Walt Grudi, President, Grudi Associates
Migrating a company to a hosted email server is a great way to begin moving into the cloud.
Harrisburg, PA (PRWEB) October 31, 2014
Grudi Associates is assisting a growing number of companies transition to hosted email servers that take advantage of new cloud-based capabilities that enhance their messaging and communications. A wide variety of benefits range from more robust security and lower cost to better collaboration and increased efficiency among staff members.
"Migrating a company to a hosted email server is a great way to begin moving into the cloud," says Walt Grudi, President of Grudi Associates, a leading provider of telecom and IT services in Central PA and beyond. "This and many other cloud-based solutions have become more practical and attractive to businesses as a result of new hosting services and Internet capabilties."
The benefits of moving email servers to the cloud using a hosted solution are extensive:
- Cloud-based email servers have highly reliable, redundant systems that are not prone to interruptions from on-premise equipment failures, system problems, power outages, sabotage and an array of other concerns.
- Outsourcing the management and maintenance of email servers enables IT, administrative and others staffs to focus on core business issues.
- Hosted email servers have extremely high security with multiple levels of safeguards to avoid threats. In addition, they reside in the cloud, rather than in a facility that can be breached.
- Significant direct and indirect expenses can be avoided by using a cloud-based email server. The most obvious costs include server purchases, software licensing, upgrades and much more. Less visible costs are management time, support, space allocation, power usage and more. These not only affect IT, but other departments, as well.
“Properly managing the transition is the key to success," continues Grudi. "The first step is a detailed implementation plan that addresses migration issues. The phase-in should definitely include helpdesk support for the business’s users."
Premise-based email and cloud-based or hosted email are quite similar, except for where the email servers, software and management services are located. With premise-based email, companies house the physical email servers (along with software, like Microsoft Exchange) in their facilities.
Emails flow into and out of the servers utilizing an Internet connection. The emails are then routed to desired recipients, whether they are onsite, in a different facility or on a mobile device. The email processing occurs on the company side of the Internet connection, so if Internet service is interrupted or the server goes down, email stops flowing.
The servers reside in the cloud with hosted email. A service provider maintains the physical servers on their premises, with accompanying applications (like Microsoft Exchange). Business’s incoming emails flow through an allocated server using the hosting provider’s Internet connections. Next the emails are processed (screened for malware, spam, etc.) and routed to each recipient through their own separate Internet connection. Because all of the email management functions occur in the cloud, with its extensive backup and security, email outages are very infrequent. Even if a business’s primary Internet connection is lost, users can still receive and send email utilizing alternative Internet connections.
New capabilities and infrastructure are delivering up-times for hosted email that are 100 or more times greater than premise-based email hosting. The total cost savings, along with added efficiency, security, reliability and effective utilization staff, can significantly boost the bottom line.
"The benefits of hosted email are great, but important issues must be considered, like the reliability of the provider, the availability of desired capabilities and more," says Grudi. "If a business does not have a qualified, experienced IT expert on staff, it is advisable to work with outside professionals."
Read Grudi Associates’ article: Hosted Email Servers – A Great 1st Step Into the Cloud
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About Grudi Associates: Grudi Associates provides a broad range of telecom and IT services that help businesses and organizations connect and communicate more effectively. Through strategic partnerships with national and regional providers, Grudi Associates delivers innovative and cost-saving wireless, data, Internet, local and long distance, telecom management and hosted solutions. By providing its customers with a single point of contact for virtually any need, Grudi Associates delivers innovative solutions and simplified telecommunications.
