If your business uses email, you will more than likely be familiar with spam messages appearing in your inbox trying to sell you things, or worse still, attempting to deposit malware onto your computer which can then spread throughout your entire network. Here, we’ve outlined some ways spam can have a negative impact on your business and how a spam filter could help you get back on track…
Keep productivity high
It takes time to comb through your messages every day, deleting the spam. In any business, small or large, this wasted time adds up and negatively affects productivity. Also, spam emails take up valuable space whilst they sit in your inbox, and then your deleted folder. These megabytes or even gigabytes of wasted space could be costing your business money. By having an inbox clogged up with spam, an employee could easily miss an important email from a key customer.
A spam filter could save huge amounts of time simply by taking the need to sift through the spam for you. By automatically deleting any unwanted spam, employees have direct and clear access to the emails that they need to see. This is especially vital in a small business that relies heavily on regular and personable customer contact.
Protect your reputation
Email spam actually poses a threat to your business’ security. Spammers are often aiming to gain access to your business’ private data over the internet, which, if done successfully, could hit you hard financially. If the security of customer data that may be held on your database is compromised, not only is your customer base’s information at risk, but your company’s reputation could take a huge hit.
A large company such as a financial institution or an online store could potentially have customers’ addresses and financial details on record. Customers who have given their financial details to the company have trusted that the business in question will protect their data. So it stands to reason that if a company not only fails to protect that data, or perhaps sends out an email infected with a virus, it could potentially struggle to recover. Not only will the business face embarrassment and suffer from a loss of revenue, which puts any future success at risk, but they could also find themselves on the end of a costly lawsuit.
Block threats
A common type of spam email is one which contains an attached file that the recipient is urged to open. The main body of these emails is often an authentic-looking and seemingly harmless business email, leading to unsuspecting employees opening the attachment without a second thought. These attachments usually contain malware, which can harm that computer and potentially any other computer connected to the same network.
An individual employee doesn’t have the sophisticated software that comes with an email spam filter. That software and the technology that goes with it can not only identify the spam email but block the threat.
Considering that the aim of these type of emails is to look as innocent as possible, the effects of clicking on a virus infected link may not be immediately noticeable to the user. With the advanced technology that is commonplace in many spam threats, however, the lingering effects of the attack could go on for weeks or months without being detected. By giving a virus that kind of access to your network, it could do a huge amount of damage to your business before you even have chance to act.
Ready to invest in an email spam filter? Contact us at MailCleaner today to find out how we can help safeguard your business and your customers.