Uncovering the negative impact on brand perception, productivity and performance

1. The Real Costs of
“Free” Email Services
For Small Businesses
Uncovering The Negative Impacts On
Brand Perception, Productivity & Performance
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2. In today’s hyper-connected world, email is a vital platform
for small businesses to build relationships with customers
and prospects, support internal employee communication,
and optimize overall productivity.
Email remains the linchpin of all communication channels.
In fact, findings from Forrester Research reveal that 87%
of all company communications are via email.1 Businesses
also are amping up performance and productivity via
mobile tools and technologies, including smartphones and
tablet devices, while team members are on the go.
The benefits of mobile email are especially strong for small
businesses that are striving to build their employee and
customer bases, and require instant connectivity, anytime
and anywhere. With the average
email user sending and
Initially, free email platforms seem like the ideal solution
receiving more than 40,000
for a small business establishing itself in the marketplace:
messages per year, according to The
They’re free, easy to register, and have basic, easy-to-
Radicati Group,2 an efficient email platform is a vital
operate functionality. However, as organizations expand,
asset and a mission-critical function to business success.
they often realize there are substantial costs and risks
Not only is the communication channel required for
associated with free services, especially within the three
improving productivity among company team members,
key areas of a successful enterprise:
email also is now the primary channel that sales teams
• Perception, or how prospects and current customers utilize to reach customers and prospects.
view a company and its overall brand;
To effectively build perception and reputation among
• Productivity and employees’ overall ability to achieve peers and customers, best-in-class organizations are
day-to-day tasks, as well as long-term projects; and looking beyond the short-term attraction of free email
services, and are leveraging hosted email services, which
• Performance on both short-term and long-term
provide an array of business-savvy features, such as
goals within an organization.
calendar and contact sharing, mobile email capabilities,
Although the immediate benefits of signing up for these and cloud-based storage.
platforms are attractive at first glance, limited features
This white paper spotlights the costs and tradeoffs
and security can be costly to the overall performance of a
small businesses must consider when selecting an email
small business.
platform for their companies, as well as the necessary tools
and technologies to optimize perception, productivity and
performance among employees.
1 Forrester Research. The State of Workforce Technology 2 The Radicati Group, Inc. Email Statistics report, 2011-
Adoption: US Benchmark 2009 2015.
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3. Building Your Business: Perception Is Key
Organizations are constantly fighting for customer eyes
and dollars. This is especially true via email, where inboxes
are flooded with company communications, potential
business deals, and memos.
Findings from technology market research firm the Radicati
Group, in the report, Email Statistics Report, 2011-2015,
indicated that email account holders send and receive
approximately 110 emails a day. This estimate is expected
to reach 125 daily messages by the end of this year.
email address
often is the primary
reflection of a brand.
The lack of a dedicated domain
negatively reflects an organization,
“[Small businesses] have to view email as an essential as well as employees’ professionalism. In fact, 75% of
tool to building and maintaining relationships with people form judgments about others based on their email
customers, as well as continuing relationships with address, according to 1&1 Mail and Media.3 These findings
vendors and partners,” said Kirk Averett the Director of are even more problematic for small businesses that are
Product for Email & Apps, Rackspace. “Email’s flexibility constantly vying for customer and prospect attention in
allows organizations to keep those relationships working. the competitive business world.
Although there are other tools, email is the most powerful
and commonly used tool out there.” Small and growing businesses also run the risk of
seeming less professional or may be taken less seriously
Utilizing a company-specific domain name allows an if their email doesn’t have a dedicated domain name.
organization to be recognized quickly and remain top-of- Organizations also may not be able to access business-
mind among prospects and clients. For example, if Joe Smith imperative information, such as research studies
is the CEO of smartphone application developer ViaMobile, and webinars, since many outlets prohibit content
he will tout a JoeSmith@ViaMobile.com email address, downloading with a general domain name.
rather than JoeSmith@gmail.com. By connecting the dots
between brand name and email address, small businesses Overall, a consumer-level domain name raises a
will build awareness, recognition, and most importantly, trust, figurative red flag, and encourages prospects to delete
protecting a company’s overall image as an organization that communications, avoid opening messages, and even
is professional and eager to do business. report messages as spam. This lack of trust can greatly
hinder a small business’ growth, relationship-building, and
Since businesses are now connecting and engaging with overall reputation.
their customers and prospects primarily via the web, an
3 1&1 Mail & Media, Inc. Email and Communication
Research. 2011
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4. Solving The Spam Puzzle
Regardless of organization or position in a company, Case In Point: West Arete
employees and executives are faced with the challenge
Computing Improves Spam
of sifting through email messages and removing spam
Management With Rackspace
and unwanted contacts. In fact, spam management is a
leading hurdle in team members’ overall productivity and A personalized email address allows businesses to
performance, and in turn, a business’ overall success. reduce their own spam intake, and in turn, improve
efficiencies and overall time management. By
In fact, small business employees spend approximately
implementing an email hosting solution, companies can
29 minutes per day dealing with spam, according to the
utilize anti-virus scanners, which are typically integrated
2011 Report on UC and Cloud-based Services for SMBs,
into a host’s SMTP gateways.
conducted by Webtorials. Regardless of the obvious
detriments of spending quality business time sorting West Arete Computing, a custom software
through messages, spam management is a constant development firm, relied on email to receive critical
struggle among small businesses that don’t have the systems alerts. Although the company had an on-staff
solutions or resources to address these issues efficiently. systems administrator to run email on-premises, spam
was becoming a more time-consuming task to tackle.
“Keeping up with email and spam was a big problem,”
said Scott Woods, President and Founder of West
Arete Computing. “In order to focus on software
development, we didn’t want to spend time on that.”
After trying out multiple solutions, and conducting
Small businesses also must determine the potential impact in-depth research on possible platforms, the company
of not having dedicated domain names for employees. By selected Rackspace.
touting a free email address, team members can be mistaken
for spam and, in turn, add to prospect and client frustrations. “None did as good a job as Rackspace for experience
and spam detection,” Woods said. “I looked around
Large Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and some web- online forums to see what people I knew and trusted
based email services are utilizing email authentication as were saying. The consistent theme was Rackspace has
an added strategy to fight spam invasion. These stronger good service and a good email product.”
spam filters make it more difficult for companies to get
emails delivered and opened if they don’t have a business- Hosted email solutions consistently apply the latest
specific domain name. anti-spam updates to shield staff from hindering
productivity and draining valuable company time.
Executives must acknowledge the business-wide benefits For example, Rackspace leverages a three-pronged
of leveraging dedicated domain names. By touting a approach to help ensure deliverables are spam free:
business-branded domain name, organizations can make a Gateway Scan, a Cloudmark Scan, and a Message
their communication goals clear, thus, increasing the Sniffer Scan. This strategy allows the company to block
likelihood that messages will be opened and — most an average of 45 million spam messages a day.
importantly — read.
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5. Productivity In The Work Place: Do You Have The Right Tools?
The majority of businesses (87%) tap into email as a
collaboration tool to share announcements, content and
vital information, according to Forrester Research. As a
result, the “short and to the point” communication once
synonymous with email is being transformed to include
lengthy messages and larger attachments, leading to
longer wait times for email retrieval and message uploads.
When standard POP email servers are overwhelmed and
systems go down, productivity for a small business is
depleted. However, this is a constant problem among
small and mid-sized businesses. In fact, company email
systems experience a mean of 53 minutes of unplanned
downtime within a month’s time, according to a recent “Basic capabilities
Osterman Research.4 Hosted email solutions, however, such as scheduling
typically guarantee 99.9% uptime, leading to improved an appointment, receiving a
productivity and more efficient connectivity. reminder, tracking work, scheduling and
coordinating work, and saving history of your tasks is
If and when email operations are up, it takes the right tools
what makes email special and will keep it special for a
to ensure success. Collaborative features, such as the ability
long time,” Averett said. “A lot of the new social tools
to share contacts, calendars, to-do lists and files, as well
add special value, but email is still the heart of written
as efficient archiving capabilities, are imperative to keep
communications. It’s the most widespread in terms of
executives and employees on the same page regarding
number of users, and has the ability to connect with
schedules, company developments, and content creation.
friends, relatives, strangers, customers, vendors and
Companies that don’t provide seamless access to more; has been tested and is fully mature; and operates
information and resources across technology platforms can at an extremely high scale. You can’t underestimate the
take a serious hit on not only productivity, but profitability, importance of that ability to reach anyone at anytime.”
as well. Research from IDC reveals that inconsistent access
Organizations are opting to implement hosting platforms
tools, ineffective searches for updates and content can
to provide employees and executives with instant access
cost a company $3,300 per employee, per year. Meaning, a
to emails, calendars and contacts via mobile devices,
small business with 400 employees can experience a $1.32
including smartphones and tablets, which are becoming
million productivity loss in one year alone.
ubiquitous in the business world. The limited features of
The ability to share calendars, contacts and tasks is a must some POP and IMAP email systems allow no room for this
in the highly connected business world. Employees and form of flexibility and instant communication, which is now
executives are constantly traveling and more on-the-go required for today’s small businesses, especially as more
than ever. As a result, instant access to email accounts, organizations use mobile email, tablets, laptops, and other
mailboxes, important events, and other information is a wireless tools as an integral part of their communication.
necessity, rather than a luxury.
4 Osterman Researh. Why Email Must Operate 24/7 and
How to Make This Happen. 2009 5

6. The Mobile Imperative:
Increased Connectivity Makes Seamless Collaboration A Necessity
Smartphone subscription and usage is growing at an
unprecedented pace, making mobile email a practical and
even necessary resource for on-the-go workers. In fact,
an April 2011 study sponsored by Google showed that
82% of smartphone users check and send email with their
devices.5 This hyper-connected behavior even extends
into after-work hours, according to Osterman Research.
In its third annual research survey, Osterman revealed
that a vast majority of workers (83%) check email using a
smartphone or mobile device before and after a standard
workday.6
“A lot of small business owners are their own best
salesperson, so when they’re out traveling, meeting with
clients and prospects, they can still be connected to all
their other customers without being confined to a desk,”
Averett said. “That form of flexibility matters more and
more since we’re in a very dynamic business market.
People need the freedom to move about and travel, and
even have that flexibility in time. Long gone are the days
when work was nine-to-five, and I think [small businesses] Case In Point: PROACT Improves
appreciate that. So being able to roll out of bed in the
Connectivity With Hosted Email
morning, answer a few emails and then get ready for the
day, being flexible, and spreading work out, is imperative PROACT Search, an educational recruiting firm,
to small businesses” initially utilized a standard POP email system, which
provided no additional support for mobile devices.
Optimal email hosting platforms allow data to be synced
“This POP email was not conducive to running a mid-
automatically or when requested by users via BlackBerry,
sized company,” said Thomas Vranas, President of
iPhone and Android, as well as from any laptop, desktop,
PROACT Search, a Rackspace client. “Things I’d taken
or tablet device. Push service and real-time sync is
for granted in the corporate world, like calendars,
provided for all account features, including basic mail
sharing and invitations, are necessities.” With 80%
and folders, contacts, calendars and tasks. Leading small
to 90% of his company’s business done via email,
businesses are taking note of the companywide benefits
stagnant communications and delayed replies were not
of implementation, including streamlined communication
an option, Vranas added. After adopting Rackspace,
and task management, as well as instant access to
employees are now able to check email from hotel
calendar invitations across devices.
computers, laptops and mobile phones, so they’re
5 Google. The Mobile Movement Study. April 2011 always connected, even while on the road.
6 Osterman Research. Osterman Research Third Annual
Survey. November 2011
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7. Support 24x7x365:
A Must-Have For Small Business Performance
In the business world, productivity and performance go
hand-in-hand. Daily operations are dominated by strict
deadlines, new deals and partnerships, and customer
care, all of which require immediate attention. Free email
services create a greater chance of system downtime and,
in turn, lackluster performance.
“About half of our email volume comes from system
status information,” said Woods. “Email is the primary
notification vehicle for system alerts — without it, systems
could go down and we’d never know.”
Overall, email platforms such as Gmail and Yahoo! require
excess maintenance, which small business owners and
their IT teams simply don’t have the time for. Moreover,
by partnering with a domain name provider such as Go Hosted email
Daddy, organizations are faced with sub-par knowledge of solutions provide
email functionality and resources. continual support on
a 24x7x365 basis, allowing
Companies that employ hosted email platforms, however,
business owners and employees to
optimize time management and financial resources. In fact,
focus on core operations, rather than back-end
more than 60% of organizations are transitioning to hosted
issues. Service providers, such as Rackspace, provide
solutions due to lower total cost of ownership, seamless
organizations with a staff of experts to address network
deployments and overall easier management than
issues in a timely manner, as well as in-depth set-up
network-based providers, according to Forrester Research.
support. Transition representatives also are provided to
KarmaCRM, a provider of SaaS customer relationship allow companies to easily migrate from free email services
management tools, is a startup company that taps into to new, hosted platforms, efficiently.
Rackspace hosting services to free up the company IT team.
“We are not a tech company — we don’t have a lot of
“It’s far too easy to fall into the trap of doing everything
technical expertise,” said Vranas of PROACT Search. “The
in-house and waste your IT talent managing email servers
Transition Team [from Rackspace] was super helpful in
instead of growing your business,” explained John-Paul
getting us setup, speaking in plain English, and not talking
Narowski, Founder of KarmaCRM. “Our business is CRM,
down to us.”
not IT, and everything we can do to help keep that in the
forefront helps us remain lightweight and competitive.”
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8. Conversely, organizations that subscribe to free email
services are simply left to consult message boards and help
forums, where they will, hopefully, find a solution to any
technical issues and answers to any follow-up questions. “As a general rule,
“As a general rule, a paid email provider has a greater
a paid email provider
obligation and financial motivation to take care of your has a greater obligation and
information and mail,” Averett said. “However, the most financial motivation
critical piece is support, which is non-existent in free email
platforms. If one of your critical communication tools
to take care of your
doesn’t have any back-up behind it, in terms of a human information and mail . However ,
being that can help you find a missing message or track the most critical piece is
something down, that’s a big problem for businesses.”
support, which is non-existent
in free email platforms.”
Communication & Client Protection: - Kirk Averett
Director of Product for Email & Apps
The Free Email Game-Changer
Rackspace
Information and conversation protection is key
to maintaining business integrity and sustaining
relationships. Free email platforms often flood inboxes
with advertisements and can easily access emails and
information, leading to increased likelihood that customer
and partner data will be compromised. This is a factor
that many organizations ignore, due to the appeal of
obtaining a service for free, according to Averett.
“The average [small business] today uses the email that
was included when they purchased a domain name,
or a free domain that came with an Internet provider,
or possibly a Yahoo! or Gmail,” Averett explained.
“To keep company and customer confidentiality top-
of-mind, organizations must implement solutions
that focus on email and are willing to provide
features for security during message storage and
transmission. Hosting companies integrate extensive
security measures to help you protect data from
physical threats, and other circumstances, including
overheating, power outages, and fires. However, the
continual protection of hosted systems is a key benefit
of hosted solutions.
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9. Conclusion:
Building Business Relationships & Opportunities With
Hosted Email Solutions
The Hosted Service Advantage
As businesses continue to veer toward digital channels
To truly succeed in a highly competitive and connected
to build and maintain relationships, as well as increase
marketplace, small businesses need sturdy and reliable
business, it is becoming more imperative for small
email platforms. Hosted email service providers cover
business to follow suit, and most importantly, be armed
the gamut to deliver optimal email performance. By
with optimal resources.
implementing a hosted email service, small businesses will
Although smartphones and social tools are becoming receive the following benefits:
ubiquitous in the business world, email still remains
• Support. Most businesses operate across multiple
the solid foundation of all corporate communications,
time zones and at all times, making a support team
making a reliable email platform a vital asset to business
that is on call 24x7x365 a critical asset to help ensure
productivity, profitability, and performance.
email performance is consistently on point.
Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Managed Hosting, 2012, • Uptime. With email acting as the linchpin of all
revealed key characteristics for an efficient service. The business communications and relationships, it is
report read: “The most heavily weighted criteria for a vital that small businesses have optimal uptime and
hoster’s ability to execute are service offering and service deliverability. Since service and connectivity is key to
excellence, as reflected in the customer experience with keeping business operations afloat, most hosted email
sales, support, and operations.” service providers provide more than 99% uptime.
Optimal email hosting solutions allow organizations • Backup and data recovery. Leading hosted email
across sizes and segments to streamline operations and solutions provide email backup in case servers crash
to help ensure optimal email deliverability, uptime, and or stop responding. Recovery systems also are
security. Providers also offer collaborative for employees available to restore any email messages that get lost
and business owners to be constantly connected and are in translation.
able to share status updates, events, and communications; • Connectivity. Small business owners and employees
ensuring streamlined and successful business operations. are constantly on the go, formulating relationships, and
attending important meetings and events to create
With a reliable and sustainable email platform on hand,
new sales opportunities. Hosted email solutions provide
small businesses are armed with the tools, resources,
enterprises with instant connectivity to BlackBerry,
and support to optimize brand perception, and drive
iPhone, and Android devices, as well as any Internet-
productivity as well as performance, for continued business
connected laptop, desktop or tablet, to help ensure
growth and success.
optimal performance and productivity to on-the-go
team members.
• Collaboration. Hosted platforms offer small
businesses optimal resources to help team members
receive and share information. Collaboration tools
include project tracking, content management, and
the sharing of calendars, and to-do lists.
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10. 5000 Walzem Rd. Rackspace® Hosting is the service leader in cloud computing and founder
San Antonio, Texas 78218 of OpenStack™, an open source cloud platform. The San Antonio-
UNITED STATES based company provides Fanatical Support® to its customers, across a
portfolio of IT services, including Managed Hosting and Cloud Computing.
P: 1.800.961.2888
Rackspace has been recognized by Bloomberg BusinessWeek as a Top
www.rackspace.com
100 Performing Technology Company and was featured on Fortune’s list of
100 Best Companies to Work For. The company was also positioned in the
Leaders Quadrant by Gartner Inc. in the “2010 Magic Quadrant for Cloud
Infrastructure as a Service and Web Hosting.” For more information, visit
www.rackspace.com.
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