Today's businesses rely on their email and scheduling solutions to be accessible from anywhere. While there are numerous solutions currently on the market that can offer baseline capabilities for communication, calendars and online portals, not all of these platforms can meet the needs of every business.
One powerful provider of enterprise-level solutions is Microsoft – a name that everyone in technology knows. Today, we'll take an in-depth look at two of their top solutions, Exchange and SharePoint, analyzing their most important features. How do companies benefit from their usage, particularly when hosted by an industry-leading provider?
Microsoft Exchange: What capabilities and advantages does it offer?
Microsoft Exchange, a platform providing scheduling and mail server capabilities, is a customizable system that can be accessed from any mobile device. The solution includes email, calendars and contact lists, as well as features for productivity and security.
This platform enables users to create as many email addresses as they need, and includes a considerable amount of disk space per mailbox to help prevent users from having to delete important messages. Users can also share and collaborate with the ability to send files up to 1GB through email.
In addition, the calendars and contacts sections enable the creation of both shared contact lists and calendars, ensuring that everyone in the organization stays on the same page. Its task management feature can help streamline activities with the creation, assignment and delegation of specific tasks through the platform.
A solution like Microsoft Exchange provides powerful email capabilities valuable in any business setting.
Microsoft noted that users are able to adjust the solution so that it specifically aligns with the needs of the organization. The system can be deployed on-premises, in the cloud or in a hybrid environment. Some helpful features include a web-based admin center, role-based access controls and archiving.
Exchange also includes built-in security measures, such as protection against viruses, spam, phishing attacks and other malicious activities. In addition, data loss prevention capabilities help keep an eye on particularly sensitive data, informing key stakeholders of any policy violations before they take place.
Overall, this solution provides a number of the key functions a business needs to support its brand and remain productive. Valuable features including email, calendars, contact lists, access controls and the ability to delegate specific tasks make this platform an excellent tool in nearly any industry.
Windows SharePoint: What features and benefits are included?
Another beneficial solution is Microsoft SharePoint, which enables the creation of websites or online portals while also facilitating collaboration among varying stakeholders. SharePoint Services 3.0 allows users to completely customize their online portal in order to establish a secure platform for an array of purposes.
SharePoint comes with discussion boards to reduce long, difficult-to-follow email chains, as well as the ability to create custom spaces for each department within the business. In addition, the solution also has document versioning and check-in/check-out features that allow all changes to the platform to be made in a single place, keeping everyone on the same page.
"While these platforms are valuable on their own, they're even more beneficial when hosted by a leading provider like Hostway."
SharePoint can also boost efficiency within an organization by providing a single location for large files. As opposed to sharing these via email – which can consume considerable bandwidth – employees can simply access these important items via the SharePoint platform.
This solution also includes security features, including access levels, permissions and privileges.
The Hostway difference
While these platforms are valuable on their own, they're even more beneficial when hosted by a leading provider like Hostway. A hosted solution shifts much of the responsibilities – including maintenance and upkeep – onto the provider, allowing the business's internal IT team to focus on other mission-critical initiatives. This is particularly helpful for smaller enterprises that may not have a dedicated IT team.
Hostway also provides a secure, reliable infrastructure from which these platforms are hosted. Our 99.99 percent uptime guarantee ensures that the business will always have access to the critical materials and platforms provided by Exchange and SharePoint.
To find out more about how your business can benefit from a hosted Exchange or SharePoint solution, contact Hostway today.