Business email at home

London-based Euston Digital relies on Hosted Exchange for flexible email

Nick Leech is an account director at Euston Digital. The firm, ironically based in Waterloo, London, is a seven-person media agency. They specialise in planning and buying advertising space on the internet, radio and in print.

They don't have anyone on the staff to deal with IT, so when they decided to upgrade from POP3 email - the kind you get with a basic internet connection - to a more business-like Microsoft Exchange Server, they were attracted to hosted services because it meant one less computer to worry about and someone else to look after the technical details.

They choose Webfusion, a Pipex company, as their provider and signed up for Windows SharePoint Services and Hosted Exchange Server.

Everyone on the same page

Leech says that one benefit stands out: the ability to collect email from home. Before, when someone was away from the office and working on a critical project, they'd have to keep phoning back to ask someone to check their email. "That wastes their time and the person who checks," says Leech. Now they can just check it from home.

�It is fantastic to see Outlook appear exactly how it looks on your PC from any PC�
Nick Leech

He finds Windows SharePoint Services very useful too because it lets staff access important files like document templates and so on in one place. Anyone can access them in the office or from home and nobody has out-of-date information. Before they got SharePoint they stored files on different people's computers and it took time to find the right one. The new approach cuts out a lot of hassle.

"Because we all speak to all of our clients," explains Leech, "we need to avoid duplicating information." On SharePoint they have one place for each client so anyone can immediately see all the documents that relate to that client.

Although he mainly uses Outlook 2003, Leech particularly likes the ability to pick up his email using a web browser. This webmail option gives him access to his diary and contacts list as well as his email archive and the whole thing looks almost exactly the same as his regular email program. "It is fantastic to see Outlook appear exactly how it looks on your PC from any PC."

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