Web-Based E-Mail: Businesses Beware

Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, and lots of others offer these free or low-cost services, but if there's a snafu or e-mails with essential information are lost, you're likely to be out of luck.

Amid a tough economy, free or low-cost Web-based e-mail services such as Google's Gmail or Google Apps, Microsoft's Hotmail, and Yahoo! mail are hugely popular, not just with consumers but also with small businesses. Microsoft, for instance, operates a free service called Office Live Small Business that boasts 2.5 million customers. But while convenient and low-cost, these services also carry a lot of risks that heavy e-mail users, especially small businesses, should consider carefully before signing up.

One person who wishes he hadn't dived in with his eyes closed is Rom Mettesich. Four months ago the retired telecom engineer came up with what he thought was a great idea to save Avant Construction, a Punte Gorda general contracting firm run by his wife, Frinee, a few hundred dollars a year. The company has been pummeled by the downturn in the real estate and construction industries. Mettesich decided to move the Web site and employee e-mail accounts off Avant's old Internet service and onto Microsoft Office Live Small Business. But there was a snafu when Mettesich tried to create e-mail addresses for the company's 19 employees that would be identical to the ones they had with the prior service. He tried to correct the problem by deleting the accounts and starting over. But when he re-entered the addresses, he ran into problems. "The service told me the address I wanted to create was already in use, but I had just deleted it," he says.

lost new-business leads

The glitch proved to be more than just an annoyance. E-mails to Avant Construction's staff—including messages containing leads for badly needed new business—were bouncing back to senders as if the addresses didn't exist. Mettesich contacted Microsoft tech support via e-mail but was told there was no way around the problem. A Microsoft spokesman says Mettesich appears to have run up against a policy on the service that prevents e-mail addresses that have been deleted once from being recreated for 120 days. But even after 140 days, he still hasn't been able to recreate the addresses.

If e-mail is crucial for your business, no matter how small, then it's too important to entrust to a free Web-mail service, says Roger Matus, CEO of Inboxer, an e-mail archiving gear company, who also blogs frequently on e-mail issues at deathbyemail.com. E-mail accounts, he says, aren't only for communication but are now virtual filing cabinets containing important documents, contact information, sales leads, and other crucial business information. "Everything important that happens to a company these days, happens in e-mail," he says. "It's like your crown jewels, so you want to be careful in handing them over to someone else."

Full article:
Web-Based E-Mail: Businesses Beware - BusinessWeek

__________________
cheers Steve
Forum Admin - teaboy and general gofer...

Forum Rules and FAQ's at a glance | Find me on Google+ | or even Facebook!

My Local Services - The UK and US Online Business Directory | JobsVitae - Recruitment Help and CV Creation

If you're here to spam, then expect a ban

Ha! You have just reminded me, that my usual emails are back live again!

Using Gmail has been a pain in the butt to be honest, so expect a kipfx in your in box in minutes!

__________________
Web Design Portfolio | Social Media beats SEO

I totally agree with Steve on this one if you are using a free provider make
sure you setup outlook as a imap repository and archive to *.PST everyday
otherwise it will be lights out for you email.

you wont be able to circumvent the fact that you have lost your email service
but at least you have still got you email history safe and sound.

__________________
JobsVitae.co.uk - CV Builder - Jobs Blog

Here is the link for the PST backup tool

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

__________________
JobsVitae.co.uk - CV Builder - Jobs Blog