4 Reasons Why Microsoft Exchange Matters.
Microsoft Exchange is Microsoft's email server solution. Simply explained, Exchange is a piece of software that runs on a server and manages all your emails. Incoming, outgoing, stored, drafts, calendars – everything is handled via Microsoft Exchange and stored on the server. Microsoft Exchange is not the only way a company can manage its emails. Most organizations start with so-called POP3 email . What that essentially means is that the person hosting your website also manages your email. They collect it and then send it to every individual computer, effectively downloading that email to every computer.
The problem with POP3, and why products like Microsoft Exchange exist, is that all emails you download from your web hosting provider are stored on separate computers. So if one of those separate computers dies, all your emails are lost. Microsoft Exchange is designed to centralize your emails in a single database. Instead of your web hosting company processing your email and storing it on your computer, Exchange manages the emails and backs them up on a server. IMAP is based on a client-server model where all mailboxes and messages are maintained on the server. IMAP gives the client access to remote messages as if they were stored locally. The client issues commands to download or delete them, access message status information, and configure it, but the server always retains the information. IMAP ensures faster service because the client reads all message headers without having to download all the actual messages. You might then wonder why you should choose Exchange instead of IMAP. One of the downsides of implementing IMAP is that more powerful servers are required. Folders are likely to be duplicated if not set up correctly, and if you are someone who never deletes emails or has a small amount of storage space, it is easy to run out of inbox space in no time.
Why is Microsoft Exchange important?
With Microsoft Exchange, emails can be delivered directly to a server and synchronized across all your other devices. It works by sending the emails back to your individual workstations for your staff to access. Small and medium-sized businesses can gain four benefits by using Microsoft Exchange.
- Centralize emails so they can be backed up: If you use an old POP3 model, you risk losing emails. Exchange is primarily about centralizing and backing up that information.
- Eliminate email threats before they reach your network: Exchange actively protects your communications with built-in security against email threats. Anti-spam filters come with continuous updates to protect you against increasingly sophisticated spam and phishing threats, while multiple anti-malware systems work to protect your email data from viruses.
- Shared calendars between different members of your organization: Keep up to date with what other employees are doing. Shared calendars help businesses be more organized and productive.
- Set up an out of office message: A simple but useful feature. Keep your colleagues, customers and potential customers informed when you are out of the office or on vacation.
Installing Microsoft Exchange.
Most companies migrating to Exchange likely switch from POP3/IMAP. To complete the migration, you must export all your emails from POP3/IMAP and then import them into Exchange. Once that is done, you need to reconfigure all existing desktops to access the Exchange server. These services are right up Flexamedia's alley. If you would like to know more about the services offered by Flexamedia.nl, please feel free to contact us.