Email continues to remain the single most important communication channel for business. Its speed and ease make it the ideal way to connect both internally and externally and it can be used for an enormous number of things. Indeed, without email, many businesses would grind to a halt. And because email is so important, it is vital that your business has email hosting which meets the needs today’s marketplace. In this article, we’ll explain exactly what you should look for when choosing an email hosting package.
- Security
Organisations have an obligation to comply with the regulations of the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Data Protection Act. This includes protecting personal data or sensitive information that is sent by email or stored on email servers. For this reason, businesses need to have an email service which will help them maintain compliance with the law. There are a number of things you need to check for to ensure that your email is safe. To help prevent data being stolen by hackers, ideally, you want a web host that monitors your email server for intrusion and prevents hackers getting access. To prevent the loss of your emails, whether from hardware failure or accidental deletion, you should also use an email host that offers email backups and secure archiving as part of their packages. With protected archiving, your emails are compressed and encrypted, giving your organisation the security it needs to stay legally compliant. The location of your host’s servers is also another issue which you need to take note of. The insistence of the US Government that it can access data stored on US-based servers, means that UK businesses cannot guarantee the privacy of their emails if their host stores them on servers in the USA. In 2015, the European Court of Justice ruled that EU data stored on US-based servers no longer had adequate protection. Â The implication of this for business is that you should be looking for a host that, like eUKhost, has all its servers based within the UK and away from the prying eyes of the US security services. - Accessibility
Modern business is no longer a Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 operation. With companies selling 24/7 over the internet and communicating across different time zones, people need access to their emails at any time and in any place. A good web host will provide a service that will let you send and receive seamlessly from any device with an internet connection in just a few clicks wherever, whenever. Ideally, your email hosting should enable you to send and receive emails using Webmail, which can be accessed using any browser, anywhere in the world. You should also have the ability to use your email hosting service with all POP and IMAP compatible software (e.g. Microsoft Outlook) and devices. An important aspect to consider here is the hardware your email servers run on. You need email servers that are super-fast to ensure, whatever type of connection your device has, your mail and any attachments can be accessed or sent quickly. - Spam and virus protection
Spam and viruses can be significant problems for your emails. Spam can clog up your inbox, waste hours of your time and even contain phishing and other threats. Viruses can infect your devices, ransom your data and even use your email accounts to send spam to your contacts. To safeguard your email, you need an email hosting service that offers virus and spam protection as standard, keeping online extortions and vulnerabilities at bay. For best protection, you should look to see if the host uses SpamExperts®, which automatically scans all incoming and outgoing e-mails against an advanced, self-learning algorithm to eliminate spam e-mail before it reaches your inbox. Spam emails are then quarantined, leaving only genuine emails for you to deal with. - Mail Server Blacklist Check
A common problem for many businesses is that their mail servers can get blacklisted, especially if they are hosted on a shared server. This can happen if you send suspiciously high volumes of emails or if the emails you send contain some characteristics of spam. You can also be blacklisted if you use email forwarding from one address to another and end up forwarding spam emails as a result this is because your mail IP address will be seen to relay the spam message to others servers. If your mail server does get onto one of the many blacklists, it will mean that some of your emails will not be delivered and this could have really negative consequences for your business. For this reason, you need an email host that will proactively check blacklists on a daily basis and, if you are found to be on a list, will submit requests on your behalf to have your server’s IP address removed. Once removed, your host should then investigate why you were blacklisted and apply a fix. - Fully-Featured
A good email service will offer the full range of features you expect from your email, including contacts, calendars, tasks, briefcases and Outlook integration. You should be able to easily create email boxes for your business domains; perform email functions and use an auto-responder. In addition, your host should provide you with 24/7 technical support via live chat, ticket and phone.
Conclusion
As businesses methods and technology continues to develop the expectations you have of your email service will change too. Today’s best email providers offer much more than just the ability send and receive email. They also offer a range of security, accessibility and performance features that enhance your business capabilities.
If you are looking for an email service that provides all of the features mentioned in this article and more, then check out the great email hosting packages that we offer our customers at eUKhost.
