Jun
29
2009

iPhone 3.0 and Exchange Server- Better Than Ever

by William Toll

The much ballyhooed iPhone 3.0 update is here, and with it come a number of significant improvements in the way the iPhone integrates with Microsoft Exchange server. As a counter to the button down business oriented Blackberry, the iPhone has been seen as the ‘fun’ device, but when combined with Exchange server, the iPhone is a powerful business smart phone in its own right.

The iPhone has always been able to connect to Exchange servers via IMAP, and native support for ActiveSync and Exchange has been built in since release2.0. This gives administrators an alternative to the potential security risks associated with IMAP. Using ActiveSync to connect to Exchange server has additional benefits as well. IMAP is only designed to handle e-mail, but with ActiveSync users have full synchronization with their calendars and contacts in addition to e-mail.

iPhone 3.0 takes this synchronization feature a step further, allowing syncing with multiple calendars, both locally and from the Exchange server. Meeting invitations can now be created and sent from the phone, giving field reps and sales people added flexibility for appointment setting and client meetings. Like calendars, contact info can also be synced between local contact lists and contacts on the server. iPhone 3.0 supports both CalDev and ICS calendar protocols.
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Jun
24
2009

How Email Synchronization Can Save Time and Money

by William Toll

There are few things as aggravating as having to do the same job twice, and yet when it comes to managing our business lives, many people have to do this constantly. Here’s a common example- a salesperson books an appointment with a client. She adds the appointment to her desktop calendar. Then she also adds the appointment to her cell phone or PDA. Then she adds the appointment to the team calendar, which is printed and posted in the office so co-workers can keep track of each other. Finally, she adds it to the lead tracking sheet, call log, and activity log, and is looking forward to actually selling something instead of documenting it before the fact.

Then the client has to move the appointment out by an hour.

Our poor overworked salesperson has to re-do all those listings, and hopefully doesn’t forget one in the process. Many meetings have been missed because the rescheduling notification flow broke down before reaching all the participants. How much better would it be to make a single calendar entry and have everything else update automatically? Fortunately those capabilities exist today, through hosted Microsoft Exchange.

Using ActiveSync and Direct Push technology, your hosted Exchange Server can synchronize calendar information across a variety of devices- smart phones, handhelds and palmtops, as well as laptop and desktop PCs. Updates are relayed to everyone, whether they are at their desks or out in the field, and the days of missing the meeting because of crossed signals are over.
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Jun
18
2009

Is Gmail good for your business?

by Sumeet Sabharwal

When the history of early 21st century business is written, Google will certainly be counted among the success stories, and big component of their success has been the wide adoption of Gmail. Although not the first to offer a free e-mail service, Google’s mail service has been very popular thanks to a minimalist approach- slim on features, but easily accessed on a variety of web enabled devices. As a recent letter sent to Google CEO Eric Schmidt points out, one of the features they’ve scrimped on is security.

By default, Google Mail and Google Documents transmit information in clear text. This means that data is unencrypted, and easily read by anyone who is able to intercept it. The reason this is disabled by default is understandable- tough encryption comes with a processing cost. The overhead for Google to encrypt all the mail that moves through their system would be massive. The problem for Google is that, due to their positioning, they are held to a higher standard. It would likely come as a big surprise to the millions of businesspeople who rely on Gmail that it comes with a massive security risk.
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Jun
16
2009

E-mail Retention and Archival- Why It’s Critical For Your Business

by William Toll

If your business is like most, e-mail has become the heart of your company communications. Sales teams depend on it to communicate with clients, management depends on it to communicate with employees, it’s vital for a successful modern business. What many people fail to consider is that e-mail is also a dangerous chink in your corporate armor, and in a decidedly unglamorous way. It’s a simple but critical question- where does your company e-mail go when your employees are done processing it?

It’s important to understand that company e-mail is the property of your company. There have been many good arguments made about privacy in the workplace and the rights of individuals but make no mistake- when it comes to the law your business is responsible and accountable for that information.

E-mail retention is difficult for a number of reasons, not the least of which is most e-mail is the equivalent of a gum wrapper once it’s been read, nothing but an afterthought. The sheer volume of e-mail presents another challenge, as is the fact that by and large e-mail defies easy categorization. Above all else is a truism that most of us have experienced- the e-mail you can’t find is the one you need.
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Jun
11
2009

NaviSite attends Mass Innovation Nights!

by William Toll

NaviSite was honored to participate in the third gathering of a great new event in the Boston, Massachusetts area.. MassInnovationNights.com allows companies large and small to showcase their new products to an audience of social media enthusiasts, mass media and potential customers.

NaviSite SMB hosting was featuring its recently launched Business Email service powered by Microsoft Exchange. With NaviSite’s Exchange hosting service, businesses of any size have access to corporate class email services like: shared calendars, BlackBerry synchronization, Free software including Outlook 2007 or Entourage 2008 for PC and MAC.
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May
18
2009

Rain in the Cloud, and Finding the Silver Lining

by Sumeet Sabharwal

The recent Google outage made a lot of people sit up and take notice. By some accounts, an outage that lasted a little over an hour impacted total internet traffic for the day by 5%. Gmail and other Google Applications were unavailable, and underneath the collective sigh of frustration was a decreased confidence in the ubiquity of ‘the cloud’. To their credit, Google reacted admirably to the problem, was up front with users, and had a resolution in place quickly. Despite that, a lot of people got a taste of the danger of having all the eggs in one basket.

It seems like an oxymoron, but free comes with a price. In the case of Gmail and related applications, that price is paid in limited functionality and reliability. The value of that price is a sliding scale. Taking an extra couple of minutes to track down an e-mail is a minor cost, having a primary business communications tool down is a major one. For casual users this isn’t a big deal, but in a business environment it’s a huge one.
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Apr
24
2009

Exchange 2010 Reveals Great Future for Business Class Email

by Sumeet Sabharwal

At NaviSite, we find the college basketball tournament kind of exciting, and yeah, we’ll probably tune in for the finale of Dancing With The Stars. But here at NaviSite HQ, when it comes to real excitement it’s hard to beat the recent announcement of Microsoft Exchange 2010.

The thing is, when it comes to NaviSite and Exchange, we go way back. We’ve been a leading provider of Exchange hosting for a decade, going back to 1999 with our offering of managed hosted Exchange 2k. We’ve spent the last ten years helping businesses of all sizes take advantage of the power and convenience of a Hosted Exchange mail solution, and with the advent of Exchange 2010, that high level of service and support will transform the way businesses communicate.
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Apr
22
2009

Making Small Business Anytime, Anywhere Communications a Reality

by Sumeet Sabharwal

After years of devices that didn’t quite live up to expectations, the smartphone revolution is upon us. With the mass consumer penetration of BlackBerries, iPhones, and other next-gen handhelds, smartphones are changing the way we interact with information, and businesses who don’t adapt to this new environment will find themselves falling quickly behind their competition.

Over the last 15 years e-mail and cell phones went from novelties to critical business tools. Those of us who are a little longer in the tooth remember struggling with brick sized cell phones and command line Pine based e-mail accounts provided by the local library, and that so much has changed so quickly belies the relatively short time frame.
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