Deciding to Outsource

According to current statistics, on an average working day in the United States, more than 2.8 billion emails are sent by more than 130 million workers. If we look at the question globally, there are more than 30 billion emails sent in an average 24-hour period. These numbers are rising at a steady rate of roughly 16% per year, and show no signs of slowing or leveling off.

With these numbers in mind, it seems a fair assumption that email and other electronic messaging methods are the essential core of business communication in the 21st century. There can be no return to the days of paper letters and telephone conversations—email isn't just here to stay, it's caused an undeniable paradigm shift in business.

Let's look at a few more statistics. Of 400 companies surveyed, 80% of employees felt that email was a more valuable mode of communication than the telephone. In addition, 74% felt that the loss of email capability was a bigger hindrance to productivity than the loss of telephone service.

Even with these numbers in mind, email service is usually handled in-house by a small number of IT professionals on equipment that may not be state-of-the-art. In-house email is often inefficient and, despite the best intentions of the office techie, poorly managed.

As such an essential element of your business, the management and maintenance of your email systems is of paramount importance. It is the literal lifeblood of your business. So how do you go about deciding to outsource such a vital element of the business cycle?