Microsoft Exchange vs. Sonian (discontinued)

You can use Microsoft Exchange Server with peace of mind for e-mail, calendar, communication, scheduling, and collaboration services. Microsoft's Exchange Server is a product designed to provide users with access to the messaging platform from mobile devices, desktops, and web-based systems. Telephony features in Exchange Server support voicemail. Exchange Server successfully offers high availability service with Microsoft Exchange Database availability groups.

Incentivized

We have had a couple of legal inquiries which required us to review emails for a user or users. Using the Barracuda Cloud Archiving Service, we have been able to perform searches quickly, narrowing or expanding the search criteria is easy, resulting in exactly what we were looking for. This has saved us with claims for collections, as well as a couple of legal HR matters. It is my trusted go to application.

• As we have a large user base of 11,000 users we use MailTips to avoid people getting confused with people with similar names in the organization.
• The integration between Teams Meeting and Resource booking is generally very good. The Scheduling Assistance makes it easy to scan calendars and find free periods to provisionally scheduled events.
• Marking yourself as Out of the Office and busy is easy, as is sharing your calendar within the team/organization or individuals.
• Voicemail integration and the ability to receive missed chats in your inbox are highly used and useful.

Incentivized

• Sonian search is rightly praised for ease of use, scale, performance and accuracy.
• Sonian archive can be deployed rapidly without the need for costly professional service engagements.
• Seamless process to import PST files into the archive.
• Sonian has a high focus on compliance and governance which is reflected with their fast and accurate search function.

Incentivized

• The two main factors for the better reliability & Uptime of internally hosted Exchange Server depends on Exchange Server configuration and the level of investment the organization is willing to provide for hosting the Exchange Server On-Premise Environment. As the data is stored in the organization’s hardware, any disaster may lead to the loss of email and servers.
• Losing data might affect business continuity and rebuilding it can be costly.
• Security remains a major concern.
• Security of data loss is main concern. To ensure that, organization needs to configure networks, systems and Exchange platform against possible threats.
• Hardware and license costs are high.

Incentivized

• Speed is slow sometimes
• The Outlook plugin does not always find all emails when searching

It is the best, and perhaps only, email solution worth considering.

Incentivized

Microsoft Exchange is well suited for inexperienced Messaging Admins and veterans alike. If you have no idea of the fundamentals of modern email (SMTP, mail headers, MX Records, SPF/DKIM, Encryption, etc.) and just need to get people's mailboxes and calendars the support they need, you can use it with confidence. If you are an old pro and want to leverage and dovetail your Powershell and AD with Exchange, you will be rewarded for your efforts.

Incentivized

It performs as expected with no exceptions.

Exchange is setup with multiple servers behind load balancers to provide high availability.

Incentivized

I would say it's the best email product I've experienced.

Incentivized

We have a good enterprise agreement with Microsoft which affords us quick phone support. I have found the support staff knowledgeable and prompt with a solution when required. At times it may be difficult to schedule a call back, this is mainly due to our need for calls early in the morning which happens to be during a shift change at Microsoft support.

Incentivized

We only need support when initially setting it up. We really have not had to call for user or help support on this product. It has always worked and is always easy to use.

Implementation/conversion can be quite complex and, unless you have certified Exchange administrators in-house, you should strongly consider a 3rd party consultant for this implementation.

Incentivized

Most of the 365 subscriptions include desktop and cloud versions of Microsoft programs. These "traditional" software may be installed on a desktop computer and used offline without any problems, as long as you have a working Internet connection. Because so many firms still transmit each others file's developed locally using these applications, despite this being an era of cloud computing– there is a strong case for keeping desktop versions available.

Incentivized

Sonian is a pure SaaS solution and is easy to manage and use. It's cost effective and does exactly what it says on the tin

Incentivized

The only time Exchange has failed us is when we did something to cause the failure.

Incentivized

• It has been an important factor in allowing seamless communication with clients and scheduling business meetings, which in turn works in the company's favor.
• Haven't noticed any negative impact Exchange has had on our ROI. The support team is also responsive and helpful.

Incentivized

• We have been able to reduce a lot of store space by moving all PST files to the archiver.
• Users love how easy it is to find old emails that were deleted long ago.
• Some users now rely on this service