Running a business can’t be done properly without good internal and external communication. For a few decades, electronic mail was one of the most popular means of managing corporate correspondence, announcements and file transfers. Although email messaging is here since 1971, still too few companies are using failproof and quality email services.
Essential elements of business email service
Whenever you consider upgrading your business email, you need to take into account a few factors – both tech- and business-related. It’s the best way to ensure that the new solution will bring anticipated effects and overall improvement to your company.
Reliability
It’s crucial to pick an email service provider you can depend on. But how to check if you can trust their infrastructure? You need to carefully read the terms of their SLA. Research good and bad opinions about service providers. For a company that is starting, every client is worth his weight in gold – never let technical problems get in the way of landing a sale.
Mobility
Nowadays, allowing white-collar workers to work remotely is a standard practice among employers. Still, some tools and services do not make working from home easier at all. It’s important to choose a business email hosting that works well both on desktop and mobile.
Clear, intuitive interface
People can get used to everything over time, sure. But do you want your new employees to spend the whole day 1 trying to navigate complicated email inbox? Of course not. Functionality comes first, then design and layout, not the other way around. The more familiar the interface, the easier it’ll be to get used to it.
Security
A lot of data goes through our inboxes. Contracts involving big money, non-disclosure agreements or personal information – no matter what it is, confidential correspondence must stay confidential at all times. That’s why data security measures like 2-step verification, DLP system, and alerts of suspicious activity are a must. Even one serious data leak can bring the company to its knees, so there’s no room for mistakes.
Integration
Fitting new email hosting into the company’s toolbox might prove tricky. Check if data migration and setting up software connections won’t be too complicated for your team to handle in a short time. If so, choose a service provider that can help you with configuration to save time, money and frustration.
Other perks
As you know, email is not the only essential office tool, so if you have a choice, pick a business email hosting provider that can offer you more than inbox only. In today’s competitive market, it won’t be hard at all – popular email services outdo one another in coming up with ideas for additional applications that you can get for your employees. There’s one service that can’t be beaten in this field, and it’s the developer of the most powerful search engine in the world.
Where to get business email domain?
If you’re faced with a choice of an email service provider, we highly recommend G Suite from Google. Over 4 million companies around the world are using it already, and reviews are consistently positive. G Suite has all the essential features listed above, and much more: encrypting and scheduling messages, and tens of useful office apps (docs, spreadsheets, forms, slides, calendar, etc.)
G Suite has a maximally intuitive interface, so even people who use apps of this kind for the first time won’t have any problem. But there are not many people who don’t know Google Apps and Gmail nowadays – most of us use those services privately for free.
See also:
- How To Introduce and Maintain Inbox Zero in Gmail
- 20 Reasons To Use Gmail as Your Professional Email Account
How much does business email domain cost?
Keyword “Free business email” generates over 12 billion results in Google, but scrolling through a few first websites is enough to notice, that free email domains were not created with companies in mind. Such services lack basic features or have storage limits that would quickly drive your employees mad. You couldn’t set up custom security rules, send attachments bigger than 1GB, or accumulate more than 100 messages in the inbox – it won’t create good working conditions. Free solutions with the custom domain are made for beginning freelancers, students or bloggers, not for serious businesses.
So a paid solution is a must if you want a quality hosting of the most important business channel of contact. Using G Suite, won’t drain your budget, and you’ll get a whole package of intuitive, integrated, cloud-based tools. Implementation of G Suite upgrades overall security of your data and gives you extensive administrative capabilities of optimising and control.
Prices of G Suite depend on your companies needs. There are 3 plans to choose from: G Suite Basic for €5.2, Business for €10.4, and the most advanced version Enterprise for €23. Prices are in Euro, but if you buy this service from a certified Google Partner, you can get invoices in the currency of your choice. Plus you can test out any plan for free during 30 day trial period.