In the end, what differentiates a good company from a bad company is the customer service and the level of customer support you receive. A great outsourced email system isn’t worth a dime if you receive no support and have to navigate through errors and problems on your own. You might as well have kept the email server in-house if that’s the case.
However, a good outsourced email company will consider your needs and do whatever they can to correct problems or even just explain the instructions they’ve given you in greater detail.
One major way most outsource companies can help you is by the use of support tickets. Let’s say you come across an issue while using administrator functions of the email system. If you cannot correct the issue, you would open a support ticket and explain your problem, and a representative from the company would get back to you in a reasonable amount of time. If they are a company that’s worth their price, they’ll get back to you within a few hours at the very latest.
If the problem occurs down at the user level, they too are encouraged to open a support ticket. However, they will more than likely be notified by email once the problem has been solved. If the company finds that the issue reaches deeper than the user level, the system administrator, which may very well be you, will be notified.
Regardless of the difficulty of the problem you may encounter, take solace in the fact that your outsourcing company is there to help you through it. And if they don’t help you, then it’s time to find a new company. After all, you are paying money for their services. It is only right that the level of service you receive is above what you experienced with an in-house email system.
