Email solutions vary from simple and inexpensive to more complex and more costly. The best email solution will balance needs with cost, providing you with what you need at a cost you can afford. As a company grows the email solution can change to accomodate increased needs and take advantage of newer technology. Here are some examples:

1 - Various free email accounts

myname@bellsouth.net
yourname@earthlink.net
companyname@bellsouth.net

Cost: free


2 - Consolidated POP3 email service

yourname@companyname.com
myname@companyname.com
info@companyname.com
sales@companyname.com

individual calendars
individual contact lists

shared 3rd party calendar, like calendar.yahoo.com

Cost: About $1-$2/month per employee, usually $10-$20/month for the company


3 - Hosted Exchange Service

yourname@companyname.com
myname@companyname.com
info@companyname.com
sales@companyname.com

shared calendars
shared contacts list
shared folders

Cost: about $10/month per employee (more if you need to include BlackBerry service)



4 - Inhouse Exchange Server

All the features of Exchange with no limits on size

Cost of server, software, support, licenses, etc often makes this expensive and not cost effective for small companies.
It becomes cost effective when you need Exchange for 20+ employees.



See Diagrams
 

©2009 Outer Limits Consulting