Business Communication from the Cloud:

Reading, 09/03/2016 // Mobile, flexible and highly productive: An increasing number of companies are currently migrating to cloud-based solutions such as Microsoft 365. In this change, companies are faced with the challenge of meeting the growing need for collaboration between users, while at the same time fulfilling the IT department’s requirements for security and centralized IT management. Global enterprise messaging service provider Retarus has compiled a list of 5 tips, which companies need to bear in mind when migrating to Microsoft 365:

1. Optimize spam and virus protection

Comprehensive spam and virus protection is especially important for the exchange of sensitive data via email. That’s why companies using cloud-based email solutions should check in detail whether the standard security features included are sufficient to actually meet their requirements, or if they need to be enhanced with additional functions. Supplementary email security solutions from the cloud, for instance, offer greater protection by combining several virus scanners as well as using intelligent spam and phishing filters.

2. Proper implementation of security and compliance requirements

Many businesses which use Microsoft 365 do not perceive their security and compliance requirements as being completely fulfilled. As a result, according to Gartner, around 40% of companies using Microsoft 365 will be using supplementary third party solutions by 2018. Special gateway-based email security services, for example, combine email encryption and archiving seamlessly with each other. The decryption of the email does not take place on the user’s client in such cases, but centrally via the email security solution. The email is subsequently placed in the archive where it is encrypted once again. In this way, the archived information is still readable even after ten years without requiring the respective private key.

3. Power to the user

The more heterogeneous the requirements of employees are, the more important it becomes for users to have control over their own business communication. Email security solutions from the cloud supplement Microsoft 365 not only by offering additional email security, but also numerous email management functions. These allow users to be granted the freedom, for instance within the scope of quarantine management, to undertake many settings on their own. Users receive an email which provides an overview of all emails which have been filtered out. In case a relevant newsletter, for instance, is erroneously blocked, users have the power to administrate their own individual black lists and white lists.

4. Migration tasks and efforts

When changing over to office 365, it is necessary to plan a great many tasks. This includes, for instance, temporarily running a hybrid system during the transition, archiving the entire email correspondence, recoding existing email formats, as well as migrating calendar entries and special applications such as room booking and vacation replacement systems. In order to cut down on the amount of effort required, companies should rely on service providers which are specialized in cloud-based communication solutions. These expert providers not only offer innovative storage options for archiving old data and special solutions such as user-based routing for hybrid operations, but also assist businesses with their know-how throughout the migration process.

5. Support for fax

With Exchange Online and Skype for Business (previously Lync), Microsoft already offers a wide range of communication solutions for email, telephone, audio and video conferencing, as well as instant messaging. Fax functionality, by contrast, is not provided by Microsoft itself. With the aid of cloud fax services, companies can ensure dependable fax communication – also within IP environments. These services ensure reliable reception of faxes, even if – as with Skype for Business – support for fax is not offered via the SIP trunk.

“We are currently witnessing a growing demand for supplementary functions for Microsoft 365,” says Bernhard Hecker, Director Product Management at the Retarus Group. “No matter whether one is looking at banks, the manufacturing industry or the health sector: In all branches of industry, companies are coming up against scenarios which can be solved most efficiently by third party providers – especially with regard to security, compliance and usability.”

About Retarus

Retarus is a global provider of APIs, gateways, and applications for messaging, email management, and the exchange of structured data for business processes – with top performance, security, and data protection, provided from the company's self-operated data centers around the globe. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Munich, Germany, Retarus is owner-managed and proud of its innovation power. The company employs a staff of around 500 at 20 locations on four continents. Retarus' services are leveraged by the world's leading companies. The services are sold directly by Retarus or in close collaboration with selected partners. Analysts constantly commend Retarus' outstanding quality and reliability. More details: www.retarus.com