Remote Access to Outlook

In today's fast moving business environment, clients and customers have come to expect rapid and informed responses to their queries. 

In order to meet their service expectations, your staff need secure and seamless access to your communication and information technology infrastructure when they are out of the office. Microsoft Exchange offers a range of tools that can be utilised to allow your staff to access their Outlook data whenever they need it, from wherever they are in the world. 

Crucially, Exchange maintains a master copy of your Outlook data on the server within the Exchange database and there are a number of methods which you can use to access this data over the Internet. This enables you to maintain several copies of Outlook on your laptop, your home and office computers. All these copies are synchronised with a master copy of your Outlook data stored on the server in the Microsoft Exchange database. Any changes made on one device will automatically be synchronised across all other devices.

Examined below in greater detail, each of these methods has features and functionality that make them ideally suited to particular usage profiles. 


Outlook Web Access (Webmail) 

Webmail delivers Outlook to any PC connected to the Internet, allowing you to log on to the Exchange server and directly access your Outlook data through any Web Browser such as 'Internet Explorer'.

Advantages

It requires no localised software and no pre-configuration, hence you can access your Outlook data and send and receive emails from virtually any PC as long as you have an internet connection.

Disadvantages

 

Because there isn't a copy of your Outlook data stored locally, a Webmail user will experience a slight delay while the information is downloaded from the Exchange server over the Internet. This delay becomes more pronounced if you have a slow internet connection or open large file attachments.


Outlook over RPC (Remote Procedure Call)

In essence, Outlook over RPC is a way of synchronising a local copy of your Outlook data with the Exchange server over the Internet. You can take your laptop out of the office and, provided you have an Internet connection, you can continue to use Outlook to send and receive emails. 

 

Advantages

With a cached copy of Outlook on your laptop, RPC is faster than Webmail eliminating the lag when opening emails and attachments.
Disadvantages

Outlook over RPC can not be utilised from just any computer connected to the Internet. The device needs to be preconfigured and the Outlook data synchronised with the Exchange database.


Outlook to Mobile Phones and Blackberries

The ability to work away from the office and on the move is a defining feature of modern business. Portable devices such as mobile phones and Blackberries enable access to emails at any time from anywhere, radically changing the way that people work. 

With the correct mobile device, Online Support can take this one step further and achieve complete synchronisation of your Outlook data on the Exchange server with your mobile phone or Blackberry.