Look no further than the COVID-19 pandemic and the global movement toward remote work to illustrate the importance of cloud computing and the ability to access your messages and critical information from anywhere.
We don’t need to tell you the importance of email and communication because most of the developed world is using email to communicate with coworkers, customers, clients, vendors and more to carry out their duties and run a company.
Now comes the question about where to deploy that critical business application.
Cloud-based email services, as opposed to in-house email servers, allow organizations to deploy the critical business communication application at a rapid pace with minimal technical support and no burdensome upfront capital costs.
Scalability & convenience
If your organization invests in an on-premises email server but is quickly growing and needs to add capacity, you’ll have to spend to upgrade and manage that hardware.
With a cloud-based email service like Microsoft 365 from Microsoft or Google Workspace, your organization doesn’t have to worry about scaling its data center appropriately.
Instead, that work is done by the email provider, affording your organization more time and energy to focus on what really matters — being profitable and serving your customers.
“Cloud email allows an organization to deploy the needed application of messaging, at a rapid pace, with minimal technical support, and no upfront capital expenditure,” says Tommy Mullins, senior vice president of sales at IT provider 1Path.
Since there’s no additional hardware you need to introduce, or an on-site server to install, the speed of deploying a cloud-based solution is much faster and less expensive, Mullins says.
The cloud server is managed by the provider, so your internal IT team can take up other projects and leave the maintenance to the vendor.
Security
Most cloud-based email providers like Microsoft and Google have integrated up-to-date cybersecurity features like security filters, virus scanning and phishing protections.
Cloud computing is now more advanced than it ever has been, and providers now follow a set of cybersecurity standards, and security patches and updates are deployed routinely, taking the burden off your own internal IT staff to make sure your organization’s email is secure.
And, according to Mullins, cloud-based email solutions will help your organization recover from downtime or system compromise faster than on-premises solutions.
“Natively, it includes some key benefits for backup or your email data, as it is already in the cloud,” Mullins says.
Cloud-based email platforms have redundancy built in so users can recover their data stored on the email system much faster than they could on an on-site solution. In some cases, recovery of on-premises solutions isn’t possible at all.
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Availability & Reliability
Cloud email can also give your organization the convenience of being able to access email accounts from anywhere – not just the office.
As the world begins to recognize that remote work brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, more organizations will need to invest in cloud-based email to support their remote workers.
To access your cloud-based email account, all you need is an internet-ready device and an internet connection.
That means your employees can catch up on their work over the weekend or outside normal working hours, making them more productive.
Because of that aforementioned redundancy, cloud-based email servers are inherently more reliable than on-premises solutions.
If an employee’s endpoint succumbs to a BSOD, they only need to sign in from a loaner device or perhaps even their own mobile device, and they’re right back to work.
Cloud Email: the sensible solution in 2020 & beyond
In these days, any disruptions to your business could have a detrimental effect on the entire organization and the livelihood of your employees and customers.
The cost of doing business is getting more expensive each day, cyber attacks are increasing and more and more workers want the flexibility of working from home as an option.
Migrating your business’ operations – including email – to the cloud is now the sensible approach.
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