Using a gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo! an unprofessional in business

HAVING attended the Gulf Information Security Expo & Conference (GISEC) 2021 with 7 000 top security professionals from around the world, one of the issues raised was the issue of using free email service.

During the conference there was a time to focus on Zimbabwe, and because of Zimbabwe's love for freebies like gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo!, hackers are now spending their time and energy on hacking into this large pool of database of cyber users.

Internationally, no one wants to do business with anyone using a gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo!, in fact with anyone using any of the free email service providers. Yet in Zimbabwe, the majority of small-to-medium businesses commonly use these free email services as their business emails. Typical examples are "companyname"@gmail.com.

Whether you own a simple startup, small-to-medium or a personal blog or building a business, owning your own domain name is a smart move that protects you from modern-day cyber hackers and puts you in control of your brand and the content you create on the email address and your company website, including your social media platforms.

Zimbabwe's business owners should not have professional business cards with a gmail, Yahoo! or a Hotmail on it. In this day and age, a domain name is such an easy thing to come by. Why are our professional business owners still using a free email service for their email. It should be a national policy that every registered business be it large, medium or small should immediately register their domain name, meaning your domain should be "companyname".co.zw and have an email "info@companyname".co.zw which is the norm all over the world.

It is sad to note that the only benefit of having a free email is that it saves your business money, but this argument is not a very good one if you truly want to be taken seriously and want to grow your business in a safe cyber environment. By not registering a domain name, you are portraying your company in an unprofessional manner using a free email service like gmail, Yahoo!, or Hotmail, but you are sacrificing a great opportunity to get the name of your company on the mind of new clients and stakeholders, and frankly speaking, free email services are just an unsafe way to communicate on today's cyberspace.

If you are using a free email service, you are sending the wrong message to your clients, partners and stakeholders. By not having a domain registered it means:

Your company cannot afford a domain name and a professional website with an email;

The email you sent is coming from your personal email account and not your business account;

You are not organised or professional enough to get a domain name for your company;

You are not concerned about privacy, and

Cyber Security is not an issue in your organisation.

Considering how cheap it is to register a domain and have an email and a website hosting account which is included as part of the low cost cyber package. There is no reason why modern-day large, medium and small companies should not have a domain registered to protect the company's brand and identity. Advertising alone will make it worth the extra amount you spend on the domain name, and email service.