PrintOnce you decide to use a Web-based e-mail provider, you'll need to find a service. Web mail providers offer a wide range of features, prices, and service plans, giving you plenty of ways to find the best one for your business.
Free vs. Premium
Many small businesses, especially one-person and home-based businesses, use free Web mail services such as Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo Mail. If you consider e-mail a nice-to-have business tool, a free Web mail service might be all you need.
Firms that rely on e-mail, however, probably shouldn't depend on free Web mail providers. Aside from looking unprofessional, free services usually lack the advanced features, such as group scheduling or centralized administration, that larger companies need.
Pay services, on the other hand, usually guarantee a minimum service level; if they fall below this level, they'll refund part of their customers' fees or provide other forms of compensation. These services also provide better customer support (including 24-hour phone support), and they take special measures to back up and protect their customers' data.
Consider Your Needs
Think carefully about what you want from a Web mail provider. Do you want bare-bones service, or do you need extras such as the ability to forward your e-mail to another address, receive mail from other accounts, sort and search messages, or attach signatures to your outgoing messages?
In addition to e-mail, most providers sell a variety of other communication and collaboration services. These include group calendars that allow employees to check one another's schedules, instant messaging and online bulletin boards, online file sharing and storage, and document-management tools. Some providers' services even rival traditional groupware, such as Lotus Notes, which is ideal for a large business but might be overkill for a smaller firm.
Security features are also important. Some Web mail providers will encrypt your e-mail so only the intended recipient can read it, and they might provide antivirus tools that catch e-mail-based viruses before they infect your computer.
Evaluating Providers
Pay special attention to a provider's performance record. A provider should be able to tell you exactly how many hours of downtime it had over a given period and explain the causes of any unplanned outages.
Customer service is another important consideration. Can you get help when you need it? Is technical support included as part of your service package, or will you pay extra for it? Customer service is a major source of frustration for some Web mail customers, so be sure you're comfortable with a provider's support plan.
Also beware of "feature creep" when you purchase Web mail services. If you want basic e-mail service and a group calendar, you'll pay as little as a few dollars a month per employee. More advanced features might double or triple the price, however, and if you store a lot of documents on a provider's system, you'll probably pay for additional storage as well.
There's one more important thing to consider: the financial health of your Web mail provider. A number of Web mail providers have gone out of business, leaving their customers without e-mail service or access to their data. Working with an established provider might reduce this risk, but you should also be prepared to ask questions about a provider's funding and financial status before you sign a contract.
