In today’s fast-paced digital era, businesses are continually seeking ways to enhance productivity, streamline operations, and improve data security. Email communication has experienced drastic transformation with many businesses leaving behind on-premises legacy systems to experience the benefits of the cloud. 

But choosing the right email security solution can seem daunting. WIth countless platforms offering protection from evolving cyber threats, it seems almost impossible to keep up or know what to choose. You might be asking the question, “How do these products work with my current tech stack?” or “Is my business ready to make the leap?” This blog will act as a guide, showing how complete cloud email security can support businesses at each stage of their digital transformation journey while ensuring robust protection. 

Stage 1: Assessing the need for change

The first step in transitioning to the cloud is recognizing the limitations of a legacy system. On-premises email providers require extensive hardware investments, maintenance, and IT resources to keep them running smoothly. They may lack scalability, flexibility, and advanced security features required to combat evolving cyber threats. By evaluating these shortcomings, businesses can begin the shift towards a cloud-based system. 

Stage 2: Choosing the right cloud providers

Before the migration, it’s important to understand your lineup of technology tools. What solutions will you need on-top of your email provider? Which integrations will make the transition seamless and extra valuable? Let’s start with Microsoft. 

When selecting the right cloud provider, you’ll want to look for a track record in email security. Look for data encryption practices, infrastructure redundancy, and perhaps most importantly, protection against email attacks and data breaches. 

For base-level protection, businesses may layer a secure email gateway (SEG) on top of their email provider. The SEG works with Microsoft to provide rule-based protection against attacks. But rules can’t catch everything. An integrated cloud email solution can catch the advanced attacks that bypass Microsoft and a SEG.

Stage 3: Migrating data to the cloud 

Whether you are moving to a hybrid setup or fully in the cloud, migrating data will require careful planning and execution. It’s important to have the cloud provider’s support team with you for every step of the way. When exploring industry reviews, look beyond product efficacy for mentions about customer support. 

Stage 4: Leveraging advanced security features 

When considering your email tech stack, think about the future of your business. As you scale, can your software grow with you? As attacks get more sophisticated, will your inbox stay safe? The effectiveness of legacy approaches to email security has been declining for quite some time, with email being responsible for over 90% of cyber attacks. This is where the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning come to play. When attackers outsmart the pre-built rules, how can you ensure your protection is already one step ahead?

Tessian takes a unique approach to securing people using email. Through a combination of machine intelligence, deep content inspection, stateful mapping of email relationships, and behavioral analysis, Tessian turns your email data into your biggest defense against security threats and stops the type of threats you can’t make a rule for. 

How Tessian can help from Stage 1

Tessian can be on your journey at any stage whether on-premise, hybrid, or fully in the cloud. No matter where you are on your digital transformation journey, Tessian can help. 

Tessian has multiple deployment methods (Modern Microsoft Add-in, API, or Gateway) to cover any email infrastructure at any stage of the cloud journey. 

Most importantly, you don’t have to wait until after your cloud-migration to implement a tool like Tessian. By layering it on top of your existing email security strategy, you will ensure no gaps in coverage while you migrate key features — like rules, safelinks, and email authentication — from your SEG to your E3 or E5 Microsoft licensing. Tessian has your back.