Businesses today depend on email and collaboration services to keep their companies running both while in the office and on the road. A Gartner and Symantec study determined that up to 75% of a company’s intellectual property resides in its email and other messaging applications. Downtime that causes loss in productivity and/or financial impact on the company is simply unacceptable. Small and medium sized businesses can’t afford to spend time administrating, maintaining and supporting their email solution. It’s time to free your technology (and resources) and learn why hosted exchange is the perfect solution to take care of all your businesses email needs.
While there is no debate that email is the lifeblood of today’s business, running a Microsoft Exchange server in-house is cost prohibitive for most small companies. Thanks to the rapid adoption and cost effectiveness of Cloud computing small business are now able to take advantage of a variety of hosted solutions that were once only reserved for their enterprise counterparts. More and more businesses are turning to Software as a Service or SaaS solutions to manage their email so they can stay focused on their core business goals.
SaaS brings mobility to email giving users the ability to retrieve mail from any computer using Outlook Web Access. This web-based tool allows you to share calendars, address books, tasks and files with everyone on the domain and synch with you iPhone or Blackberry. Here are the compelling benefits we think Hosted Exchange can bring to your business:
1. Increased Productivity. Hosted Exchange customers often attribute productivity gains to: 1) shared calendars, contacts and files; 2) anywhere, anytime access via Outlook Web Access and wireless messaging from your Blackberry or Windows Smartphone; and 3) ability to refocus IT resources on key business priorities.
2. 99.9% Guaranteed Uptime. The best Hosted Exchange providers have designed and built their network to minimize email downtime. This means they have highly secure, geographically dispersed data centers that can guarantee 99.9% network uptime. Translation: Your email is always available. This also means that your service provider manages the upgrades and security patches that are required to keep your network running smoothly.
3. A Solution That Will Grow With Your Business. Scaling an in-house Exchange environment can require purchasing additional servers or upgrading hardware or software. Hosted Exchange customers avoid these costs by simply adding more email mailboxes on an as needed basis.
4. Your Accounting Department Will Thank You. The cost for Hosted Exchange is generally charged on a flat per user, per month basis (often between $10 and $15 for each mailbox). This makes budgeting easy and streamlines your cash flow, since you don’t have to worry about depreciation of expensive upfront capital expenses.
5. No Computer Engineer Needed. Exchange is complicated and expensive to manage. Hosted Exchange vendors often offer a simple Web-based management portal, which lets you directly manage your Exchange environment without having any in-depth technical knowledge. Your administrators can easily set up new users, perform tasks like email routing and manage mailbox storage limits and permissions with just a few key strokes.
6. Supports Your Mobile Lifestyle. Hosted Exchange accounts can easily be upgraded to include real-time synchronization of email, calendars, contacts and tasks with your iPhone or BlackBerry Smartphone. Managing this setup can be complex for on-premise solutions and Blackberry devices require also running a Blackberry Server to have access to all features. While these licenses may cost a little extra per month, you can have just one if that’s all you need.
7. It All Comes Back to ROI. The long-term costs associated with server maintenance usually far outweigh the initial acquisition costs over the life of the server. With Hosted Exchange, there are no initial upfront commitments for infrastructure, hardware, licensing and ongoing IT costs, so the returns are immediate.
Hosted Exchange offers small and medium sized business an enterprise-class email and communication solution with complete functionality and virtually no administrative burden. The Launch Pad offers two flavors of our RevITup™ LiveHost Hosted Exchange 2010. The first option comes with a 5 GB mailbox and the other is stacked with a 25 GB mailbox. Our solution is fully managed by our expert engineers ensuring your email capabilities are never compromised. RevITup™ LiveHost is a full featured Micosoft Exchange solution offering full access to your mail, contacts, calendars, and tasks over the web. In addition, it supports integration with your preferred handheld device and requires no long term contracts.
Are you interested in learning more? Explore The Launch Pad’s Hosted Exchange Platform or join us for our RevITup TechEd™ Webinar Series on Wednesday, June 29th, “Free Your Technology … The Cloud Is Calling.”
For more information on the upcoming Webinar or Cloud Computing solutions, please contact Megan Meisner at mmeisner@launchpadonline.com or 813 920 0788 x210.
