreliable servers that are frequently down. As a minimum, look for a guaranteed 99 per cent uptime, and if necessary, choose a business email service that offers 100 per cent uptime.
Contact details
Whether you’re sending or receiving them, emails should be simple. You should be able to access them in the office or on the move, on computers or mobile devices, as well as via web portals and email clients such as Outlook. The option to use both POP3 and IMAP access must also be provided. Furthermore, emails must be synchronised so that everything is available on every device.
Make sure your hosting provider ensures the level of availability your business requires, particularly if you have remote staff who need to send and receive emails whilst working outside the office.
More than just email
Email services need to do much more than simply enable you to send and receive messages. They must also allow you to manage contacts, calendars and tasks, share files securely, and integrate fully with clients such as Outlook. This valuable suite of features makes communication easier for your business and enables your staff to collaborate and manage their schedules or projects.
Suitable hosting
Whether for compliance purposes or for future reference, many of the emails we receive, along with their attachments, remain in our inbox or archive. Over time, the amount of hosting required increases, particularly if you regularly send or receive large attachments.
That is why it is important to choose a provider that offers email plans with progressively increasing storage capacity. This means that as your hosting needs grow, you can upgrade to a larger plan without having to migrate your emails to a new hosting provider.
Plenty of email addresses to suit your needs
Even very small businesses often need several email addresses: some for staff, some for departments (e.g. penzugy@) and some for specific purposes (e.g. info@ or hirlevel@). Email providers often offer a range of options; with aWh’s services, for example, our plans range from a single email address to an unlimited number of addresses, so you can upgrade as your business grows, whenever it proves necessary. Make sure you choose a hosting provider that offers hosting plans providing enough email addresses to meet your current needs, and which can be flexibly scaled up.
Easy to use
Another consideration is how easy it is to manage your email service, carrying out tasks such as adding or deleting email addresses, or configuring account settings. The quality of the control panel used for this is crucial. Control panels such as cPanel and Plesk are ideal for this purpose, as they allow you to manage your emails from the same interface as your website and offer a range of tools to optimise your email service. cPanel, for example, can compress emails upon delivery, thereby helping to minimise the amount of hosting required.