Want to cut down your organization’s cost on email services without compromising quality?
Navigating the waters of hosted email pricing can feel like an impossible task. After all, it’s your business we’re talking about. You can’t take chances with communication that:
- Connects your team
- Safeguards sensitive data
- Scales as you grow
But here’s the secret.
Most companies pay way more than they need to for their hosted email.
The reason? They don’t know what solutions are out there.
The good news is, there are gems hiding beneath the flashy marketing claims of major enterprise players. Solutions that offer enterprise-grade features for a small business price.
Allow me to show you how to find them…
- Why Hosted Email Makes Financial Sense
- Cloud vs. Traditional Hosting: The Cost Breakdown
- The Best Features That Actually Matter
- How To Choose The Right Provider For Your Enterprise
Why Hosted Email Makes Financial Sense
Hosted email solutions have been a game-changer for enterprises.
Did you know, that a survey from Global Growth Insights reveals, that roughly 85% of companies all over the world use their email systems as their core communication tool? It’s pretty clear that making the right choice regarding your email service provider is directly linked to your revenue.
Now, back to hosted email. In this case, we’re looking at hosted email, of course
You might assume hosted email solutions are a massive added expense. However, here’s the thing…
With the traditional on-premises email servers, you need to invest heavily in IT infrastructure, licenses, dedicated staff, and hardware maintenance upfront. And that’s just the beginning.
Hosted email services, like the CLDY hosted email services provided, flip this model on its head. For a predictable monthly fee per user, you get access to:
- Hardware-less hosting
- 24/7 maintenance and technical support
- High email uptime
- All the productivity perks of modern hosted email
Here’s the kicker: this means all the enterprise-grade features you need are included in the base price. No racking up massive IT budgets to get advanced security, compliance tools, and business continuity.
It’s not rocket science, is it?
Cloud vs. Traditional Hosting: The Cost Breakdown
Before we continue, let’s dig into some numbers.
Traditional email hosting usually involves investing in your servers, paying for Exchange server licenses, backup maintenance, backup systems, network equipment, and, of course, employing an IT staff to keep things running 24/7.
For a medium-sized company with, let’s say, 100 employees, you’re easily looking at $50,000 and above just for the first year.
A cloud-based hosted email? Entirely different story.
Data from our friends at Global Growth Insights show that 70% of companies choose cloud-based enterprise email solutions, and with a good reason. Most hosted email plans average $3-12 per user per month, which for 100 users is $3,600-14,400 annually.
Let me repeat this, as it may knock your socks off: the difference is in the math.
It’s not even remotely close.
Still, this is not even all of it.
The other major advantage of a cloud-based hosted email solutions? Consider:
- Zero maintenance overhead for your in-house staff
- Automatic, always-up-to-date updates, security patches
- Instant scalability with zero lead-time
- Device and location agnostic access
- Automatic backup and disaster recovery for your email infrastructure
There are almost no hidden costs or recurring expenses on a cloud infrastructure. Your business can focus on actual priorities instead of babysitting your own email servers.
Cool, right?
The Best Features That Actually Matter
Not all hosted email services are created equal, of course.
There are some features your enterprise needs must have, and some just don’t offer significant value for your email needs and overall budget.
Let’s just run through the must-haves. Time to separate the noise from the real actionable value.
Security & Compliance
This one is critical for enterprises. As we discussed earlier, you can’t afford to compromise on security. Your hosted email provider must offer:
- End-to-end encryption
- Multi-factor authentication
- Spam, phishing, and malware protection that works
- Compliance certifications and capabilities (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, etc.)
Millions of dollars can be on the line in case of data breaches. A robust email security setup is insurance you can’t live without.
Storage & Scalability
One thing many people tend to forget or underestimate is email storage growth.
Attachments, archives, backups, regulatory retention, you name it. Email storage requirements tend to balloon pretty quickly.
When shopping for a hosted email service provider, you’re looking for one that offers:
- At least 50GB per user (100GB+ is even better)
- Unlimited or affordable additional storage
- Seamless integration with cloud storage for big files
- Ease of adding and removing users as your business changes
The great news is, cloud-based email services scale on-demand. Need to add 50 users next month? You got it.
Integration & Productivity Tools
Email is not an island in a business communication ecosystem.
The modern hosted email platforms offer integrations with the tools your team uses. Calendar syncing, contacts integration, file-sharing features, collaboration capabilities, it all needs to work together seamlessly.
Integration matters because it removes friction from your team’s workflows and increases productivity.
How To Choose The Right Provider
Choosing a hosted email service provider really isn’t rocket science.
The process simply requires you to:
- List all of the must-have features for your team
- Evaluate providers based on the following criteria:
- Price transparency (not a hidden fee)
- Reliability (99.9%+ uptime guarantee)
- Support quality (24/7 response with no round-the-clock)
- Migration assistance (should be included in the base package)
- User reviews (always worth a read).
Free trials and demos can help with due diligence and are worth taking advantage of whenever possible. Have a test group use the service first and then decide if it’s the right solution for your entire organization.
The SME Advantage
SMEs and startups have different email needs.
Data from Global Growth Insights shows that a whopping 48% of small and medium-sized enterprises use webmail for their email infrastructure because of pricing. Affordability is a real consideration here.
However, you don’t have to compromise on features to get good value for money. Many hosted email providers recognize this opportunity and offer special SME plans that include a ton of enterprise features at small business pricing.
With access to the same features and productivity perks as Fortune 500, your 50-person company can have email infrastructure several times better than you had a decade ago.
Making The Switch
The hosted email migration process is simpler than you might think.
Most providers are very helpful and offer tools and guides to walk you through each stage of the process.
Typically, the process looks like this:
- Choose your provider and plan
- Verify domain ownership
- Add user accounts
- Migrate existing data and emails
- Update DNS records
- Train your team.
It’s usually as simple as that. Total lead time is usually a few days to a week, maximum. Downtime for the migration should be pretty much non-existent.
Final Thoughts On Hosted Email
Cost-effective hosted email services are taking the enterprise market by storm.
Companies large and small get the reliability, security, scalability, and support they need at a fraction of traditional hosting costs. Your team is productive. Your data is safe. Your bottom line is smiling.
The hosted email market is expanding as it’s obvious that modern hosted email services just work better than the old on-premises servers.
Cloud-based hosting also removes a ton of complexity and adds even more capabilities in terms of productivity perks.
Stop paying for email infrastructure the old way.
Look at your current email service costs, take a hard look at hosted options available, and compare. You’re going to be surprised at what you find.
Most organizations find they can reduce their costs by 60-80% while improving the quality of the service received. Money you can use for other areas of your business instead of maintaining servers.
The question is, really, not if, but when will you make the switch to cost-effective hosted email.
