NNER CIRClE - Integral Solutions Group
Transcription
NNER CIRClE - Integral Solutions Group
October 2013 / Volume 13 nner Circle Companies Look to Move Email Hosting Offsite With By Joe Strayer, VP of Integration Services, ISG many organizations under ever-increasing pressure to improve efficiency and deliver better solutions, many information technology (IT) Joe Strayer managers are looking to offload IT functions that do not directly benefit their businesses. Email is one of these functions. Everyone in IT knows that businesses need a reliable and secure email platform that allows collaboration between employees, vendors and, most importantly, customers. However, email is not business specific and cannot be leveraged to provide a business advantage over competitors. Outside email hosting can alleviate capital expenditures for server hardware, licensing, maintenance and support, as well as provide a great way to put some much needed work hours back into the IT budget without hiring additional resources. Hosted email has become less about staff reduction and more about staff focus. IT managers are quickly realizing that resources can be better utilized when focused on business-specific applications and process improvements. Once the decision to use an outside provider is made, all the familiar challenges and concerns must be addressed: • Where is my email and data? • What kind of Service Level Agreement (SLA) should I expect? • Will I have the same level of control I had in the past? • How do I migrate all of this email? All of these are valid concerns and cannot be taken lightly. During service provider evaluations, each of these hurdles must be evaluated and overcome. Each provider will handle these hurdles differently. For example, migration of existing email may not be included or may be a long, tedious process. Integration with other systems may or may not be supported, and administrator support may be available via a web portal only or only during normal business hours. It is important to understand the provider’s strategy to support your organization. No question should be off limits. Providers who are interested in becoming a long-term partner will be excited to share their solutions to your challenges. How well a provider meshes with your organization will determine the true advantage your organization can realize by utilizing a hosted email solution. You should never feel like you are alone in the transition or the support of a hosted email solution. Along with standard email hosting, each provider will have numerous add-ons and extensions in conjunction with their base offering, such as encryption, archiving and other features that can be leveraged to augment the value that hosted email provides. Hosted email can be a win-win for both IT and business operations by allowing IT to focus on business-specific solutions while the business is provided a more email-focused support structure and a more reliable email solution. This edition of Inner Circle focuses on email hosting. For more information, call Integral Solutions Group (ISG) at 800.235.0767 or email us at newsletter@ integralsg.com. Disaster Recovery | Technology Supplies | Network Infrastructure & Cabling Solutions | Tier IV Colocation | Managed Services | Email Hosting | Enterprise Monitoring Services StressFree I/T® Hosted Email Solution: Worry-free Email and Customer Support ISG’s affordable email hosting provides complete administrative access to your mail server. Customer support is available 24x7, and customers are never surprised with unexpected updates. With ISG, customers have access to quality antivirus and spam mail filtering, in addition to email backup and recovery. See how ISG’s hosted email solutions compare to other solutions in the chart below. Hosted Email Feature In-house Email Solution Other Hosted Email Solutions Additional ? ISG’s StressFree I/T Hosted Email Hosted on Exchange Server 2010 Active Directory Synchronization Outlook Web Access (OWA) Fully Clustered Hardware Environment Disaster Recovery Services for Mailboxes Premium SPAM/Antivirus Filtering Additional Data and System Backups Additional ? Tier IV Data Center Hosting 99.999% SLA Uptime Hosted in Dedicated Server Environment Full Administrator Exchange Management Full Exchange Feature Set Scheduled Hardware Refresh Cycle Additional Exchange Server Version Upgrade Support Outlook Client Version Upgrade Support Outlook/Entourage Client License Microsoft Server Client Access License Unified Communications Integration Support Optional Additional Phone Support: 8 to 5 only 24x7 Admin Level Support 24x7 User Level Support Guaranteed U.S.-based Support Desk Account/Mailbox Creation Services Included On-site Email Migration Assistance Custom Integration Support Litigation and Audit Assistance Available Email Archiving Optional Optional Email Encryption Optional Optional 15 GB 10 GB Mailbox Storage Limits (Pooled) Tips: Get Slow Email Moving Again By Vanessa Roskam, Remote Support Integrator, ISG Has your email seemed slow lately? Try the following steps to get it moving again. • Check the Size of your Mailbox »» Microsoft recommends that mail files be kept below 2 GB to keep mail moving quickly. Check your mailbox size by going to File, Cleanup Tools, Mailbox Cleanup, then View Mailbox Size. If your mail file is more than 2GB (2,000,000 KB), you should consider cleaning out your mail. • Store Important Files Elsewhere (Not in email) »» It’s easy to store important spreadsheets and documents in your email, because you can find them quickly. However, if your mailbox is too large, your email could crash, and your files could be lost. It’s best practice to store your files on a shared server that is backed up regularly. If you’re unsure of the best location for your files, check with your integrator or system administrator. • Clean out Unnecessary Items using Mailbox Cleanup »» Open Mailbox Cleanup: File, then Cleanup Tools, then Mailbox Cleanup. »» Removing large items is an easy way to reduce the size of your mailbox. Select “Find items larger than” and change 250 KB to 1000 KB (or 5000 if needed). Outlook will generate a list of large mail items for you to peruse and delete as needed. You can also use “Find items older than” to find old emails to delete. »» Empty your Deleted Items folder frequently. Don’t use it for storage – it’s easy to accidentally delete these items! Just click Empty on the Mailbox Cleanup window, or right click your Deleted Items folder and select Empty Folder. »» If you lose or accidentally delete important emails, they may be recoverable from backup. Be careful to notify your helpdesk as soon as possible, though. Most backups have a 14-day retention period, so the items must be restored within 14 days of their deletion or they’ll be gone forever. • Disable Unnecessary Add-ins »» Add-ins can be helpful by making Outlook work better for you. But if your email is slow, you may want to try disabling the unnecessary ones. To view your add-ins, go to File, Options, then Add-ins. Start by disabling only non-Microsoft add-ins that you don’t recognize, and see if that speeds up your email. Check with your integrator or system administrator if you have any questions about which add-ins are okay to disable. If you have any questions about how to apply these ideas, or if you’d like assistance, please contact our helpdesk 24x7 at 888-654-2535 or [email protected]. UPCOMING SC Ed Tech 2013 October 9-11 TD Convention Center Greenville, SC VTN Fall Invitational October 20-24 JW Marriott Desert Springs Palm Springs, CA IT Nation 2013 November 13-15 Hilton Bonnet Creek Room Orlando, FL Integral Solutions Group P.O. Box 1412 Spartanburg, SC 29304 ISG Headquarters 450 Wofford Street Spartanburg, SC 29301 Toll Free 800.235.0767 Spartanburg, SC 864.574.8161 Greenville, SC 864.370.3706 Columbia, SC 800.975.6060 Charleston, SC 843.965.5658 Charlotte, NC 800.975.6060 www.integralsg.com Follow us on: BREAKING NEWS... ISG is proud to announce our new partner sponsorship with the GSATC Technology Council. GSATC provides networking, education and professional development opportunities to career-minded information technology professionals and high-tech entrepreneurs through its newsletter, meetings, expos and training programs. The Tech after 5 (Ta5) in Columbia and Charleston falls on the same day as the Greenville luncheons.We invite you to join us at the upcoming events: 99 October 9 – Learning Lunch – Embassy Suites, Greenville, SC 99Ta5 – Jakes on Devine, Columbia, SC 99 October 22 – Ta5 – Southend Brewery, Charleston, SC 99 November 13 – Learning Lunch – Embassy Suits, Greenville, SC 99Ta5 – Carolina Ale House, Columbia, SC 99 November 26 – Ta5 – Southend Brewery, Charleston, SC 99 December 11 – Learning Lunch – Embassy Suits, Greenville, SC 99Ta5 – Carolina Ale House, Columbia, SC Change the Rules of Networking with ISG and HP Let ISG prepare you for the explosion of new applications and services with game-changing innovations in network design, performance and management from HP Networking! The combined product portfolio of ProCurve, 3Com, H3C and TippingPoint expands HP’s networking capabilities and accelerates the Converged Infrastructure Strategy. ISG and HP offer support to make it easier for you to implement, use and maintain HP products. Many support features are included with the products, like self-help tools, telephone support, email support, electronic case submission and software releases.