In this month’s article, I would like to give you some tips on how to stay on top of your email. What if you don’t have access to your computer and just want to send a short email to your colleagues or partners? You might want to use your mobile to do this if you have the service set up. Items like your inbox, draft folder and sent items, calendar, tasks and contacts can also work in sync with your desktop or laptop. It’s time to turn your phone into a communicating device that automatically talks to your Outlook program.
In today’s communication era, busy people might need to complete as many tasks as possible within a day. This month’s article is for you. Let me introduce to you the best solution for your organization, small or large: Microsoft Exchange server hosted system. I will explain what a hosted system is in the next paragraph, but a Microsoft Exchange server is an email and communication system that improves the availability and capabilities of your Outlook email program. Having said that, it also works with Mac Mail, Entourage, Nokia smart phone system and with Windows Mobile, iPhone or Pocket PC systems. With cutting edge technology, Exchange 2007 technology is even smarter with Outlook Web Access (accessing your email in an Internet browser) when you don’t have access to your Outlook desktop. The Outlook Web Access looks and functions just the same as your installed Outlook with all content synchronized. Technically, Outlook to Exchange system is a server base system with the added advantage of acting as a backup copy in the case of hard drive failure or theft.
Because hosted systems hasve the advantage of not having to deal with the planning and deployment of your in-house IT servers and facilities, I highly recommend the Exchange hosted solution. If you think the price is high, think again. I have experience working with an in-house email server system and this requires many resources. You have to think about the server room, aircon, UPS, electricity issues, backups and Internet reliability. In all, you are paying about as much or even more per year as you would with a hosted system. I am using www.123together.com as my Exchange hosted provider and I am paying $13 per month or $156 per year. The price also scales down if you don’t use all of the feature like mobile phone sync. For example, I have my Windows Mobile phone set up to instantly send and receive email. The protocol is called Exchange ActiveSync Push Mail system. Using the Exchange system with my phone is a great advantage to a normal POP3 or IMAP with SMTP protocol because everything is done at the server end. That is, your phone doesn’t need to download full emails and attachments when you need to forward a big attachment to your colleagues. This saves time and bandwidth. One of the magic things that I love about the Exchange system that I am using is that a new or modified appointment, task or contact on either my phone or my Outlook will be updated on both, as the server works everything out automatically!
To try your first Exchange system with one of the popular hosting solutions go to www.123together.com. With this hosting company, you are given a free 30 day trail to test drive the service. Another one is www.intermedia.net. To sum up, you will have an excellent system, fully supported and providing backup, for only a few dollars a month.
