Summary: Evaluating the numerous email security software solutions on the market can be a complex task. This article highlights five key questions that will help you find and purchase the right email security software package for your business.

Everything You Need to Know Before You Buy an Email Security Software Solution

You’ve made the very wise decision to purchase an email security software package to protect your company’s vital communications and related infrastructure. Now begins the harrowing, and often confusing task of researching the various solutions and vendors on the market, and finding the email security software system that’s best for your business.

To help narrow the field down to a “short list” of potential email security software providers, be sure to ask the following five questions:

How comprehensive is the protection your solution provides?
This is, by far, the most critical question you can ask the vendors you are evaluating. Some email security software solutions offer little more than spam filtering, while others provide just simple virus protection. In order to keep your email environment secure from all current and future threats, you’ll need to find an email security software application that detects and prevents the widest range of risks.

Does your offering include automatic updates?
Nowadays, hackers are getting smarter and more aggressive, and new viruses and worms are being created and distributed at a rapid pace. It is likely that your company lacks the resources and expertise needed to stay on top of the constant emergence of new email threats. That’s why you’ll need to make sure the email security software solution you choose provides automatic update capabilities. This will help ensure that your email communications and related infrastructure are always protected from the latest and greatest risks.

How scalable is it?
Most companies are planning for growth and expansion. Mergers, acquisitions, new partnerships, or even unplanned spikes in business activities can all impact the number of email users on your system, as well as the volume of email messages that the members of your company send and receive. Therefore, you should select an email security software application that can easily scale to satisfy your needs as your reliance on your email system, and the amount of activity it generates, grows.

What happens to messages that are flagged as spam?
As sophisticated as today’s spam filters are, the truth is that sometimes, legitimate business correspondence will be wrongfully identified as unsolicited promotional emails. Some email security software packages move potential spam into separate folders, where they won’t clog employee inboxes, but can still be viewed if needed. Yet, others automatically delete them from the email server once they have been flagged. While this approach may prevent spam from negatively affecting email network traffic, it can also result in the loss of important and relevant business collaboration.

How is content controlled?
Most email security software packages offer some level of content control. But the depth of these capabilities, as well as the techniques used to accomplish them, will vary greatly from one solution to the next. Look for one that offers advanced features in this area, including the ability to block correspondence that contains offensive language or pictures, or the ability to control the size of embedded images and attached files for both ingoing and outgoing messages.