The Essential Small Business Tool

In a my prior post of similar name, I ranted about the necessity of BlackBerry (or equivalent remote wireless email access), and I mentioned in passing an outsourced admin service called ASP-One.

Anyone who has started a company or runs a small business (or I'd argue big business) knows what a huge headache setting up and maintaining email and other IT admin functions are.  Well, after a couple months using the ASP One outsourced IT admin service, I've become a believer.  While I am not sure about companies that have over 40 or 50 users or entities that require FDA regulated or SOX related security (which by the way is the objection a CEO will get from your tech guys as they rather be doing IT admin vs real work in some cases), I'd say that just about all early stage companies should be using this or similar service.  Basically, it allows for full MS exchange server email administration and web-hosting for $59/month; that includes a free copy of MS Outlook 2003 for all users, (a $109 software value right there!), which means remote desktop access to your email on any desktop.  For an additional $3/month and $10/month they provide anti-virus/spam blocking and a connection to any carrier's Blackberry service, respectively.  For $500/month you can have your own remote LAN with access to corporate files just as if you had a local LAN. 

For companies under 10 people that don't have the technical talent time available in-house, and need calendar sharing, Blackberry support and email hosting, this service is a total no-brainer, and I highly recommend it versus trying to hire an independent consultant or wasting time doing it yourself regardless of your skill set.    (Personally, I think much larger entities should consider such a service as well-- anyone use ASP-One or similar service for bigger enterprises out there?)  I found the customer service to be very responsive 24/7.  And the best part is that the shift was seamless, quick, and intuitive to use.  If you know of other similar or like outsourced services, like Mi8, please do share in a comment and your experiences with these products.

Comments

[Fabian J. Oliva]

Steve,

We actually reviewed that service and then found the hosted MS Exchange service from www.1and1.com and went with them as it includes AV/antispam, 1GB of mailspace compared to 100MB and was cheaper at 6.99.

As you mentioned, when you are bootstrapping, every nickel counts.

--Fabian

[Tom Inman]

We went with a hosted exchange provider in Florida called Mailstreet (www.mailstreet.com) . The service is similar to Mi8 and at the time they supported Goodlink (for Treo users) in addition to BES which was a requirement for our small firm (mix of Blackberry & Treo users). Pricing is posted on their website.

--Tom