Spark is expanding its offerings with Spark Business Mail - a new cloud-based email platform hosted in New Zealand and designed to meet the needs of SMBs.

Trials of the new email service have officially begun, including almost 40 customers. The platform will officially launch for SMEs on October 5 of this year.

Customers using the company's existing business email platform, Officemail, will be upgraded to Spark Business Mail over a period of ten weeks from October through to early December, when the Officemail platform will be closed.

Spark has partnered with New Zealand owned and operated company SMX, which specialises in cloud email security, to deliver the mail service.

Richard Sandford, Spark New Zealand head of business marketing, says there is a lot of data to show SMEs have far greater impact on the New Zealand economy when they leverage digital technologies.

“A high-quality, high capacity and secure email system is fundamental for our SME customers as they begin to do more and more online,” he says.

“Spark Business Mail uses a business grade security system which means it's as secure as email platforms used by major commercial organisations.

“It also gives customers significantly more storage and allows them to host their data locally - something that's vital for businesses who require their records to be kept in New Zealand.

“Most Spark customers who upgrade to the new email service will see their email storage increase by around 400%, while the price of their service will stay the same,” says Sandford.

The company will begin contacting existing Officemail customers by post this week to let them know when they can expect to be upgraded to Spark Business Mail, and what they need to do to prepare for the upgrade.

Most customers will need to make a few simple updates to their email settings across all the devices (for example, smartphones, tablets or laptops) they use to access their emails.

Customers who don't host their domain name with Spark will need to contact their domain name provider to update their records, as well as making the same simple updates to their email settings.

A spokesperson from Spark said Officemail customers won't notice too much of a difference in terms of the look at feel of the service.