Business Spam Filtering - Client-Side or Server-Side?

When evaluating business spam filtering solutions there are many different approaches to consider. The most important decision is whether go to with server-side or client-side software.

System administrators typically like to centralize administration of software to keep overhead low. In many cases this works as intended. However, with business spam filtering it can actually increase IT overhead time in at least one regard.

Almost all filtering solutions can be subject to the periodic problem of false positives. With client-side spam blocker applications, users have the power to easily review messages that the filter picked up. If needed they can be restored to the user's inbox.

In contrast, most server-side business spam filtering packages don't provide this functionality. Users are forced to use IT resources each time they suspect a message they actually wanted got intercepted. This can often turn into a major fiasco - with the user insisting a message must have been caught by the mail filter, and the system administrator being unable to locate it.

This isn't to suggest that server-side filtering doesn't have its place. In extremely large environments configuring an additional desktop application may simply not be an option. Also, different users have different filtering needs.

Deploying "conservative" filtering server-side can reduce, but not eliminate a certain percentage of spam at relatively low risk. Users with more substantial spam problems can then install client-side spam filter programs such as SpamButcher.

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