Making any kind of change freaks out your user base; we’ve all experienced the panic that surrounds your co-workers when any type of change is announced. But when it involves technology they cling to what they know like Milton to his red Swingline stapler.

Moving your email services to the cloud is no exception. When you take into consideration the fact that many of your co-workers may have read about cloud based horror stories in the news, the transition can become even more difficult. But making a move to the cloud doesn’t have to be a frightening thought your users. Make them comfortable with the change and show them the benefits and you may find that they praise your decision as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

So just what can you tell them about the cloud that may change their minds? Try these facts on and see if they don’t win over some hearts and minds. Continue reading Are Your Users Afraid of Cloud-Based Email?

In an interview with Carlo Minassian, the CEO of Australia based Earthwave, he claims that a high percentage of email administrators routinely read through other people’s emails; including those higher up on the organizational chart.

“We know that 40 per cent of IT email administrators and IT managers look inside their manager’s, their board’s, their chief information officer’s, and chief executive officer’s emails regularly and read their email,” claimed Minassian.

While these claims are based on opinion and experience a Ponemon study, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, provides plenty of facts that not only support what Mr. Minassian believes, but some others that may shock even those who are cynical of their email admins to begin with.

When asked if they believe that having privileged access empowers them to access any information they have the ability to view, 64 percent responded yes. That means two thirds of all IT administrators (not just email administrators) feel they have the right to look at your stuff if they can; be it emails, documents, web browsing history, etc.

Sixty-one percent of those asked access sensitive or confidential data just because they are curious about it. It may have nothing to do with their job duties, they are just being nosy. Continue reading Is it OK for Email Admins to Snoop?

Text messaging and social media communications may be popular, but anyone who thinks that email is dead is sorely mistaken.

According to a report from the Radicati Group, the number of email accounts worldwide is expected to grow from 3.1 billion in 2011 to roughly 4.1 billion by the end of 2015. Most of these newly created accounts will be in the corporate world stating:

“Over the next four years, however, we expect corporate email accounts to increase at a faster pace than consumer email accounts. This will be particularly due to the growth of affordable cloud-based email services. Many organizations are using cloud-based email services as a way to extend email services to kiosk workers who may not have had access to email in the past.”

Now, as any email administrator knows, every newly created email account can mean trouble – especially when it comes to email management. Continue reading Tips for Better Email Management

Like so many of you out there, I upgraded my Apple device to iOS 5 recently, and with that I found that I could get a free email account in the iCloud, an @me.com email address. My immediate response was to go “heck yeah!” and sign up for it. I did, added it to my other devices, and only then did I stop to think for a moment about what I did. That made five, yes, that’s right, FIVE email accounts that my phone would check every so many minutes to interrupt my day with yet another notification that I must check to see what someone sent me. That’s now FIVE email accounts I have to worry about filtering for spam, and securing with unique usernames and passwords, and that I will have to search through when, six months after reading an email and remembering only vaguely what it was about, need to find it again. Continue reading It’s Time to Stop the Madness

Back in May of 2011, the Exchange Team Blog announced that Exchange 2010 SP2 would be coming in the second half of 2011. Now that we are firmly within that second half, SP2 should be just around the corner, and now’s the time for you to start getting ready for the inevitable testing and pre-deployment work that will come with this service pack release. What’s that, you say? Testing? Pre-deployment work? This isn’t just a Windows Update deployed patch? Hardly! Any service pack to any operating system or server is a major event, and the deployment of this service pack will be a major undertaking for every company running Exchange 2010, from the single server installs to the largest of organisations.

Continue reading Get ready for Exchange 2010 SP2

You’d have to have spent the last two years of your professional career living under a rock to have not come across “the cloud”. The cloud – this; the cloud – that; the cloud, the cloud, the cloud… Cloud computing promises to be the next sea change in information technology, as more and more Somethings as a Service (*aaS) hit the market, with every player from Microsoft and Google all the way down to JoeBob’s Hosting trying to get in on the action.

Email services look to be the most common, some of the easiest to move to the cloud, and certainly of the most interest to readers of this blog. My colleagues Jeff Orloff and Paul Mah have both written some great articles around this topic already. Today, I want to talk about cloud based email services from a different point of view; that of the email admin who thinks the cloud will make his or her job go away.

Continue reading Inside Every Cloud Is a Silver Lining

One of the most common applications to move to the cloud is email. Quite frankly, most small and medium sized businesses choose to let a cloud provider host their email because:

• Email services are always up and running
• Email can be accessed from anywhere
• It is scalable – you can increase or decrease as needed
• It is affordable (you only pay for what you use)
• It frees up resources (IT staff) for other projects. Continue reading Cloud Based Email, Best Practices for Before You Move

You must have heard about Office 365 by now, the newly launched cloud service by Microsoft that offers Exchange Online and other Microsoft-hosted services such as SharePoint Online, Lync Online and Office Web Apps.  Before being dismayed however, Exchange administrators may want to first check out my arguments as to Why Office 365 is good for Exchange Administrators. In addition, those who have yet to explore Office 365 may want to take some time to read my earlier article on TheEmailAdmin titled A Closer Look at Exchange in Microsoft’s Office 365. Continue reading Using Office 365 Plan P with your Company’s Domain Name

When you don’t understand something that your job requires you to know, the most logical thing to do is research the topic and learn as much as you can about it. For many people who find security as part of their job description, learning as you go is the only option available. Yet despite the fact that there is so much information readily available to us, misconceptions regarding email security still confuse many professionals tasked with maintaining the confidentiality, integrity and availability of email services. Continue reading Misconceptions About Email Security

Microsoft’s newly launched Office 365 offers powerful, intuitive controls for businesses looking to deploy a cloud-hosted collaboration and messaging solution.  I was able to get my own trial account activated in just 10 minutes, faster than any hosted Exchange providers that I’m aware of.  In addition, the presence of a free 30-day trial means that businesses and individuals can experiment with – or even deploy – various components of the service without having to part with a single cent. Continue reading A Closer Look at Exchange in Microsoft’s Office 365