Why the Self-Managed Solution Was Not Chosen

Implementing a self-managed email system in the cloud (e.g., Postfix on EC2 instances) presents the following challenges:

• Complex Configuration of Protocols & Standards: Manual implementation of SMTP, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to ensure deliverability and avoid blocks. Precise DNS adjustments and identity verification for each domain.

• Risk of Blacklisting: Dedicated IPs must be meticulously protected from spam and abuse. If an IP is blacklisted, it damages sender reputation and delivery capability.

• Limited Scalability: Handling traffic spikes requires manual provisioning of additional servers and load balancers, increasing both cost and complexity.

• Monitoring & Metrics: Requires additional tools to track opens, clicks, bounces, and complaints, increasing operational overhead.

• Hidden Costs: Server maintenance, updates, security patches, and SSL certificate management, and the need for specialized administrators, raising human resource costs.

In contrast, Amazon SES, as a managed service, automates IP reputation management, offers elastic scalability, and provides integrated metrics, significantly reducing risk and the total cost of ownership.