Which Email Service to Choose?

Jeff Zylstra · March 18, 2015, 05:18:20 PM

I am going to switch email providers, hopefully this weekend, and I'm torn between three providers - Google, Rack Space and Go Daddy.

I need HIPAA compliance, unlimited archiving, e-discovery and email holds, calendar and contact sharing, web access, and integration and support with smart phones. The prices are quite comparable between them at around $10 per user per month. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations among the three?

Jeff Golas · March 19, 2015, 09:38:50 AM

Why not look at real email providers like Office 365, Intermedia, and Appriver? For email only they're under $10/mo.

As far as I know, Google is not (and probably will never be) HIPPA compliant.

Jeff Zylstra · March 19, 2015, 09:47:20 AM

Quote from: Jeff Golas on March 19, 2015, 09:38:50 AM
Why not look at real email providers like Office 365, Intermedia, and Appriver? For email only they're under $10/mo.

As far as I know, Google is not (and probably will never be) HIPPA compliant.

Not sure that I like Office 365. Maybe because I don't fully understand what it is. They talk mostly about the Microsoft Office app that they host over the cloud. Obviously, that has little appeal for me, but I'm sure that they also offer some form of Email hosting. My understanding that for everything I need, they're almost $20 per user per month. Maybe on wrong on that, and I will call Appriver to see what they have, since I think many here use it and I would have heard if they were not a good provider.

Jeff Golas · March 19, 2015, 09:57:21 AM

Its confusing, but in a nutshell, Office 365 is a bunch of hosted services AS WELL AS Ms Office software - its an odd combo but the smaller basic plans you can JUST get email from it and not pay $20/mo.

The $20/mo plan, for example the E3 plans, give you Email, Sharepoint, Lync, OneDrive, and a license to use the full office 2013 suite, as well as the ability to run the Office apps for IOS, etc. Even if you buy those plans you can pick and choose how and when to use the various services.

https://products.office.com/en-us/business/compare-office-365-for-business-plans

Charlie Charbonneau · March 19, 2015, 10:35:55 AM

F.W.I.W. Here's one of the quotes I received from an O365 user when I was debating whether or not to go to hosted or stay in-house with email... They may or may not chime in with more info.

"Outlook 365 Cloud, if I had to do over, I would NOT do it. I would stick with in house mail server. Lost control with cloud. Emails get lost or never received (granted rare but does happen) and no clue what happened. No log and sometimes they have problems and are late to inform clients. Have had lags in delivery and receipt. Don't know it's broke until a client calls and complains."

Mark · March 19, 2015, 10:41:06 AM

Google email is HIPAA compliant. This isn't Gmail. This is Google email service you'd be paying for.

https://support.google.com/a/answer/3407054?hl=en

You need to configure it though: http://blog.backupify.com/2014/11/12/configure-google-apps-hipaa-compliance-least-secure-apps-docs/

Jeff Zylstra · March 19, 2015, 11:01:28 AM

Interesting. I will admit that I have an aversion to Microsoft handling our email hosting, both from a privacy and security aspect. Probably irrational, but it's still there. I think I'll call Appriver and see what they have, and maybe Intermedia. Thanks, Jeff.

And holy crap, Charlie, you're clairvoyant! I was writing the first paragraph, then you replied. That's exactly what has motivated me to look at other hosting services - "lost" emails. We send something to a client 3 times and they may or may not get it, and if they do get it, it's way late. The problem is that we never get a bounce or other error message, and it's also not in their Junk folder or SPAM catcher. It has happened with different email services, so it isn't just AOL or Gmail or something or someone else that I can pin down. I can't be hosting my own, but I also can't have that either. Now I'm definitely not going with Microsoft!

Hans Manhave · March 19, 2015, 11:39:15 AM

I have observed several well known companies in the US using Microsoft for their email carrier. From that I have formed the impression that MS is global, has lots of servers all over the world that are involved in email delivery. This "world" may include countries that one wishes to block by default. (I do using Appriver). It then happens that an email gets routed or worse, sourced, from that blocked country even though the sender is not in that country. My settings will then nicely have deleted that email. It won't be in spam, it will only show up on the log of email. That log, in my case, is seven days. With insurance being international, even if one may think it is North American based, most insurance involves re-insurance, Lloyd's, other syndicates that the end agent and final customer have no need of knowing. This kind of setup (the email routing), is a significant concern. You may think you get nothing from The Netherlands, Azerbajan(sp?) or Hongkong, but you may very well. Interestingly, The Netherlands is the largest sender of spam/virus email after the USA according to my Appriver reports.

Other concerns would be Homeland Security and other jurisdictions governing the servers. Just a few thoughts to make it more complex.

Charlie Charbonneau · March 19, 2015, 11:48:30 AM

I concur! Using a SonicWall Geofilter, I've had to allow a few unsavory countries to pass through in order for company emails to pass through!

Jeff Golas · March 19, 2015, 02:06:21 PM

Quote from: Charlie Charbonneau on March 19, 2015, 10:35:55 AM
F.W.I.W. Here's one of the quotes I received from an O365 user when I was debating whether or not to go to hosted or stay in-house with email... They may or may not chime in with more info.

"Outlook 365 Cloud, if I had to do over, I would NOT do it. I would stick with in house mail server. Lost control with cloud. Emails get lost or never received (granted rare but does happen) and no clue what happened. No log and sometimes they have problems and are late to inform clients. Have had lags in delivery and receipt. Don't know it's broke until a client calls and complains."

Tons of logs, and with Messagelabs and Zix in our paths I have logs showing every hop of the way. So far even with in house email we have the same problems and 9 times out of 10 its the receipient end "playing with things". Seriously. Not saying any of these services are perfect either, I'm sure Intermedia, Appriver, Google and everybody else has their issues and outages, not to mention that when there's a large outage, who will they fix first?

BUT the tradeoff is never having to touch Exchange, and having a much more resilient platform over an old server in a rack in a rural neighborhood with no capability to host a generator short of 6 figures - no brainer to me.

Mark · March 25, 2015, 11:04:46 AM

Quote from: Jeff Golas on March 19, 2015, 02:06:21 PM
BUT the tradeoff is never having to touch Exchange, and having a much more resilient platform over an old server in a rack in a rural neighborhood with no capability to host a generator short of 6 figures - no brainer to me.

Personally, I'll take this tradeoff over a hosted server any day. In fact, I don't see it as a trade-off at all! In my environment, MX Logic will hold me emails when my server is down, so senders don't even know, and no issues occur. I'm not going to preach that in-house is better than hosted for everyone or anyone. But, it is better for me.

Jeff Zylstra · March 25, 2015, 11:52:23 AM

Thanks to everyone who replied. I made the switch last Friday night to CloudMailStore.Com on their MDaemon hosted service. As every good Canadian knows (Paul Dodgson used it), MDaemon by Alt-N Technologies was originally part of RIM, aka, Blackberry. They spun off and are now in Texas, I think. Anyways, MDaemon offers pretty much everything that Exchange offers at about half the price.

The back end services like anti-spam/anti-virus, 10 year archiving, and HIPAA compliant encryption are all handled by MXLogic, and the hosting place is also located in Michigan which again added to my comfort level as I like to be a "hands on" guy when questions or problems arise. I'll check back in on this thread after I get all the smart phones and other stuff set up, and let everyone know how it is working.

Bob · March 25, 2015, 12:19:29 PM

I will say CLOUD Sucks! Works most of the time but not 100% reliable, less reliable than my in house experience! I would go back to in house in moment if wasn't for the expense to get back there.

I'm not going to debate you or Jeff to try this check that.. Just don't have the time or energy. I totally regret the move. In fact Monday MS had degraded service in our area. I've had emails to family (they don't all live together all have same experience) lose inserted images and as backup attached them too and not delivered. Not about plain text LOL. Always love this: I've had MX Logic flag MS Servers as spam stop delivery all together and have to point to a new server. Really?

In house was 1000% better. I totally regret Steve talking me into 365.

Not venting at you Mark (you're my friend), venting at the product and reliability much like TAM. Save this for a beer and talk at conference.

You're experience has just been better and more favorable than my own. Not just my own, frustration has been shared by others "in my area". Maybe it's as simple as MS performance and their own setup out west. I don't know. Exchange in house was a lot more reliable and I had total control unless total power loss. Even then as you said, MX or AppRiver would hold the emails. That goes for anyone with spam service in house or not.

Mark · March 25, 2015, 01:03:57 PM

Bob,

I hate to say it, but your experience is exactly what I would expect and why I am personally against cloud for us. No offense was taken, or even considered, while reading your vent, btw.

Not sure why hosted Exchange sucks so much worse than other hosted email services.

Jeff Zylstra · March 25, 2015, 01:20:34 PM

Sorry to hear about your experience, Bob. I don't at all take that as a slam against "cloud" based email since fewer and fewer businesses actually host their own email anymore.

I didn't care for the Office 365 approach. When I looked at it, most of the emphasis was on hosting cloud based Microsoft Office applications, and not really much on the particulars of the email. I could care less about cloud based apps. I wanted an email service with experience and expertise in email and related areas. I spoke with a sales person, but no one with real expertise.

I spoke with the owner when I signed up here, and although he was clearly Indian, I could understand him OK, he knew what he was talking about and has been extremely helpful. Almost too helpful if that is possible. I've never experienced anything quite like it before, actually. So far, it's been the best experience I've had with anything technology related. They also handle hosted Exchange, and I would dare say that they would be much better at it than Microsoft itself. It's probably not the technology, but rather those who sell it and run it.

My migration went pretty smooth, and he is even in the process of importing and indexing 3 years of my archive file (currently in a TAR file format) into MXLogic's archive server. I'll keep a copy for myself of course, but he's doing all the work for free, so I can't say no. If you're not currently in a contract, I'd say switch to someone who will value your business and take care of you. In other words, someone other than M$.