Email Service Pros & Cons
Discover the Option that Can Save You Money – and More!
By Teresa Brent, Product Manager, Alloya Corporate FCU
Communication is a significant key to success. Today, both internal collaboration and external information exchanges need to be accomplished easily, with the immediacy consumers and co-workers expect, and at the lowest operational cost available. As the most utilized communication channel, email is effective and efficient, but are you using the right email service? This article explores the best email service to implement at your credit union.
There are three choices to providing your credit union with email services: 1) “free-mail” service such as Yahoo or Gmail; 2) own and operate your own email service; and 3) contract with a cloud hosted-email service. Let’s explore some of the pros and cons of each option.
1. Free Email
Unfortunately, like most decisions, the “cheapest” option is not always the least expensive. Since email is so widely used to communicate with credit union members, credit unions must be aware that whether they initiate the communication or not, they may become liable for having Non-public Private Information (NPI) data in their possession. This activity has specific Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) regulatory requirements for security and storage, according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). Breaches of these responsibilities can lead to reputation damage (at the least) and hefty fines and litigation (at the worst).
Pros
No operational expense.
Ease of use and familiarization.
Accessible anywhere you have an ISP connection.
Cons
Little control of data, size limitations or storage.
No way to ensure GLBA compliance for NPI.
Appears unprofessional to have an email end with @yahoo or @gmail versus your credit
union’s unique name or identifier.
No way to set expectations regarding Disaster Recovery or Business Continuity Planning.
Can be difficult to share and exchange contacts, calendars, tasks, etc.
Increased reputational risk with decreased control.
2. Operate Your Own Email
You can choose to provide your own email service through a software license agreement. However, this option has some hidden costs. Not only do you need to purchase the server, software license and storage, but don’t forget to include anti-virus software, IT training for patching and support, updates to software and hardware, electricity for heating and cooling equipment, back-up and offsite storage for disaster recovery and other incidental expenses associated with an in-house solution.
Pros
Control of calendars, emails, address books, tasks, etc.
Provides tools for supporting, monitoring and protecting emails
Ease of sharing information such as calendars,address book information, etc.
Ability to ensure GLBA compliance for NPI
Ability to set expectations regarding Disaster Recovery or Business Continuity Planning
Cons
The cost for server grade hardware.
The cost for software license (Microsoft Exchange)
“Hidden costs” such as heating and cooling, backup power supplies, DR needs, etc.
The cost of spam, virus and malware protection.
IT staff or consultant time to set up, maintain, patch and troubleshoot issues with the infrastructure, software and safeguarding tools.
Cloud Hosted Email Service
For a monthly fee, via a cloud hosted email service, your credit union can receive all of the benefits of an in-house solution with less of the expense. How? A cloud email service provider can offer their solution at a cost point below an in-house solution because they are offering the service to multiple users, thus lowering the overall per user cost.
In addition, this service provides maintenance and support from IT staff that spend their entire day specifically dedicated to system monitoring. Therefore, you do not have to intermittently remember what the solution was to an issue that has reoccurred, or how to apply the latest patch to the operating system, all while juggling your other competing tasks.
Cloud hosted email services also include a certain level of virus protection and offer additional protection, back up, recovery and storage for a nominal fee. However, due diligence is the one task your credit union still must complete with this solution to ensure good vendor management through established Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
Pros
One reasonable cost per mailbox ($10 – 50 per mailbox), which includes infrastructure and license fees. In addition, various levels of virus protection may also be standard – other security protection may be an added per month cost.
No “hidden costs” – all electric heating and cooling costs, etc. are included in the per mailbox monthly fees.
You get your own email address, which helps to market your credit union name and is perceived by members as being more professional.
Control of calendars, emails, address books, tasks, etc.
Provides tools for supporting, monitoring and protecting emails – some may be standard and others may be an added per month cost.
Ease of sharing information such as calendars, address book information, etc.
Ability to ensure GLBA compliance for NPI.
Ability to set expectations regarding Disaster Recovery or Business Continuity Planning.
Cons
Potential outages. A credit union organization relying upon a cloud provider to access the critical data that operates its network may lose considerable control should their cloud provider experience an outage.
To avoid this, be sure your cloud provider has sufficient backups in place that are SSAE 16-audited to promote business continuity and provide highly responsive disaster recovery.
Teresa Brent can be contacted at teresa.brent@alloyacorp.org.