Do you own a business? If so, you need your own personal email server. An email server that’s exclusively yours will be a lot more secure and much less vulnerable to cyberattacks. However, the process of selecting an email host to provide such a server can be complicated. Individuals without much experience selecting hosts often have no idea what qualities to look for in them. This post will hopefully simplify things, which it will do by telling you about the benefits of email hosting, and what you need to be looking for in your future host.
Table of Contents
Digital Security
Security should be one of your main concerns when searching for a new email host. The host you settle for, whether it’s a company offering reliable business email hosting in Singapore or one elsewhere in the world, should encrypt emails, offer two-factor authentication to prevent unauthorized access, have spam filters, malware protection, and regular patches to prevent cybercriminals from being able to exploit loopholes and flaws.
Firewalls are also essential because they make it possible for you to determine whether or not your email server has been compromised. You will receive a notification to say there is an intruder on your network. More than that, firewalls actively fight back against cybercriminals, blocking them from being able to access files or doing damage to your server. Any concerns about the type of security a particular host offers should be addressed directly to them.
Online Support
Online support is another important consideration to make when searching for an email host. If your server encounters delays, performance issues, or technical faults, you need to be able to get in touch with your host immediately to resolve all problems. The longer resolutions take to come, the more your business will suffer. Missing out on emails can mean missing out on sales.
Going back to security, if your email host’s support team is not responsive, it could take them a while to respond to security issues. Try to find a host with support staff that are available around the clock, every day of the year. A good way to find out what a host’s customer service desk is like is to take a look at its reviews. If a company has poor customer support, people will leave negative reviews.
Data Backups
Data backups are essential. If the data that’s stored on your email server is lost, you could lose a lot of money. On your email server, you will have correspondence with trade partners, suppliers, and customers. Losing email addresses from your server could have a negative impact on your business’s performance, which is why you need to make sure that the host you ultimately settle for offers regular data backups.
If your server crashes and data is lost, you can then restore it to an earlier point. In many parts of the world, companies are legally required to keep extensive data logs, which makes data backups an important part of company compliance. If you are not compliant with your industry regulator’s demands, you could get into a lot of trouble. Non-compliance can lead to fines being levied against your company, and even the forced closure of your business until compliance requirements are met.
Storage Options
On a business email server, there needs to be lots of storage available. You never know when you will want to grow your business, but more on that later. When you are picking a host, you need to find one that offers value for money. It’s important to find a host whose servers are affordably priced but come with a lot of storage. If you want to find out what a host’s packages are, the best thing you can do is get in touch with them.
They will be able to explain service packages to you and help you to decide which one suits your business. Also take time to read reviews, as again, a company’s reviews can tell you a lot about it, and you may learn some valuable information about a host’s scalability from past client feedback. Read reviews posted on independent sites like Google Review and Trustpilot.
Pricing Models
Budget is always an important consideration whenever you are considering any type of business purchase. A lot of people make the mistake of overlooking budget formation. However, when you do not create a budget, you don’t know what’s affordable and could end up entering into unsustainable agreements with hosts. Bear in mind that most hosts charge for their services as part of subscriptions.
If you do not calculate your incomings and outgoings, you could end up signing up for a subscription you aren’t going to be able to maintain. When you are looking at pricing models, bear in mind that you can usually negotiate more affordable plans by getting in touch with hosts and asking them for payment plans. A payment plan will allow you to pay less each month, but spread your subscription over a longer period of time. Sometimes interest is added on top of subscriptions.
Server Scalability
Finally, try to find a host that offers scalability. You never know when your business is going to grow. If your business is growing, the last thing you want is to be limited by the size of your email server. A larger business often means more correspondence and customer contact. If your email server cannot accommodate a larger influx of communications, what’s the point of having it? Fortunately, almost every host on the internet allows you to scale up.
Try to find a host whose scaling-up fees are not that expensive. Again, affordability is always something you need to think about. Do not make the mistake of buying into something you cannot afford to repay, because you could lose your server, which could lead to your business’s operations being interrupted. Interruptions to your business’s operations can result in you losing money.
Conclusion
When you are choosing an email host, you need to think about the things mentioned here. Considering each of these points will make the host selection process much easier. Do not disregard any of the suggestions made in this article, as doing so could result in you getting a bad deal.