Stuart R. Crawford

Do you need a great SPAM filtering solution?

I stumbled on Google’s spam filtering services and was pleasantly surprised

The other day I was helping one of our clients with some email challenges they were having with spam with their hosted Microsoft Exchange services.  Ever since changing from their former email provider from an Edmonton based POP3 service to Microsoft Hosted Exchange solution we found are client was getting bombarded with unwanted emails and email junk.

We discussed a number of different solutions at length which offered many SPAM filtering services.  Then we stumbled upon the Google’s Postini solution which so far after a complete day is working great for this client who has 5 total email addresses in their company.  Your typical Calgary small business.  Postini was easy to set up and configure.  It was up and running within minutes and our client experienced no downtime.

Total time to configure Postini with end-user training was just under one hour.

What did it cost for this Postini spam solution? A whopping $12.00 each user per user each year. Yes that was $12 annually.  Yes, $1.00 per month for each user that uses email to control spam in their business email systems.  What did this do for my client?  Well they are officially SPAM free and we have a happy and completely satisfied client and they get to keep a good chunk of their money in their bank account.

This Calgary small business now has a complete enterprise class email and document sharing solution.  This solution was  a whopping $1,200.00 per year (Exchange + BlackBerry + Postini).  One hundred dollars each month for a robust, scalable and enterprise class computer solution which is providing this small business with a competitive advantage in the marketplace and most importantly, a happy client who can do their work without worrying about spam interrupting their day.

More than just spam filtering, they have a robust small business solution

This solution also includes Blackberry support for their staff.  Yes, full hosted BlackBerry Enterprise Server for a small business without a hardware investment.  Yet another win for this Calgary small business.

This entire experience has prompted me to do some research on how much a small business needs to spend or invest to have a complete enterprise class computer system which meets or exceeds their needs. 

Here is my professional disclaimer on this topic. You must always consult with a professional before jumping into a solution which could impact your business and these numbers may vary.  My remarks are a general opinion and your results may vary.  Call me if you have questions 403.775.2205.

Do your homework before jumping in

When doing some research on a small business computer solutions which revolves around email and basic document storage a small business can go with a Microsoft Small Business Server solution which could run you about $10,000.  This includes having it completely installed.  This is for the best solution, you will find cheaper ones out there.  The other option is to go with a solution similar to my client above which is providing them 10 GB of document storage, 5 email addresses and BlackBerry support for about $1,200.00 per year.  The $10,000 estimate above does not include about $500 per month of system support and maintenance to keep a server up and running.  The $500 includes backup, patching, maintenance and other PC support.  My estimate is:

• $5,000 for a server with backup, redundancy and miscellaneous hardware
• $4,000 for installation, setup and configuration (40 hours at $100 per hour)
• $1,000 for miscellaneous software and other services

You decide and do your homework on which solution works best for your small business.  Do you need help deciding, give me a call at 403.775.2205 and we can help you with your research or refer you to a technology provider who can help you if you needs are just a little more complex.