Software giant Microsoft regularly launches new IT solutions that assist small and medium businesses to operate more efficiently.  In celebration of efficiency, we've examined what we believe to be the biggest strengths of the Washington-based company's most recent generation of its workplace productivity suite: Office 2013.

The practice of email encryption (turning a message into code before sending it beyond the network) has become standard protocol for the majority of email transactions today. This practice can be seen in both the private and public sectors, but it is especially prevalent within public organizations - where 83% of federal agencies have policies allowing employees to encrypt emails.

Encryption -- turning a message into code before sending for security reasons -- has become standard protocol for sending the majority of email transmissions today. This trend can be seen in both the private and public sectors, but it is especially the case in the public sector, where 83% of federal agencies have policies allowing employees to encrypt emails.

While this sounds like a positive development, unfortunately, encryption is a double-edged sword. Encrypting messages does add a significant level of security, as encrypted messages have to be unencrypted, which takes time and makes them much less valuable to hackers. But emails that users encrypt at their desktop before sending cannot be subjected to any kind of content verification by network security, which makes it almost impossible to trace unauthorized data transmissions. In practice, the encryption that is used to guarantee the security of data actually becomes a method to send unauthorized data undetected through the email gateway.

The Encryption Conundrum

This encryption conundrum puts IT managers between a rock and a hard place. Nobody wants to give up the high level of security provided by encrypting employee emails, but IT security experts almost all say that significantly more unauthorized data is lost from networks by email than flash drive, disc or any other method.

The problem is just going to grow as more businesses and agencies move to encrypting most or all of their email traffic. A recent study suggested that over 80% of IT security managers were concerned about loss of sensitive data through encrypted email.

Advanced Email Security Technology

The only way to effectively solve this encryption conundrum is with advanced email security technology. Thorough training of employees on encryption protocols and other software analytics methods will help control the loss of sensitive data through encrypted emails, but these measures will not thwart a smart and resourceful individual.

To be sure that no one is sending out unauthorized data in encrypted emails, IT managers must have the ability to unencrypt files before they are routed to your Exchange server for outbound transmission. This is obviously a more laborious and time consuming process, but protocols can be set up so that only certain messages or a certain percentage of messages are unencrypted before outbound transmission.

This kind of advanced email security takes some significant expertise to set up properly. Federal agencies will likely staff up their IT departments and take on the task in-house. But that idea can be a little daunting for small and medium-sized businesses. Small and medium businesses should consider working with a high-end local IT services provider to get the results they want. Learn more about how to secure your email from a data leak.

The holiday season is just around the corner, and it's time to start thinking about what to wish for. Some IT managers and CIO's will be asking for a new iPhone 5 or iPad Mini this holiday season, but smart IT administrators want only one thing - to keep holiday-related spam from clogging their email Exchange servers!

Explosion of Spam

About 90 percent of email messages sent through the Internet today are unsolicited and unwanted, according to McAfee Labs. These unwanted messages not only fill up the mail boxes of their recipients and create a great waste of time (even if it is just having to empty your bulk email folder several times a week), but the messages can also potentially contain viruses or other malware.

Once upon a time, the word ‘spam’ referred to a food product that elicited strong reactions, both positive and negative.  Now, the term is more frequently used to refer to unwanted bulk emails, and very few individuals indeed have anything positive to say about this abuse of a major means of internet communication.  Fortunately for businesses and other organizations that use email as an integral part of their operations, there are a number of tools that IT support staff can put in place to combat this plague of the modern age.

One of the most powerful cloud solutions to come along in recent years is the advent of cloud email services. 

Some firms can operate well by using a managed services approach to their IT needs, but some need more of a hands-on approach.  This is where a managed programs provider can be invaluable.  In many situations, there is no substitute for a human being who is onsite on a regular basis.  By contracting with a managed programs IT support provider, a company can have the confidence that comes from knowing a consultant is close at hand when infrastructure or network problems occur. 

Few organizations are as cost conscious as small and medium sized businesses.  Such businesses often have limited cash reserves and must be extremely careful in how they spend their ongoing budgets for various functions such as IT services.  In this situation, it makes great sense for SMBs to leverage the experience and expertise of professional IT consulting firms that can often suggest innovative, cost-effective solutions to common business needs when it comes to information technology.

An email system that is truly capable of handling today's business needs may not be the simple interface that some organizations are currently using.  Small businesses, for example, may feel that their current IT solutions related to email messaging are adequate, but this perception may be more based on its ease of management than on the true value inherent in the system in terms of what it can do for the business.