Hosted Exchange has advanced to the point that, instead of the traditional POP3 email model, you may want to think about getting a hosted Exchange. There are many benefits, including not having to miss a beat in your traditional Exchange/Outlook setup.
Hosted Exchange also allows you to share calendars and contacts, and on top of your basic Exchange benefits, you get other nice add-ons. It’s easy to add new users and manage users; you get a great SPAM and antivirus filtering system, plus anytime phone support; and there are other unexpected benefits, such as a strong backup of all your emails.
But are the monthly cost involved worth it? It certainly can be for smaller organizations. But the cost can add up when mailboxes get bigger and you want to add nice features like Blackberry or Smart Phone syncing. For example, basic hosting can be just $8.95 per month with Apptix.com. But once you upgrade your mailbox space to 25GB and add Blackberry services, the cost can jump to $20 a month per person.
Another question is whether having Exchange onsite is the speed and security benefits. Some clients are wary of having all their data located in an unknown place, and they like the idea of pointing to a box and saying, “It’s all there.”