What is hosted Exchange email?

What is hosted Exchange email? When you’re weighing up your email hosting options, hosted Exchange email is one of the most popular choices on the market - and for good reason. We break down exactly what this email solution has to offer and who it’s suited to.

But before we get into the specifics of hosted Exchange, let’s unpack the meaning of hosted email more generally.

What is hosted email?

Put simply, hosted email (or email hosting) is an email solution that’s hosted on a provider’s email servers. Before it was offered by third party providers, a company that wanted to have their own email solution would need to install, operate and run their own email servers on site. Saving you this hassle,  hosted email allows businesses to rent server space from email service providers.

With email hosting, you can send, receive and store email data on an external server that’s operated and managed by a reputable provider like us, saving you time, money and effort.

What is Exchange email?

Exchange email is an email protocol developed by Microsoft, as an alternative to options like POP3 or IMAP. Fundamentally, all three protocols simply offer different ways for users to access and read emails, but Exchange email also allows for better integration of features like shared contacts, calendars and other Microsoft apps. This means your business can easily sync contacts, diaries, calendars and tasks across whole teams and departments.

All this extra data is stored on an Exchange server. So, if an employee is trying to book a meeting with several other colleagues, they can send a request to the server and directly see the availability of their team members via their linked calendars. IMAP and POP3 don’t offer this kind of convenient functionality, as they’re just straightforward email protocols.

So, what does hosted Exchange email mean?

When you stick these two together, you get hosted Exchange email – powerful Microsoft Exchange email that’s hosted on a provider’s servers. You get to make the most of all of the collaboration and productivity tools that Exchange has to offer without lifting a finger – you don’t have to host it on your own server meaning you don’t have to worry about the overheads or maintenance. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits of hosted Exchange…

Benefits of hosted Exchange email

Hosted Exchange is the ideal email solution for SMEs who want powerful, reliable email, but don’t have the skillset, resources or desire to run their own email servers in their own datacentres.

• Cost effective. Hosted Exchange allows you to rent space in an email service provider’s data centre, which - for smaller businesses - is far more cost effective than having on-premises email servers.
• No technical knowledge needed. As you’re renting space in someone else’s data centre, all of the technical aspects of managing an Exchange email server are taken away from you.
• Customised email address. One way hosted email differs from free webmail solutions like Hotmail or Gmail is that hosted email enables you to run email accounts with personalised email addresses. Instead of choosing a generic @gmail.com or @hotmail.com address, a hosted email solution means you can use your site’s domain name in your email address, e.g. you@yourdomain.com.
• Email on the move. Unlike with POP3 and IMAP, the Exchange protocol allows you to access your tasks, calendars and shared contacts from any device. As workplace culture becomes increasingly mobile, this is a huge advantage, making it easier to coordinate with colleagues while you’re on the go – from a phone, laptop or tablet.
• Send large attachments. A hosted email solution will typically allow you to send larger email attachments than free webmail.
• More mailbox features. A hosted Exchange email solution will include more advanced mailbox features like mailbox rules, email forwarders, autoresponders, backups and archives.
• Enhanced security. With Microsoft Exchange email hosting, data is encrypted by default and protected by several firewalls to ensure that no one unauthorised can reach it. You’ll also have better access to antivirus protection and multi-layered antispam filters, which you can set up to prevent phishing attacks, data breaches and other security risks.
• Access controls. This type of hosted email enables you to delegate specific permissions to other users, based on factors like their role and seniority. This simplifies tasks like scheduling resources, organising shared documents, managing group projects and so much more.
• Guaranteed reliability. Reliability is crucial to performance, and Microsoft Exchange guarantees 99.9% uptime, so you won’t have to worry about your email system going down at a crucial moment.
• Scalable resources. It’s always a good idea to factor scalability into your plan, and this is an email hosting solution that can adapt with your business. Easily customise your storage and increase or subtract servers in line with your company’s evolving needs.

Who needs hosted Exchange email?

While its extensive range of benefits makes hosted Exchange email useful to many types of companies and organisations, it’s particularly ideal for small to medium-sized businesses who work very collaboratively and require a system that can support this. Thanks to its capacity to scale up and down, hosted Exchange email is often used by academic institutions like schools and universities too, allowing them to streamline their software suite and smoothly integrate with a whole host of additional apps.  

Ultimately, it’s the perfect solution for firms that want powerful, reliable and flexible email. but don’t have the technical expertise or resources available in house to run email servers in their own data centres.

Microsoft Exchange and Office 365

We provide a range of hosted email solutions, from standard Email Hosting to Microsoft Exchange. For a complete business package, Microsoft 365 includes powerful Exchange email, as well as a licence for offline and online versions of the entire Microsoft Office suite, including Word, Excel, Outlook, and more.

Microsoft 365 is the ideal solution for businesses wanting to get started. With hosted email and essential business applications included, it’s the complete package for business productivity and collaboration.

To learn more about our Email Hosting options and help figuring out which product is right for you, get in touch with our sales team - we’re always happy to hear from you.