For small and medium businesses (SMBs) considering Software as a Service (SaaS) e-mail options, there’s a lot of information to wade through, but not a lot of useful guidance on how to choose the service that will provide the best business value for their SaaS e-mail investment.

Collaborative Strategy Guild has published a new whitepaper, Gauging the Real Value of Software as a Service (SaaS) E-mail for Small and Medium Businesses, the first in a series of reports designed to help SMBs sort through the hype and make solid, well-informed decisions about their e-mail investments.

According to the report, “Competition for the SaaS e-mail market is currently being waged over cost; however, price alone does not always equal value. E-mail clients and services can either foster or hinder productivity, and in varying degrees. Although price is an important determining factor for choosing a SaaS e-mail provider, the combination of cost savings plus productivity gains defines the real value of e-mail to an organization.” 

The report goes on to discuss how e-mail can support business processes and user productivity. It provides an overview of the market and vendors and offers an “E-mail Productivity Framework” to help IT decision-makers in SMBs evaluate their e-mail investment by examining their organizations’ needs.

This report is a great resource for SMBs and anyone evaluating SaaS e-mail.