I’m going to be direct here: if your business email ends in @eircom.net, @vodafone.ie, or @gmail.com, you’re leaving money on the table.
When a potential client in Galway gets a quote from info@yourbusiness.ie versus john.murphy@gmail.com, which one looks more professional? Which one would you hand your business to? Exactly.
A proper business email does three things:
It builds trust. info@yourbusiness.ie tells clients you’re an established, legitimate operation. A free email address — no matter how long you’ve had it — doesn’t give that same impression.
It’s yours forever. If you switch from Eir to Vodafone or Sky, your eircom.net email is gone. All your contacts, all your history, all your client communication — vanished. With your own domain email, you can switch internet provider, move premises, do whatever you want, and your email stays the same.
It’s more secure. Business email platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace include proper spam filtering, malware protection, MFA, and admin controls that free email doesn’t offer. You can also manage who has access when an employee leaves — try doing that with a shared Gmail password.
Setting this up is straightforward. You need a domain name (which you might already have from your website) and a business email plan. Microsoft 365 Business Basic starts at about a fiver per user per month. Google Workspace is similar.
I set these up for Irish businesses every week. The migration is painless — I move your existing emails across so you don’t lose anything, update your DNS records, and make sure everything’s working before we cut over. Usually sorted in an afternoon.
A proper email setup is just one part of what IT support a small business needs. If you’re comparing platforms, here’s my honest take on Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace. I help businesses in Tuam, Claremorris, and Claregalway migrate every week.