Spam Filtering For Small Businesses - Increase Productivity and Protect Your Data

Email Spam filtering is most likely not the first thing a small business owner thinks about when starting up a new business. Using the right tools to block spam takes research and an understanding of how effective spam protection applications operate. Small businesses often do not have in-house information technology (IT) resources, and must purchase those services from outside sources or product vendors. Protection from spam is crucial, however, as spam results in a considerable loss of productivity, exposes businesses to virus infection and identity theft, and consumes significant network storage space and resources. Spam filtering options include hardware email spam blockers, anti-spam software, and hosted email security.
The most common anti-spam solution for small businesses is a software-based email filter. Many email programs come with built-in spam filtering technology, but a more thorough and accurate spam filter purchased separately leads to a more secure IT environment. These products stop spam at the server level, preventing them from ever reaching your network. Many filtering software solutions still rely on an outdated, mathematical formula to determine what constitutes spam. These anti-spam programs run on the principle that the higher the occurrence of certain words or phrases in an email, the more likely the email is to be spam. This approach, however, results in a high number of legitimate emails being erroneously flagged as spam.
Effective spam filtering systems are intelligent, and are able to more accurately identify spam messages based on a variety of factors, including user criteria, reputation filtering, and context-sensitive message analysis. The use of intelligent spam filters significantly reduces the number of lost, legitimate emails, and thereby saves time that would be spent sorting through quarantined messages in order to locate missing messages.
Anti-Spam is not an area that small business owners can afford to neglect. Ineffective spam protection can result in significant costs resulting from decreased productivity, wasted resources, and company downtime. Investing in the right IT solution improves email security, protects your valuable data and sensitive information, and reduces the burden on your network. Investing in a sophisticated, intelligent spam filter will save your business money over time, and ultimately improve your bottom line.