Using Software as a Service for Email  Archiving

SaaS or Software as a Service is a version of an outsourced system, but is more commonly referred to as a hosted solution or model.  This kind of setup is the easiest and cheapest of all the types of email archiving systems on the market today.

It works like this.  A vendor has a server farm, or many depending on scale.  These provide the software and backend systems necessary to make it all work.  A customer pays per seat for access to this system and the end users access it via a secure link into the vendor servers.  In most circumstances this is over the internet through a browser.  This whole process is transparent to the user and they continue their day as normal, while behind the scenes everything is taken care of for them.  All a business needs to make this work is to allow the vendor a decent link into the email system so they can be backed up.  

When using an outsourced email storage system, the solution automatically archives outgoing and incoming mail for users.  The SaaS solution is a per seat model which takes care of all the headaches of archiving.  Emails can be access via the network or over the internet.  This allows a great deal of freedom during the business day as users never have to be in one place again.  This flexibility and freedom can add a lot of value of an organization.  For example a sales-oriented department can have its staff out selling its product and not have to worry about them reporting to the office regularly for system backups.  Home working becomes more of a possibility allowing a more diverse and flexible workforce.  It is a known fact among business people that staff who are offered this kind of flexibility are more dedicated and flexible than regular office workers.

What an SaaS systems is essentially doing is absolving the end user of all responsibility for maintaining the system, and passing it to someone else.  SaaS providers enable the capability to be in compliance with ease. It enables a user to search for specific messages with advanced search capabilities, note a message, review random messages and export a specific set of messages.  In a typical setup, the messages are cataloged and indexed to enable faster retrieval using various search algorithms. All messages are securely indexed, logged and stored ready for quick recovery should it become necessary.

From a customer perspective, using hosted software is a cost-effective way of doing business.  All of the hardware and support of the product is handled by the vendor, meaning a much lower IT bill.  It saves time, money and building space as hosting doesn't need hardware or support staff to maintain it. 

This way of software use and distribution makes being in business that little bit easier.  Especially for new companies.  It makes an already daunting task that little bit cheaper and easier.  A solution can be provided where the capabilities expand along with the particular needs of the business.