Jan25Written by:SuperUser Account
1/25/2011 11:02 AM 
By Robert Peretson, PartnerPoint Contributing Writer
If you're managing in-house Microsoft Exchange for the clients you support, I'm willing to bet that a very significant portion of your time is dedicated to maintaining that one system. After all, consider all of the issues that require your regular attention:
• Controlling Spam
• Preventing virus attacks
• Getting clients removed from blacklists
• Managing end-users with enormous mailboxes
• Configuring communication with mobile devices
• Ensuring reliable backups and easy restoral of Exchange data
• Configuring remote connectivity for off-site end-users
• Dealing with complaints of undeliverable messages
• End-users complaining of missing emails
• Entourage databases needing to be rebuilt
• Archiving or restoring pst files
• Setting out-of-office policies
• Setting security and user access to public folders
• Managing permissions for shared calendars and contact lists
The list goes on. Just think of all the Exchange related tasks you've had to deal with yourself over the last couple of weeks.
Email is likely your client's most critical system. And probably commands more of your time than most of their other systems or apps combined… even when everything is running smoothly.
And when something goes really wrong - like your client’s server getting hacked and being used as a spam relay - you can be bogged down for hours or even days before you get email running properly again. All the while, your client is hovering over you impatiently, just waiting for you to get them communicating again.
They don’t care why the problem is difficult to resolve. They just want to know when you’ll have the problem fixed - and why you didn’t prevent it in the first place.
A problematic Microsoft Exchange server will cause:
• Unplanned, inefficient support hours for you
• Higher support and maintenance costs to your client
• A very high level of customer dissatisfaction
When you think about it, your only real benefit for choosing to install an in-house Exchange server on your customer’s network is the billable project fees you’ll obtain from the initial installation. But after the server has been installed, it will be expected to run flawlessly throughout its lifespan, with the only downtime occurring when you perform regular, planned maintenance.
Any problems that occur during regular operation will only reflect negatively on the reliability of the system and your ability to maintain it. Any additional billings you might get for fixing problems will only come at the cost of your customer's satisfaction. If you're an MSP charging flat-rates for your services, then all time spent supporting this system just eats away at your profitability.
Is there a way to keep your clients happy and running with minimal problems… while maintaining, or even increasing your profit margins? Sure there is! Simply move your client's to a reliable Hosted Exchange provider.
By moving Exchange out of your client’s office and over to a dedicated Exchange Hosting Provider, you can ensure:
• 99.999% uptime (assuming this is what your chosen provider guarantees, which they should.)
• A drastic reduction for the potential of blacklisting or similar email bounceback issues
• Faster problem resolution, as you’ll have the provider’s dedicated support team addressing the issue
• A reliable backup and easy recovery of all Exchange data
• Much stronger security than your client is likely able to provide internally
• Easier and more reliable remote connectivity
• Easier configuration and management of mobile devices
• Built-in spam filtering
• Built-in antivirus
• Greater storage capacity
• Reduced overhead on the internal server and network
When I began to move my most email-problematic clients over to Hosted Exchange, I immediately began to experience the benefits I was hoping for:
• Less unexpected problems to deal with
• More time to focus on proactive projects
• and Much happier clients
Plus, depending on the provider you go with, you will likely have the opportunity to earn a monthly affiliate commission for every client you sign up. So, in addition to all the benefits that hosting provides, you'll add even more revenue to your bottom line.
Also depending on the provider you choose, you will be able to offer your customers even more services at a low cost that might not be cost-justified or easy to implement and support if you tried to do it in-house. Services like:
• BlackBerry Enterprise Server
• Microsoft SharePoint
• Simple iPhone integration
• Data retention compliance
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• Fax via email
• Insertion of Legal Disclaimers or other standardized signatures
Microsoft Exchange is a complex system that requires plenty of hand-holding no matter how you look at it. For a system this important and this time consuming to manage… the best move is to leave the management to a team dedicated to the task. You keep earning your bucks by simply making sure that team is doing their job properly… keeping your clients communicating as flawlessly as possible.
About the Author
In addition to being a PartnerPoint Contributing Writer, Robert Peretson is the founder of Perry Consulting, a New York based MSP, who's been providing IT Support to hundreds of the city's most progressive and prestigious small businesses since 1996. Robert is also the founder and editor ofhttp://SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com, a website dedicated to helping growing MSPs to succeed through proper business development practices and proven IT Marketing strategies. Robert can be reached at robert@SuccessfulComputerConsulting.com