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Downsizing

Many large organizations will migrate their E-mail systems from a host mainframe to a client/server system based on Microsoft Exchange Server. Microsoft Exchange Server provides the security and robust operations capabilities of the mainframe in a more flexible, inexpensive, scalable, and manageable implementation. It also includes migration tools that make it easy to move users from existing LAN-based and host-based E-mail systems.

Customers who are downsizing operations can develop applications for Microsoft Exchange Server using popular languages and development tools not applicable for mainframe computers. These customers require the flexibility that only a family of clients such as Outlook can offer.

Connecting Multisystem Environments

Customers with multiple personal computing and network platforms can use Microsoft Exchange Server to link all their users together. Organizations can benefit from the simplified administration of having just one server and a single client interface that supports all popular computing platforms. In addition, Microsoft Exchange Server allows organizations to use the Internet as a communications backbone to connect to and share information with other geographic locations of their own organization as well as with other companies.

Upgrading Current Microsoft Mail Systems

Many customers have built powerful messaging systems — including electronic forms and mail-enabled applications — with Microsoft Mail. All of their existing messaging investments will seamlessly migrate to Microsoft Exchange Server, allowing them to gain the new capabilities that Microsoft Exchange Server offers without losing access to their mission-critical applications already in place. Customers of other LAN shared-file system based E-mail systems will enjoy the same benefits.

The real test of Microsoft Exchange Server capabilities is in real-life business solutions. The following are just a few of the solutions that can be implemented using the Microsoft Exchange product family.

Customer-Support Systems. Organizations have always struggled with the costly problem of duplicating efforts because individuals do not know that others have already tackled the same issues. A customer-support system can remedy this problem by allowing support technicians to document and share their experiences and acquired knowledge with their colleagues in other support centers. This sharing helps keep organizations from “reinventing the wheel,” because all employees can see and use the information and ideas generated by others. It also allows technicians to automatically route product bug reports to the engineering staff at the home office.

Customer Account Tracking. Providing superior customer service with distributed sales teams requires excellent communication among all team members and a shared history of customer contact. Inconsistent communication with customers is one of the main reasons companies lose customers to competitors.

An account-tracking system improves the management of customers by enabling account managers to see at a glance whenever anyone in the company has made contact with a customer account. A customer- tracking system also helps identify solid new sales opportunities and pinpoint customer problems that require immediate attention. Because many account managers travel extensively, this information must be accessible both from the office network and from remote locations such as hotel rooms, airports, or home.

Sales Tracking. Today, every organization that manufactures a product worries about the high cost of carrying large inventories of finished goods and supplies. A sales-tracking application can help businesses make better manufacturing planning decisions by helping sales managers and marketing executives get up-to-the-minute information, including sales volumes by region, product, and customer. This information makes it possible to identify regions or products that require special attention and to make more informed projections of demand for each product.

Product Information Libraries. The key to excellent customer service is providing customers with the right information, right now. A product information library application can help organizations improve customer service by providing salespeople with up-to-date, correct information.

This online library must contain a variety of interrelated information, including word-processing documents, spreadsheets, presentation graphics slide shows, E-mail messages from product managers, and, increasingly, multimedia elements such as images, sound clips, and videos. Sales reps can have read-only access to this library, while product managers at any location can change and modify those items that pertain to their particular products.

Such an electronic library of product information eliminates the need to continually distribute new printed product information to the sales force, which in turn eliminates the problem of disposing of expensive inventories of obsolete brochures and data sheets when products change.

A Market and General Information Newswire. Today’s rapid business pace requires that managers stay in constant touch with business trends that will affect their markets and customers. A newswire application provides an easy way for employees to stay in touch with important trends, the needs of customers, and their competitors without a separate specialized application.

SUMMARY

By integrating a powerful E-mail system, group scheduling, groupware applications, Internet connectivity, and centralized administrative tools all on a single platform, Microsoft Exchange Server makes messaging easier, more reliable, and more scalable for organizations of all sizes. Microsoft Exchange Server is also a highly extensible and programmable product that allows organizations to build more advanced information-sharing applications or extend existing applications easily, based on existing knowledge. In addition, it provides the centralized administrative tools to keep the enterprise running securely behind the scenes.

As a result, Microsoft Exchange Server can help organizations save time and improve all forms of business communications, both within and beyond the enterprise. By the time this chapter goes to press, the next version of Microsoft Exchange Server will already be available. New functionality in its clients, more integration with the Internet and Web, and greater scalability and performance are just a few of the improvements in store for customers.

Microsoft Exchange Server was designed to handle today’s messaging and collaboration requirements. It is built on existing Internet standards and is designed to easily adopt new and emerging technologies to provide the best platform to its customers. Messaging is an evolutionary technology and Microsoft Exchange Server provides the foundation for any organization’s messaging and collaboration growth.


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