Which Do I Need: Hosted Email Or Hosted Exchange?

What’s the difference between Hosted Exchange and Hosted Email? If you don’t know the difference you could find yourself paying for features you don’t need. Even some cloud companies do not seem to be clear about the differences between Hosted Exchange services and Hosted Email. In this article we lay it out for you, enabling you to make the decision about what your business needs.

What Is Hosted Exchange?

Let’s start with Hosted Exchange. Does your business use Microsoft Exchange email already? If it does that means you probably also have a physical server and have paid for a license fee for everyone who uses it. Microsoft Exchange 2010 offers sharing of calendars, contact, alerts and notes as well as group sharing of information relevant to the whole organisation but controlled by IT Management. Hosted Exchange is taking Microsoft Exchange Outlook, with all its advanced features, and hosting it in the cloud. When offices switch to a hosted exchange server, users do not need to buy a physical server and install Microsoft Exchange in their office and you don’t have to pay for maintenance.

What Is Hosted Email?

Hosted email is one component of the exchange hosting package that is Microsoft Exchange Online. Freelancers, partnerships or sole traders usually do not require the advanced synchronisation features of an entire Microsoft Exchange program. If all you need is your email service hosted in the cloud, similar to Hotmail or Gmail, then you don’t need to install the hosted exchange packages. You will be able to send and receive and manage email without paying for or managing the hassle of the extra features of Microsoft Exchange that you just don’t need. For a basic, simple service that gives you access to your emails at any time of the day, wherever you are on multiple devices, choose hosted email.

What’s The Difference?

The difference is simple. Features and cost. If you don’t require the advanced features of Microsoft Exchange 2010, then you probably don’t need to pay for hosted exchange. If you primarily rely on emails to get you through your work day, hosted email is the right solution for you.

How Do I Know?
Ask yourself the below questions to determine whether you need Hosted Exchange or simply Hosted Email.

• Do I currently use Microsoft Exchange 2010?
• Do I have more than one electronic device that supports emails; ie: computer, smartphone and tablet?
• How often do I use the Calendar, Tasks and Notes features of Microsoft Outlook?
• If I had access to my Calendar and Tasks outside of the office, would I use them?

Or you can just ask a Complete Cloud Exchange hosting expert!