Integrated ICT and infrastructure provider Vox has launched a cloud-based e-mail archiving service, which is aimed at providing small and medium-sized South African businesses with peace of mind that their e-mail environment is protected in case of a cyberattack, equipment failure or even accidental deletion.

E-mail continues to play a vital role in the modern business, with employees using it for engaging with others — whether internally with colleagues or externally with customers, suppliers, sales partners and others.

“For smaller organisations, it is likely that their e-mail inbox acts as a repository for critical business documents such as quotes, invoices and e-mail-based agreements, while their e-mail contacts list serves as the backbone of the company’s customer relationship management efforts,” says Mayleen Bywater, senior product manager for e-mail at Vox.

The risk for business, however, is that e-mail is increasingly the target of cyberattacks, with methods such as malware, ransomware or spyware attachments being used to cripple business and hold their data hostage unless payment is made to the hackers. Even beyond having to deal with criminal elements, disaster could strike simply through equipment failure or data corruption.

“Vox Archiving provides local SMEs — ideally with between one and 50 users — with a cost-effective method of storing their e-mail data, and complements their existing archiving and storage, by acting as an alternative repository so that e-mails can be restored even if they were accidentally deleted. Companies can even share their e-mails with legal entities should they be required to do so,” adds Bywater.

Unlimited storage

Vox Archiving comes with unlimited storage, so users do not have to worry about how much space their e-mail inboxes take up, and stores users’ data for up to 10 years — longer than most business regulations that require businesses to retain documentation for between five and seven years. This means that while it is primarily aimed at smaller businesses, it can work just as well for larger enterprises.

According to Bywater, all e-mail data will be stored in local data centres, ensuring that customers making use of the service remain compliant with data residency or sovereignty regulation, with built-in redundancy to ensure that information is protected and available when needed.

In addition, Vox can cater for customers who have existing e-mail archives and want to consolidate all their information into a single location, with the service being carried out at a minimal per gigabyte cost.

“Vox Archiving is billed per user, per month, at the maximum number of ‘live’ users over the period, meaning they do not pay for the archival of e-mail inboxes of employees who have since left the organisation. This means that customers can scale up and down the number of users as and when needed,” says Bywater.

Vox Archiving is available to business customers at the cost of R32/month per active e-mail inbox user with a minimum of five users per client and subject to the signing of a 12-month contract. The service complements any e-mail platform; as long as a journal link can be created to connect the inbox and the archive. Visit the Vox website for more information.