Website provider, client vault, help deadline

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#1
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My business has had a website with CPA Site Solutions for over 10 years. I received a weird email from CPA SS to renew my google subscription asap. I never signed up for a google subscription. At first I thought it was a scam. When I called CPA Site Solutions today, they told me that in order to keep my business email address and calendar I had to start paying Google. It's $6/month, next year it will be $25/month, and thereafter, who knows.

I can sign up with an obscure third party provider CPASS uses and keep using my email address but a calendar is not included. I have concerns about this obscure company having access to my emails, etc.

I have the website but the only item that is invaluable to me is the vault where clients upload their data. I have enough clients as it is and only take referrals from existing clients.

I don't need the website but I do need the vault. What do others use for clients to upload their data?

I want to keep my business email address and an integrated online calendar. What do you use?
 

#2
smtcpa  
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Richmond, VA
I use Google GSuite for email, calendar, etc. Signed up directly with Google. Email is formatted with my domain and I have all the Google tools. For a client-facing portal we use Sharefile.
 

#3
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MS365 E5 for e-mail and calendar and contacts, TaxDome for portal and messaging and eSignatures (among other things), and WordPress for my website. I could add a calendar that integrates with my MS365 primary calendar, but I don't like people making their own appointments.
 

#4
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I'm also with Gsuite at 6.48/month for the domain'ed emails and Wordpress for the website.

(Not sure if mine will go to $25/month next year.)

The only catch with Google email is that... depending on the IP used on your email sometimes your emails will get sorted into Spam, as Gmail is one of the biggest spam offenders. I understand they constantly cycle IP's, so if your email is using one that a spam pusher is also using, it increases your chances of the emails getting flagged as spam.
That's how IT industry people have explained it to me anyway.
 

#5
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I agree concering gmail. I used to be with it and it is one of the reasons I switched back to Microsoft. Now, Google has such strong spam filters that my legitimate emails often get pushed into spam and the client never even knows it.

I loathe the entire GSuite environment.
 

#6
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$6/month/user is very reasonable for email and calendar hostling. $25/month/user is a little rich.

I'm not a fan of google, for business or personal. I'm using Office Online to host my business email and calendar. I can log in from any computer, anywhere and I have the Outlook app on my phone. I don't remember what I pay but it's apparently a good value.
 

#7
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ManVsTax wrote:$6/month/user is very reasonable for email and calendar hostling. $25/month/user is a little rich.

I'm not a fan of google, for business or personal. I'm using Office Online to host my business email and calendar. I can log in from any computer, anywhere and I have the Outlook app on my phone. I don't remember what I pay but it's apparently a good value.


How much do you pay for email and a calendar per business user? I've never paid for gmail and a calendar and an increase from $0 to $3/month per business email and next year it will increase by 100% to $6/month per business email address, is considered not reasonable.

If google has all your business data because you had to sign up for email and a calendar, how much of the data will be sold? In general, you can"t opt out before you're a customer. What if they sell all your data the minute you sign up? Data collection has boomed into a 138.9 billion dollar industry and projects to reach 229.4 billion by 2025.

Hmm, my net is just below that ...without selling any data and trying to keep clients data and my own data as secure as I can. :D
 

#8
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When I was subscribed to just email and calendar with a minor amount of online storage (that I never used), I paid $72/year/user. I've since upgraded to a better plan that gives me Microsoft Teams and all the bells and whistles with that. I don't know the new plan cost off the top of my head. Keep in mind my website is hosted by GoDaddy, and I pay for Microsoft email hosting through them, so I may be getting a discount. I don't know.

It is a general truism that if software is free, you're the revenue. That is, they're going to sell your information. Your name, address, email, phone number, who you bank with, everything you purchase, basically everything you give them, to anyone and everyone who will pay. They're also going to mine your data and sell that to advertisers.

If I was interviewing a CPA or attorney and was made aware that they use a free email provider, I would look elsewhere as that conveys to me that they either don't understand data security or they don't take it seriously. That's just my opinion.

Protonmail's barebones business plan is $7/user/month if you prepay yearly. I don't think Protonmail is quite there yet for business use, but am a big fan of it for personal email. You might want to check Outlook online and others.

Is the portion behind the "@" in your email gmail.com? Or is the the domain of your website? e.g. @Andrew9901.com If it's gmail.com, I'd be worried about optics from clients and external partners, but you seem to be doing well so what do I know.
 

#9
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My additional two cents--spend more money with MS365 so you can set security policies. I believe it requires at least MS365 E5 (it's what I use), but it is inherent to every Microsoft device that connects to a work account, and is pushed out as a security policy to other devices such as iPhones. You can then use MS Outlook app, for example, that applies the same security policies. It costs a lot more, and you get a lot more for the money.

This is in contrast to Google that allows some security policies, but they are not nearly as robust, IMO. I still find I have to use my old Google e-mail accounts for some things, which really annoys me. For example, I have one client I can think of that is entirely Google oriented and they insist on using Google Meets or whatever it is called instead of my own encrypted video conference system. They end up seeing so many different e-mails because I never know which one the invitation was actually associated with, but it does not matter because any Google e-mail account I have or had still works, so the security is definitely lacking on this front.

Either way, you need to have some tech experience to not completely screw things up. IT is not an area to cheap out on...
 


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