What is Cloud Email? Cloud Email is where the Mail Server is held in the cloud (in a Data Centre) instead of in the Office.
Email is sent and received directly from the Cloud Email Mail Server – what the user sees on their PC, tablet, smartphone, web browser is really a “window” on that Cloud Mail Server showing their mailbox activity.
Business cloud email is usually called Hosted Email. The most popular Hosted Email is Hosted Exchange which is the cloud form of Microsoft Exchange. Instead of having an Exchange Server in your premises it is hosted by a Cloud based company. You will pay a subscription usually monthly for each mailbox. Google Apps for Business is another offering for business and the fight for the business hosted email market began last year when Microsoft launched Office 365.
Although Cloud Email for Business is still viewed by the business community with some concern, consumers have been using cloud email for years e.g. Gmail, Hotmail, AOL etc.
There are further distinctions in Cloud Email where the Cloud Mail server is on a Private Cloud or Public Cloud.