Quote:
Originally Posted by TenFour
IMHO most businesses, big or small, should just go with Google Workspace or one of Microsoft's offerings. If you need Ms Office then the choice is obvious....
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All good points for
many, if not
most typical businesses. There really are only two primary business choices for a lot of people, sadly. However, both of those choices are terrible for
some customers that require more in terms of privacy, jurisdiction, related policies and track record, custom user/business agreements, integrated options for encryption, specific threat models, and/or other various related issues. Additionally, there are HIPAA and other requirements around the world that might be a factor (although, for example, Google does offer a business associate agreement option for HIPAA, etc....).
Additionally, in the last few years, the idea of integrated cloud workspaces outside of Google and MS has really picked up steam and a number of providers have some options that are now improving as they add some productivity features/functionality. Integrated calendars, cloud/file sharing, document editing, etc... while limited, can be used in conjunction with open source office suites like LibreOffice that can work great for many businesses. And of course if you want to take a step into implementing your own "cloud," there are platforms like Nextcloud that could work for some businesses, coupled with one of the providers below. Also, there are other considerations for business email that are worth investigating, such as workflow innovations, where some new service providers are trying to be creative and break new ground (i.e. Hey.com, etc.).
In my case, I've jettisoned Google and Microsoft from all my business communications and I've done just fine working with my clients/customers, using other providers.
My favorite non-Google, non-Microsoft providers that would work for a lot of people for business include, in no particular order, the following (and each has different advantages/disadvantages for different needs/workflows):
- Proton
- Mailbox.org
- Mailfence
- Tutanota
- Hey.com
- KolabNow
- LuxSci
- *I really like StartMail too but they are currently (as of May 2022) still restricting aliases on your own custom domain, which is a problem for many businesses, so this one is great for personal use, but not so great for business use right now, until they add back more flexibility with custom domains
- *Keeping an eye on Skiff since the collaborative document editor is already pretty good, they just launched a "Silicon Valley" version of privacy-oriented email, that might eventually tick some boxes for some business email users as they add more features
Additionally, there are other really good collaboration tools on the market -- some which are by design privacy-focused too -- that can "make up" for the missing features from Google/Microsoft, so that you could actually put together a suite of tools that work great for your business needs.
Personal side note, I've stopped using Fastmail for business since I've had very lousy customer support turnaround time in recent months, and I'm not a fan of Zoho due to their privacy policy and jurisdiction, but both Fastmail and Zoho could work for some people -- they are just not on my own list anymore.