More companies are moving their data to the cloud. However, it is still unclear what fragment of on-premise data should be transferred to the cloud. Few firms are considering moving email as an obvious first choice. This is because it is very costly to run an on-premise data center from a financial viewpoint. It is also not easy to fully realize the cost of all the resources needed to support such a system owing to the lack of financial transparency. Cloud-based email service gives you access to your email and chats from anywhere at any time.
Email and most cloud solutions share many benefits that are offered by on-demand architecture. Examples of these typical benefits that can be enjoyed from everywhere include greater access to virtual memory or pooled CPU. Emails are unique in the way that they are more of a support mechanism than other elements.
Email administration can be a monotonous task with a few exceptional tasks, such as message filtering. Despite that, emails are one of the most vital pieces of software in an organization and usually demand an uptime of 99.9%. They are used for contingency planning and tactical attention as well. This concept also applies to the cloud as backup or disaster is not a new challenge that needs to be addressed regardless of the deployment type. Additionally, the cloud can be affected by redundancy and failover clusters, probably through another service provider.
A hybrid system is where an enterprise uses both the cloud and on-premise deployments. This approach can be used to tackle issues facing both the cloud and on-premise data. There are various benefits of a cloud-based email service, and they can be divided into either functional benefits of cloud-based email or financial benefits of cloud-based email.
Functional Benefits of Cloud-Based Email
There are various reasons to use cloud base email, and one of them is eliminating the need for having to upgrade patch software or install add-ons. Emails require a long-lasting uptime, and using cloud-based email removes some of the tasks that usually cause blackouts and unforeseen issues like crashes. It also gets rid of some of the most challenging problems that face email administrators.
However, cloud-based email servers also face blackouts, but the responsibility usually falls on the service provider. This necessitates the need to create a virtual box to test their new features, upgrades, or patch. This also ensures that only a small percentage of the server’s user population is affected. Private data centers can employ the same technique, but the cost of doing it will be too high.
Cloud-based email improves and simplifies the administration of the email system. It offers more control, flexibility, and agility than on-premise data. This type of service also helps to eliminate maintenance issues or the need for version control. Workers in an organization gain remote access to their email wherever they are at any time. This is beneficial for companies that have a large mobile workforce.
Other functional reasons to use cloud base email are improved security and improvement of uptime. Cloud-based emails are stored in an off-site and highly protected location. This makes them more secure than emails on on-premise data servers. Some cloud-based email providers have allocated more resources to boost security on their facilities, and this instills more confidence in the users.
Cloud-based systems allow for more optimal email usage by improving uptime. An organization will experience better uptime since many cloud-based systems use multiple redundant sites. The cloud-based service will also have better disaster recovery response times than companies that use on-premise data.
Effectiveness of the IT Staff
The main objective of the IT department in an organization should be to put all its efforts into projects that add new value. Focusing on emails may not necessarily add value to the organization since it is already provisioned. Using cloud-based email servers eliminates the hardware element to email and other tedious undertakings of the software aspect. This ensures that the IT staff directs their energy and skills to value-adding work.
Proper Distribution of Resources
Cloud computing facilitates the ability to scale and distribute useful resources up and down. Email is a resource-intensive system that exaggerates the ability to scale and distribute resources evenly across a vast number of users. Organizations such as universities are more likely to suffer from this challenge since they lack adequate capital to provide for a huge number of users. Email cloud providers, such as Google and its product Gmail, dispense the resources automatically since the allocation of users is easy.
Financial Benefits of Cloud-Based Email
It’s much easier to realize a fixed expense than planning for a variable one. One of the main disadvantages of using on-premise data is the inability to gain financial transparency. A company can spread its expenses over time by freeing up capital on its balance sheet. This is achieved by eliminating email debt liability or the on-premise assets that are a condition of it. This mostly impacts an organization that wants to invest the difference between a differed and an up-front expense into new revenue avenues or is extremely short of money. An IT department can free up space on a tight annual budget easily.
Cost-effectiveness of the IT Department
When it comes to the IT department, there are always two sides. The financial side employs the idea that an organization should minimize operational expenses and overhead before noticing any signs of product or service degradation. An organization can maximize the efficiency of an employee by reassigning or right sourcing critical job functions from monotonous functions. This, in turn, boosts the job security of an employee by receiving the satisfaction of knowing they are meaningful employment. They also receive a greater sense of gratification by doing something worthwhile.
Proper Distribution of Resources
This benefit falls under the functional and financial benefits of cloud-based servers. An organization’s cash flow can suffer greatly if there is no clear information on the bottom-line cost. Most of these assumptions can be reduced by using a subscription or pay-as-you-go model. Organizations may find it difficult to understand how many of their employees will require an email from one month to another and the level of access needed. Proper distribution of resources and the ability to scale enables the organization to set resource caps to lower the cost of email. An organization gains a higher level of predictability and consistency by paying for email like a utility.
Frontier Business Products provides highly qualified and experienced personnel to inform, train, and adapt your organization to using and maintaining cloud mail services. We help you with the process of using the cloud to facilitate secure and organized communication. Cloud-based servers offer your organization the freedom to sync and share contacts and calendars, which is essential for the growth of any organization. Small and growing businesses that have employees who perform their duties and undertake their responsibilities diligently may benefit more from this. Contact us today and find out how we can help your organization optimize network efficiency.