Email is an important and necessary part of your business. It provides an economical and instant means of communicating with staff, customers, and vendors – that’s both simple to use and enables increased efficiency. An email policy is required to protect this necessary business tool.

An email policy is a legal document that details your organization’s definition of acceptable use for the company email system. It should indicate who emails can be received from or sent to, as well as outline what constitutes appropriate content for work emails.

In additional, having a company email policy will:

Protect the Organization from Liabilities: When all employees read and sign an email policy, it proves they are aware and agree to the information contained in that policy. Should an email be sent that is not considered appropriate content according to the email policy, the employee, not the business, would bear the brunt of liability for any damages or suits brought as a result of their sending an inappropriate email.

Promote a Professional Environment: If email is used only in a professional manner in the workplace, you can be sure that embarrassing mistakes will not occur. For example, if staff are using work email to communicate with friends, the content in those emails are likely to be sloppy, unprofessional, and informal. If those emails accidentally get sent to clients or other professionals – the company image may become damaged. If an email policy does not allow for personal use of the work email system, your staff will remain in a professional mindset and eliminate the potential of personal emails going out to customers.

Increase Productivity: Email tends to be a distraction for employees who are using it for non-professional reasons. If an email policy prohibits the use of work email for personal use, your employees will stay on task more and avoid the distractions that come from sending and receiving personal emails during work hours.

Establish Systems for Email: If the email policy outlines appropriate content for an email sent during work hours over the company email system, it can also help establish systems to ensure all staff members are contributing to the brand or image of the company. Have each staff member use a template for email responses and set up signature lines that appear in all outgoing emails to further establish the company’s professionalism and image in the eyes of individuals who may receive email from your staff. Setting guidelines for content and use of email creates a single, comprehensive image of the company that helps keep the organization aligned with its mission.

An email policy is a document that provides your business with certain legal protections involving misuse of the email system by employees. Because it is a legal document, many businesses elect to have a lawyer draw up the email policy, or at the very least, review the policy before it is implemented within the organization. Having a lawyer review or prepare an email policy may seem like an unnecessary upfront cost, but has the potential to save you in legal fees in the future.

Content by Managed Services Provider University

We are always on the watch for the ‘next best thing’ when it comes to technology and the Internet. Certainly no one can doubt that the next generation of the Internet (known as Web 2.0) has had a dramatic affect on how people interact and connect with each other – both from an individual standpoint and a business one.

Another emerging concept that has the power to change how we perform tasks is taking place before us as well, and it is called ‘cloud computing.’ Simply put, it is the ability to use resources and tools via the Internet without actually owning or being near them. The only requirement is to be able to access them.

The term ‘cloud’ is used to indicate the whole of computing services accessible via the Internet. It is an all-encompassing description of the complex internet-connected networks that exist in datacenters all over the world that power services and applications behind the scenes.

The concept of utilizing resources in these networks is being adopted by businesses both large and small. These resources are categorized to describe their function, and include:

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• Software as a Service (SaaS)
• Web 2.0

In the most general terms, Infrastructure as a Service means that companies may no longer need to own and house their own back-end servers and other network computing infrastructure besides an internet-connected PC or laptop in order to maintain business functionality. This capability can be purchased on a subscription basis from entities that market these services in a ‘virtual’ manner. This allows businesses to keep their costs low by not having to purchase, maintain and recycle their own equipment for this purpose, and also mitigates the possibility of business interruption due to the highly available nature of these solutions. This equates to increased uptime and profitability for Infrastructure as a Service customers.

Platform as a Service is also known as ‘cloudware’, and refers to the availability of development tools in creating web applications and services to the end user. Like IaaS, you never ‘see’ the inner-workings of this environment unless you are a computer programmer or IT resource, but it exists nonetheless and again affords those who use these tools the ability to reduce costs while running their businesses.

Sofware as a Service is defined as software applications that are subscribed to and accessed only through the Internet, and not installed on local PCs or laptops. Applications built by and accessed via Google fall into this category, as well as the many photo sites to which you can upload your pictures and videos, edit and share them with others. These solutions are gaining tremendous popularity, because end users do not need to install, update and maintain software locally – only connect to it and use it when the need arises.

Web 2.0 describes the whole of the social networking movement on the Internet, and includes but is not limited to destinations such as Facebook, MySpace, eHarmony, LinkedIn and Twitter. These sites offer the ability for people all over the world to share common interests, stay connected and learn more about each other – and these sites aren’t just for the young. Statistics show that the over 50 generation is logging onto these sites in greater numbers than ever before. In fact, in one month alone, Facebook adds over 17,000 new members.

The next time you are on the Internet and upload a photograph and use the online tools to modify that picture, you are participating in ‘cloud computing.’ The picture is probably loaded to a site that uses IaaS for their servers, PaaS in order to provide the visual interface in which you modify the photograph, and SaaS applications you’ll use to access your email program and social networking sites in order to send it to or post it for those with whom you would like to share the picture.

Article Source: Managed Services Provider University

At 85Under, we’re always seeking services and tools that are both super-functional and super-powerful. Microsoft Exchange Hosting fits into that category. It’s a very empowering solution to email, contacts, calendars, folder sharing, and more. Here are some details:

Freedom
For just a few dollars a day, you can seamlessly access and synchronize all your mailbox data, including contacts and calendar, across a variety of platforms and mobile devices.

Mobility
If you typically use Microsoft Outlook while in the office, on a Windows Smartphone or iPhone handheld while on the road, and Outlook web access from home, you can sync them all together…and without ever worrying about missed emails, contacts or appointments.

Productivity
Hosted Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 offers all the features and functionality of the popular application in addition to an intuitive collaboration capability for improved productivity with anywhere, anytime access.

The features and benefits are impressive for any business.

Another really great features of a Microsoft Exchange Server–especially considering the way increasing numbers of people are working today–is the mobile compatibility.

The Microsoft Exchange Server’s complete mobile access allows you to:

Work anytime, anywhere
Get full access to all your email folders, contacts, calendar and files from any Mircosoft Outlook or browser.

Keep up-to-date
Changes made to your email, contacts, calendar and files are automatically updated when accessed via any other medium

Mobile access
Carry your contacts, calendar, notes and task list on the road in your PDA/Smartphone

Work offline
Exchange email, change contacts, schedule meetings, and modify files from public folders while disconnected from the internet or working off-site. Outlook keeps an offline copy of it all, and all offline-mode changes are synchronized.

Three final points really hit home the advantages of Microsoft Exchange Server Services:

Save Money
Save thousands of dollars by not having to purchase licenses for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
Eliminate the need to purchase backup software and tapes, or antivirus software
Software updates are handled automatically on the servers, at no charge to you

Maintain Data Security
Be secure with an enterprise-managed firewall, which includes packet inspection and intrusion prevention
Be protected by automatic virus checks on all inbound and outbound emails and their attachments
Be confident that your valuable company data is in the 85under secure data center
Be sheltered because data is backed-up daily–no more data loss
Be safe, knowing we keep up with the latest security holes used by hackers; your data is always secure

Efficient Messaging Server
Complete, real-time wireless synchronization, without the use of a cradle
Wirelessly synchronize your email, calendar, contacts, notes, tasks, public folders, access to your Global Address List (GAL)
End-to-end security via data encryption
Constantly updated so your information is always up-to-date

As you can see, Microsoft Exchange can be an empowering tool for business. A great option for those of us seeking the combination of freedom to be on the go and always connected.