Electronic mail, or e-mail, is at the heart of all the communication systems of today’s businesses. Surveys have shown that internet and e-mail services are considered by many small businesses to be more vital to their company than the telephone. Over 72 percent said that losing their website or mail application would cause serious damage to their business and an immediate financial loss. Eighty percent said that when choosing an Internet provider, their most important consideration was a guaranteed service and the provider’s response time in dealing with faults.

Business people want to be able to send e-mails from their desks or when they are on the move, allowing them to stay in touch with customers and colleagues. This means that it is very important to any business that its e-mail system is secure, robust and accessible. Implementing, managing, and supporting communication and messaging tools requires experience. For some businesses, this can represent a big strain on internal resources. Outsourcing the messaging solution can provide a number of benefits:

• Reduction in administration including licensing
• Internal IT resources can be concentrated on core business
• Capital is freed up, reducing risk for a small monthly fee
• Security expertise, the latest virus protection and spam filtering
• Enhanced backup and restore capabilities
• 24/7 support all year round
• Scalable and flexible solution, you pay for what you need
• Professional e-mail service with no hassles
• Large network with built-in redundancy
• Economy of scale gained from tapping into large infrastructure of provider

Hosted Exchange Email is a way for businesses to have all the messaging functionality that they need without the problems of the day-to-day administration. The system uses Microsoft Managed Exchange 2007 as the mail server, and customers typically use Microsoft Outlook as their email client. The system is not just about sending and receiving. E-mail users are also able to share contacts, folders and calendars. Microsoft Outlook is available for browser, mobile, and desktop access, meaning that staff can keep in touch no matter where they are. The inbox stays synchronized as the users always connect to the same exchange server.

Microsoft Exchange with Microsoft Outlook allows the user to:

• Access calendar management and scheduling tools
• Share personal lists and track project progress
• Keep contact information and personal address book
• Share files, assign permissions, get team feedback. Also provides 1GB folder space
• View attachments
• Use discussion views to group e-mail conversation threads

If customers do not use Microsoft Outlook, they can use MacMail, Entourage, or any IMAIL or POP desktop client. Mobile users can send or receive e-mail via any POP or IMAIL connection. They can synchronize their mailbox with Blackberry, iPhone or Windows Mobile devices. Outlook Web Access allows the user to receive mail notifications, calendar reminders, use public folders and global address lists via Internet Explorer 6. OWA light can be used with Firefox, Safari or older versions of Internet Explorer.

A managed exchange service offers peace of mind to customers who are assured that their e-mail system is always secure and backed up. Along with high reliability and performance comes exceptional support.

Companies can choose between two different levels of service – managed and dedicated. With a managed service, customers retain control over the administration of users’ messaging, but the responsibility for the administration of the system is taken over by another company. This solution suits companies that have limited IT resources. The Managed Exchange option features full integration with Microsoft Outlook for e-mail and collaboration. Nightly data backups, rapid recovery of lost data and a high-availability infrastructure provide a robust messaging solution.

The dedicated option is more suitable for larger companies. It provides the scalability and power of a dedicated server. The company’s own IT administrators retain full control over the messaging application and the user services. They are able to configure mailbox, attachment sizes and distribution lists. Data backup and storage size remain under the control of the in-house IT department. The Dedicated Exchange option provides the highest levels of collaboration, configurability and mobile service support.

Convenience – these days access to the Internet and familiarity with its use is commonplace. Every day over 20 million people search the Internet to find products, compare prices and find information. Using the Internet to find information or to shop is faster and easier than ever before.

Exposure – you can advertise your business in the local phone book or newspaper, but the Internet can give you access to a much wider audience. You will no longer be tied to a geographic location, but be able to offer your services or products nationwide or even internationally. The National Retail Association forecasts that in 2009 the value of retail sales over the Internet will reach $204 billion dollars, whilst the rest of the retail industry is expecting slow growth. This represents a 17 percent increase on the previous year. America has 220,000,000 Internet users and in 2008 global spending over the Internet was $6.8 trillion, 15 percent of the global GDP.

Information – you can provide much more information via a website than you can in a phone book or even a brochure. TV/radio advertisements are limited by the amount of time that you can afford to purchase, but with a website there are no time restrictions.

Cost – a website is an inexpensive and effective form of advertising. Customers can browse through the information on your website at their own pace. In 2008 $65 billion was spent globally on Internet advertising. Printing and posting fliers, brochures, newsletters and other mail costs money. Internet advertising is more cost effective as it is a better way of reaching your target market. A website is a one-time cost other than the nominal hosting fee.

Branding – a well-designed website will become an extension of your brand. It becomes part of the experience of doing business with you and a good professional online image will set you apart from the competition.

Availability – your website can be available 24 hours a day, so if customers want to search for information or place an order outside of normal shopping hours, they can. You will always be open for business.

Time – a well-designed website will provide customers with information about your company, services or products, meaning that you don’t have to spend so much time answering questions on the phone.

Measurable results – with a website you are able to track the number of visitors to your site and also record how they found out about your company. The number of inquiries and the number of sales can be recorded. The ratio of inquiries to visitors is known as the conversion rate and you can use this information to improve the ratio and increase your sales.

Testing new ideas – a website is one of the quickest ways of publishing new ideas. Trying out new content can be done within a matter of minutes and at no cost. This allows you to try out new advertising material before committing to a costly print campaign.