email / storage options

[tony84]

Hi,

Quick query just to initially look at options.

I am taking on a new broker from March and probably a new administrator later on in the year.

Im looking at how to have this working most efficiently. Ideally I want a drive where we can store clients folders whilst they are being worked on. I also want emails which can be set up for anyone working within the company that I can access also - which I understand can just be something like outlook? I would also want it to work with phones/blackberry.

My hosting plan has something like 10gb space which I am never in a million years going to use and wondered if that could be used to store clients folders on and access through some sort of ftp (kind of thing) but appear as a drive on the PC?

I dont really know, its been nearly a decade since my IT a levels so whilst I have a basic understanding its probably massively out of date.

Any thoughts on an economical way?

Cheers
Tony

 

[jacobc]

Hi Tony,

Have you had a look at Dropbox / Google Drive for the sharing of the documents?

For the email accounts, one IMAP account would likely do the trick, let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,

Jacob

 

[ryedale]

Just use dropbox

It's as fast as using a local drive in Windows Explorer and it works brilliantly

 

[tony84]

Not allowed to use it.
EU directive of some description says client information needs to be stored within the EU or one of a few places outside the EU with some special encryption or something - I dont really know the ins and outs but basically dropbox/microsoft drive thing are not up to the job.

 

[jacobc]

You could connect mount and FTP connection as a drive but it won't be as clean as dropbox etc.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/map-an-ftp-drive-windows

 

[OrangeWebs]

Hi Tony,

I would recommend using Google Drive for your file storage, it can be setup to appear as a drive on your computer, and providing you give your staff access details they will be able to access it.
Google Drive is sort of pre-configured with a driver, you basically save or pull files from the virtual drive on your computer and it uploads/downloads directly from the cloud. Pretty cool thing really, it's what we use for sharing our documents throughout our networks rather than investing heavily in infrastructure.

As for the email, if your current web hosting service is using cPanel then more than likely the email accounts can be configured to work with any mobile device. I currently use Android and my emails are configured with that, previously I used an iPhone.

As for you being able to monitor your companies emails for all users, this is easy to do with Outlook. Simply setup each individual account on your own computer in Outlook or your chosen email client, they'll be setup under their own tab and you'll have full control over everything.

May I also suggest that if you are planning to recruit staff, you ensure that you put in place a company internet policy so that the employees understand what they can and cannot do with the internet while they're at work and also outline in there that the email is only for work purposes?

Hope this information is helpful to you.

Regards,
Ben.

 

[Kixo]

Hi Tony,
the guys are correct and i wouldn't disagree with them but if compliance is your thing....
only a small number of answers on that, if you are required for ISO/compliance reasons to have data in the EU google breaches that on a regular basis, Microsoft office 365 business lets you specify which Data Center your data goes to AND where that data is backed up to, the most common choices are primary in Ireland, and backed up to Amsterdam. Office 365 gives you emails and storage in onedrive same as dropbox and google drive. so i would go with them or you will have to go for a private company that own their own equipment and can show you where your data is and being backed up to, yes my company is one of those but Microsoft make 365 so cheap we are shifting a lot of our business to them via azure. plus you get copies of word/excel powerpoint and skype calls! start here https://products.office.com/en-gb/business/compare-office-365-for-business-plans
and let me know if i can help with anything!
Dan

 

[123 IT Solutions]

Everyone has pretty much answered this for you but I would highlight that storing of NON website content on a hosting account is usually against terms and conditions and will either be removed or your account may be suspend... just be careful and double check before uploading GB's of email backup files.

 

[PipeTen-Carl]

Many customers use ownCloud installed on our hosting service as the data is guaranteed to remain in the UK and you get actual support and backup (vs. public cloud services), surprised nobody mentioned it!

If you intended to use encryption or for heavy team usage. you may consider your own local or hosted server for best performance.

 

[Kixo]

i will second ownCloud, amazing product and free?! we used it for a long time and no complaints

 

[KM-Tiger]

i will second ownCloud, amazing product and free?! we used it for a long time and no complaints

Third on OwnCloud.

We use it internally, and have installed for clients.

The key feature from a compliance POV is that the data is entirely under your control, no third parties involved.

 

[hussainsheikh]

Hi Tony,

For your all needs I can only think of Microsoft Office 365 with which you get free Microsoft Office apps to use as well. Let me know if you need more information on it.

Cheers

 

[Alan]

You can use ownCloud butI'd recommend you use your own server (or VPS) rather than a shared hosting plan (and as you only have 10gb) for a couple of reasons. 1) It is against the T&C of most shared web host plans to use it for storage / backups 2) Its a shared platform, which means that if another account has weak security and it is breached your data is potentially vulnerable.

 

[Burtech]

I second Office 365, let me know if you want like some help trying to understand it all. I don't believe ownCloud supports email account which is one of your requirements.

 

[Jeff Nev]

Dropbox and Google Docs is the main thing that businesses are using at the moment.