Exchange offers the following:

·           Easier Collaboration for Office Users

Exchange makes it easy to share information across a workgroup or replicate it across your organisation.

Using Exchange, users are able to:

·               exchange e-mail with co-workers, customers, partners, and suppliers,

·               co-ordinate daily schedules to easily plan meetings

·               share customer information, correspondence, call reports/meeting notes in public folders

·               delegate and assign tasks to other users through e-mail.

You have the ability to grant other people, such as assistants or administrators, access to your mailbox on your behalf. You can also manage “rules” for processing messages on Exchange Server, giving you the flexibility to create auto-responses and automatic filing of incoming messages.

·           Facilitates Group Scheduling

You can share your calendar with an administrative assistant, who can schedule meetings around your availability. In addition, Outlook and Exchange support direct booking of resources such as conference rooms.

·           Better Customer Service with Built-In Contact Management for Teams

Organise all meetings, documents, tasks, and communications with your customers so that all team members have easy (and shared) access to this information from a central location.

·           Improves Team/Project Productivity with Outlook’s Team Folders

The team folders in Outlook create a workspace where workgroups, virtual teams, and project teams can share group calendars, tasks, contacts, discussions, documents, and other important information.

One is able to set rules so that only team members can gain access to the relevant folders.

·           Streamlines Business Processes

Turn paper-based processes into efficient online applications by simply standardising paper forms, putting them online and routing them to people who need to see them. Create applications such as sales proposal reviews, holiday requests, timecards, help-desk requests and expense reporting.

Mobile users can save money and time by submitting expense reports while out of the office.

·           Flexibility for Branch Offices or Mobile Employees.

You can log on from the road with the same functionality as if you were sitting in the office.

Exchange Server 2003 supports mobile devices such as Pocket PC and Smartphones and enables you to synchronize your Inbox, Calendar, Contacts and Tasks lists so you can remotely check your appointments and other important information. Mobile device browsers are also supported through Exchange Outlook Mobile Access, which enables HTML, compressed HTML (CHTML), and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) browser–based devices to access Exchange Server. The following diagram illustrates the types of clients that Exchange Server supports

You can also work offline with e-mail, contacts, tasks, schedules and applications, such as customer account management, when disconnected from the network. You then synchronise folders and applications when reconnecting with the network.

·           ImprovesOrganisational Knowledge Sharing

Within the Digital Dashboard, you can get e-mail, team tasks, business metrics, and industry news, or keep tabs on the competition.

·           File Searching

Search Outlook folders and messages to find misplaced e-mail.

Search through your company’s public folders to find lost entries.

·           Unified Messaging

Integrate e-mail, voice mail, and fax messaging so all your communications are available within Outlook.

Have anywhere, anytime access to all your messages.

Organise incoming e-mail into folders or flag e-mail from important clients.