Email management is an important aspect of every organization. It is the systematic approach to organizing, prioritizing, and responding to email messages efficiently. It involves techniques and tools that help individuals and organizations maintain a clutter-free inbox and reduce email overload. It also ensures that important messages are not missed. Emails are said to be effectively managed when the following things are adeptly taken care of:

• using folders and labels for categorization
• setting up filters to automate sorting
• unsubscribing from unnecessary newsletters
• scheduling specific times for checking and responding to emails.

By implementing these practices, individuals can enhance their productivity and reduce the stress associated with email communication. The most common way of management of emails is via open-source webmail and cloud-based webmail. Both these methods allow access and management of emails. However, the differences between the two make the cloud-based webmail a suggested email management service. Let us take a look at how these two are different from each other.

Your Mail is Their Mail!

It is unfortunate that a lot of businesses resort to open-source webmail instead of cloud-based ones. Though the former may be cost-effective, the cost is not justified in any way when it comes to security. This is perhaps one of the greatest drawbacks of an open-source webmail. Whether we consider the server-side or the app-side, an open-source webmail service is highly insecure and vulnerable.

One of the biggest nightmares of business owners using open-source webmail is that their data is accessible. Yes, you heard it right? If you are in this malicious trap, my suggestion is to get out of it immediately. All the emails that you have received and sent can be viewed by your hosting provider. Hold on! It does not end here! These providers can also send and receive emails on your behalf, without your knowledge. Can you imagine the kind of risk attached to such data infiltration? Businesses have reportedly suffered massive financial blows from such scams. This can be considered an absolute compromise of privacy. And this security breach is not limited to the service provider alone but also allows access of such mails to the web designer.

But if you employ the cloud-based webmail, you can be at peace when it comes to protecting your data and privacy. Microsoft and Google the popular cloud-based webmail providers prioritize the privacy of their users. This is the reason then ensure the following things:

• end-to-end encryption
• two-factor authorization also known as 2FA
• anti-phishing measures
• filtering of spam
• ensuring complete control of privacy for the users
• stringent identification procedures for account recovery
• regular security updates
• education of users
• compliance with legal boundaries

Data Migrating is Such a Burden!

The second big problem posed by open-source webmail is storage. In case, your storage becomes full with an open-source webmail provider, migrating the data to another server is not an easy task.

While open-source webmail platforms provide flexibility and customization, they often require more manual effort and technical expertise for data migration compared to cloud-based services. Some of the primary reasons why this migration is so burdensome are:

• Having specific data formats
• Migrating into the suitable database schema
• Ensuring the retention of integrity and structure during data Mapping and transformation
• Complexity in maintaining user authentication and permissions
• Large data volume
• Time-taking testing and validation

However, when using cloud-based webmails, you can barely realize that you have migrated your data from one server to another. They make sure they have the following to make the transition smooth:

• Migration Tools and Wizards
• Supported Email Protocols
• Supported Email Protocols
• Email Account Configuration
• Ensuring correct mapping and conversion of data
• Scheduling and Prioritization
• Progress Monitoring
• Error Handling and Reporting
• User Support and Documentation
• Completion and Post-Migration Steps

Give Me More!

The third big difficulty faced with open-source webmail is the fact that it does not make extra apps available apart from emails. Although these are webmail service providers when compared with cloud-based webmail, they fail to provide other amenities. If you are into business, you will certainly require things such as meeting portals, schedulers, internal calling abilities, access to Word documents, excel sheets, etc. The open-source webmail providers limit their services to just the email. It will give you all possible features but they will solely be related to emails. For example:

• Drag-&-drop message management
• Full support for MIME and HTML messages
• Multiple sender identities
• Full featured address book with groups and LDAP connectors
• Threaded message listing

Thus, after all this discussion, you sure must have understood the red flags associated with using open-source webmail providers. So, if you are still using it, it is time to make the smart switch and save your business from taking financial risks. Don’t make the open-source webmail service a loophole in the success story of your business!

Also read: Boosting your website visibility on Google