In previous blog posts, we evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of free E-mail. Hosted email solutions are the alternative to using free email services. With hosted email, you can have a greater level of control and support throughout the entire E-mail process. Typically when you send an E-mail with a free email service and the recipient never receives it, basically, your only other option is to just try sending it again. With a hosted E-mail solution, you can request support from a server administrator to review logs, and track what happened to the message. In many situations, a free email service will not offer help in any way, and you are stuck without being to email that recipient. The hosted email solution gives you access to the people and tools needed to resolve the problem.
Hosted email solutions are found in all corners of the internet. You can purchase hosted email through many of the registrars and through just about any Internet Service provider. While not all hosted email solutions are the same, they all share the basic setup that your email is being provided by a server hosted by the company that you are paying for email. This means that you are not responsible for hardware or software on the server and you just use email as a service. You simply pay for the amount of accounts you need without worrying about hardware or software.
To get started with a hosted email solution, you first need to select a domain name. Technically, a domain is the part of the email address that is after the “@” symbol. Unlike free email services, you can purchase an available domain for around $12 a year. You can then create (an) email account(s) after selecting a hosted email solution. For example, if your company was “Pet Rock” you may want to purchase the domain “petrock.com” (assuming it is available). You can then find a hosted email provider and create emails such as: joe@petrock.com. With hosted email you get to control both the user account name of “joe” and the domain of “petrock.com”. Thus you could create any email address you desire!
Often, I hear that users don’t want to change email addresses because they have already been using their current email address for a long time. This problem can be addressed rather simply. You can easily setup your existing email account to forward to your new email account. You would simply use the new email address you created with hosted email, and all of your old emails would be redirected to the new email account. The transition is typically very smooth and the old effort needed on the users behalf is to notify their friends, family, etc of the change (via email is best).
Many users of hosted email have selected to go with the same company that they purchased their domain from. An example of one such company is Godaddy.com. Godaddy provides a single location where you can purchase the domain as well as email hosting. This is one of the cheapest solutions to get hosted email! While sometimes going with the cheapest solution is a good idea, in the case of hosted email, it is not. Typically, you get what you pay for, and the support is what most hosted email providers will be differing on. While support is not always needed, when it is needed you will be wishing you had gone with a better solution most of the time. The speed at which support responds, and the quality of support will dictate whether your problem is resolved or not.
Computer Crews provides a solution is that is slightly more expensive than Godaddy, but significantly less than purchasing your own email server. We respond quickly and a server administrator is available to review all problems. This means you get to talk to someone who is actually working on that same email server which you are having problems with. While looking for hosted email solutions, ask if you can get this type of service. Sometimes it is the only way to resolve the problem.
Regardless of which hosted email solution you go with, be sure to make sure that they will support your mobile device and email clients (Outlook, Thunderbird, iOS, etc). If you have an iPhone make sure they support the iPhone. If you want to use Outlook make sure they support Outlook. You also want to be aware of whether they will provide support for the phone or email client. If your Outlook won’t connect but your phone will can you call someone to submit a service request? Here at Computer Crews we support connecting your client or phone to our hosted email solutions. If a device is incompatible, we will do everything we can to find a work around. This is especially important if you plan to use email on your phone daily.
The more control you have of your email solution, the better experience you will have with email. Email support is lacking in the business place, and email is being used more and more. Please contact Computer Crews if you want hosted email without breaking the bank and without headaches!