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Outlook Integration
Idea shared by Jens Straten - 3/29/2017 at 11:28 AM
Proposed
We currently use Outlook as a desktop solution and as a mobile solution. In addition, people use the web client when they are on the road.
 
Our preference for Outlook is driven by 3rd party Outlook add-ons. For example, we are using Zoom for online meetings and they are offering an add-on to schedule meetings directly. In addition, we also use HubSpot Sales which provides email tracking capabilities for Outlook. Most recently, we started looking for a scheduling software (e.g. Calendly) which again connects directly to Outlook.
 
As such, we have no plans to abandon Outlook anytime soon.
 
Are there any plans to improve the Outlook integration? For example, it would be great if the calendar and contact integration could be improved. Did you every think about creating an add-on for that purpose? The current integration somewhat works, but it creates a second calendar for every user and, more importantly, it doesn't ALWAYS work. From time to time, we also find meetings missing...
 
I also understand that we can use ActiveSync to potentially overcome some of these issues, but if we wanted a Microsoft solution we could have just gone with Microsoft Exchange in the first place.

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Tim Uzzanti Replied
Employee Post
Jens,
 
It would make no sense for us to create our own protocol to connect Microsoft Outlook and SmarterMail.
 
Exchange Active Sync is a protocol we make available via SmarterMail.  It is what every client on iOS/Android/Windows10 uses to get real-time emails, calendars, contacts etc.  Microsoft Outlook also supports this protocol.
 
If you want his level of functionality, its as simple as flipping a setting on the server.
 
Installing and running a Microsoft Exchange server is an entirely different beast and 10x the costs and management.
 
We are also looking at implementing MAPI in a future version of SmarterMail.  That will allow us to go beyond the limitations of Exchange Activesync and customers would be able to cho ose this method in Microsoft Outlook.
 
Hope this explains the differences?
Tim Uzzanti CEO SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com
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Ditto, Viv. Clients lost to Office 365 due to these ongoing issues.
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Tim,

Thank you for your reply!

I am sure I am speaking for many customers here when I say that we would love to see MAPI support. It would eliminate many issues we are facing.

I completely agree with you that it doesn't make any sense to create your own protocol to compete with Active Sync. That said, I wish you would offer a smaller Active Sync package. In my company, we have about 10 people wanting to use Active Sync. So, we would certainly purchase a 10 user Active Sync license, but I cannot justify the purchase of 25 users if we wouldn't even use half the licenses. For that reason, we will continue to use CalDAV and CardDAV for mobile devices.

I also agree on the cost and complexity of Microsoft Exchange.

Best regards,
Jens
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We looked at Office 365 before, but it gave us a lot of grief because it acts like a limited functionality edition of Exchange...

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