Why Should You Migrate to a Cloud-Based Archiving Solution?

According to Statista, the cloud computing market is worth an estimated $236bn as its use has seen a huge growth in the last decade. You won’t be surprised to find out that the email archive has also moved into the cloud in recent years. An on-premise cloud email archive has been trusted by businesses for many years, however now is certainly the right time to make the move to the cloud. Find out why you should migrate to a cloud-based email archiving solution.

Cloud email archiving vs on-premise email archiving

As mentioned above, there are two primary email archiving solutions:

• On-premise email archiving is deployed in-house which captures and indexes all email messages sent and received to a business into an easily accessible and searchable archive. This archiving appliance is stored in a physical server on the premises.
• A cloud email archiving solution does everything an on-premise archive does – captures, indexes and encrypts all email data – but stores the data in an online cloud environment.

Pros of on-premise email archiving

On-premise email archiving is a trusted appliance and there are various reasons why:

• Reliable process: On-premise archiving has been around since the early 2000s, making it a very mature industry and that is trusted and reliable for businesses. The tight integration of on-premise hardware with email servers and the great functionality it offers has been built over time and is seamless.
• In-house control: An in-house email archive gives organisations full control over their archive. This means controlling what goes into the archive and who can access it. For larger companies that handle sensitive data, on-premise email archiving remains best practice.
• Fixed costs: Buying an email archive to use in-house requires a fixed outlay based on how much storage you need. You’ll only ever have to pay a yearly maintenance fee to a vendor to keep it looked after and updated.

Cons of on-premise email archiving

Despite its reliability and dependability, on-premise email archiving does have a few limitations:

• It requires a dedicated IT team: Not every business has the space or money for an IT department, especially small businesses. An on-premise email archive requires administrator resources, and an established IT infrastructure in the business.
• Higher initial costs: Buying hardware for an email archive is expensive, and this money could be spent elsewhere in the business. The servers required to store an archive falls under capital expenditure.
• Limited storage: As your business grows, your email archive will get larger but your storage won’t – unless you pay the expensive costs to grow the storage.
• No trialling: An on-premise email archive takes longer to implement as it needs to be shipped and racked up before starting. This makes it harder to test your new solution prior to launch.
• Requires in-house access: For an on-premise archive to be fully maintained, you need access to it at all times. This isn’t possible in the event all staff cannot access the office and are working from home. Emails aren’t going into the archive and no one can access if required.

Pros of cloud email archiving

Cloud based solutions takes everything businesses know and trust in its on-premise archive and adds its own benefits:

• Pay-as-you-go: Cloud solutions are usually charged by a monthly or yearly rate, giving businesses a lower initial cost than an on-premise solution. This can also be funded from the operating budget comfortably, with no hidden costs.
• Unlimited archive: If you need to add more inboxes to your archive, this can be done easily no matter how big your business grows.
• Easy to deploy: Cloud archiving integrates with most email providers and servers, allowing for quick and easy deployment with little effort required.
• Fully compliant: Cloud-based email archiving is fully compliant with industry standards and GDPR.
• No maintenance required: A cloud email archive is looked after by the provider, meaning you don’t have to worry about maintenance, security and monitoring.
• Can be accessed securely, anywhere: With a secure log-in, users can access the archive from anywhere without needing to be in the office to find the information they need.

Cons of cloud email archiving

Despite the technological advancements, there are few disadvantages for using cloud archiving:

• Charged per inbox: The pay-as-you-go model means businesses are charged per inbox (active and inactive) – also known as “seat”. As your company grows, more people will come and go, which adds an extra cost to your email archive. 
• Security: Your email archive will be stored off-premises on a data centre, with security being looked after by your provider. However, if that server is breached because another business has had a cyber attack, your own data could be at risk also.
• Limited customisation: Some compliance standards expect more than just emails to be archived – including instant messages, documents and social media content – and very few cloud email archiving software options offer such a service.

Migrating your archive to the cloud

Migrating to the cloud requires a business decision regarding various elements. There are five things you have to consider:

• The size of your business – a cloud email archive is a cost effective solution for SMEs who need to archive but want a scope for expansion.
• Existing IT infrastructure – do you have the IT resources to manage your own archive? If not, then the cloud is the better option.
• Security – if you’re a large business, have you got the right security in place to ensure a cloud archive is safe?
• Compliance – refer to your industry’s email retention compliance standards to see which archive is best for your organisation. However, the cloud archive is just as compliant as your in-house archive.
• Choosing the right provider – when selecting a cloud email archiving provider, ensure you know you can trust their expertise in securing your archive and helping it grow in the future.

With many businesses moving to the cloud, thanks to services such as Office 365 (now known as Microsoft 365), it’s only right that you consider your archive to follow in that trend. A legacy archive won’t last forever, but a cloud archive potentially will. With the need for flexibility in all business processes, moving your email to the cloud is just that logical next step.

Get in touch with Cryoserver today to get started with cloud email archiving today.