Email Continuity

With the majority of business getting done via email, the very notion of email downtime has become an unacceptable proposition. Given the mission-critical nature of email, any significant downtime often results in serious consequences—deadlines get missed, orders cannot be processed and vital communications cease. Not only does downtime affect day-to-day operations and workforce productivity, it also jeopardizes organizations' reputations, financial performance, and ultimately, business success.

Not only do organizations need the ability to send and receive emails when their mail servers are down, they need the peace of mind of protecting their email from the unexpected. Research suggests that most small and midsized enterprises experience more than 40 total hours of unplanned email downtime each year. Plus, some estimates suggest that upwards of 40 percent of these outages last more than 24 hours.

There are several email archiving considerations to keep in mind, but ensuring that organizations have a reliable solution that guarantees simple recovery, regardless of root cause, is at the top of the list.

Email Continuity Considerations
 

Although the goal of any email continuity solution is to prevent email downtime and data loss stemming from a catastrophic event, there are several items one should consider prior to deploying a solution.

  • How quickly can it be implemented?
  • Is it always-on, or does it require manual activation?
  • How quickly does it activate?
  • Does it automatically restore messages to their proper locations (e.g., Inbox, Sent Items, etc.) when the mail server is back up?
  • How does it impact your mail flow? Is it the primary or secondary MX?
  • Does it support BlackBerry and other mobile devices?
  • Are users able to seamlessly access their content directly in Outlook?
  • Is infrastructure required? Upgrades? Maintenance?