Anti-Spam Software

Buyers guide

Do you often find suspicious emails in your inbox? These could be about anything from a Nigerian prince promising you money to an antivirus software available at half price. Not only do these emails clutter your inbox, they could also be potential security threats or malware and phishing attacks. As a business owner or the IT administrator for a business, it is your job to protect your employees as well as your business against such emails.

Doing that manually, however, is almost impossible! This is where anti-spam software can help you. The software will help you build up the security you need in your email ecosystem and to streamline your email flow.

To help you choose the right anti-spam software for your business, we've prepared this guide. Here we'll cover:

• What is anti-spam software?
• Common features of anti-spam software?
• What type of buyer are you?
• Benefits of anti-spam software
• Key considerations when purchasing anti-spam software

What is anti-spam software?

Anti-spam software is a tool that uses a set of protocols to determine unsolicited and unwanted emails and keep them from entering your inbox. Most such tools can be customized as per your requirements, allowing you to determine what kind of messages you deem spam-worthy.

Common features of anti-spam software

Some advanced anti-spam solutions also have features such as:

What type of buyer are you?

The anti-spam needs of a boutique consulting firm with a few dozen employees would be very different from those of a large auditing firm with a few thousand employees. Hence, before selecting a solution, it is important that businesses understand what type of buyer are they.

• Small and midsize businesses: Such business have only one anti-spamming need—keep spam emails out of employees' inboxes to prevent security attacks and wastage of time. Typically, such businesses don't host their own servers but rent clouds from third-party providers. Hence, they should go for cloud-based anti-spam software that can easily integrate with their IT ecosystem.
• Large businesses and enterprises: Such businesses typically need to manage a heavy flow of emails in addition to keeping spams out of employees' inboxes. Typically, these buyers have their own servers or private clouds. Hence, they should go for the on-premise deployment model for anti-spam software.

Benefits of anti-spam software

Anti-spam software helps you keep your inbox clear of spam and unnecessary emails. Its benefits are as follows:

• Filter out spam from your inbox: The software not only filters emails from specific addresses but also based on promotional subject lines and text in the email body. This helps you declutter your inbox and ensure that only the emails you want to see or those similar to the emails you are interested in land in your inbox.
• Maintain a quarantine folder: Automatically quarantine filtered out emails and retain them in a spam folder for up to 30 days. You can recover legitimate emails that filtered out unintentionally.
• Feel no hassle over filter updates: Most anti-spam tools automatically update the filters for new types of malware threats and spam patterns. So you don't need to bother with setting the filters manually. However, you can always choose to add filters as well as email addresses to be quarantined.

Key considerations when purchasing anti-spam software

The right anti-spam software can not only keep your inbox clutter-free but also help you dodge security breaches and attacks. However, picking a tool for your business can be a confusing process. Here are a couple of points to keep in mind:

• Don't over- or under-purchase: When selecting your software, make sure you know what the needs of your business are and explore options accordingly. If your business doesn't need advanced features such as grey listing or SURBL/URIBL filtering, then opt for a basic solution that doesn't have them. Similarly, if your business does need these advanced features, talk to the vendor to have them included.
• Weigh deployment options thoroughly: Your existing email ecosystem will determine the deployment option you choose for the anti-spam software and how long the deployment takes. Usually, deploying the software on a cloud is less time- and investment-consuming than doing the same on a private server. When exploring solutions, be mindful of your existing email ecosystem and ask the vendor if there could be any possible issue with the integration or deployment of the tool.

Note: The applications selected in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.