Outlook - The program. Why it's better than Outlook Web Access

You’ve probably heard the (insert your favorite co-ed) joke about an ambitious young person who went to the hardware store to buy a chain saw. There’s some variation in the details, but the punch line is when the co-ed returns the saw to the store to complain about it’s lack of cutting capacity, only to be startled by the noise of the chainsaw when it was started for the first time.

If you are using Outlook Web Access to read your email, you might just be the butt of a similar joke about your email prowess.

Now before you get all offended, there are some very good reasons, on occasion, to use Outlook Web Access. If you are borrowing a computer, using an internet Kiosk, checking an email on your run through the airport, or attending an offsite training;  then of course Outlook Web Access is a great tool and it is surprisingly similar to Oultook on the desktop.

In fact Microsoft went great lengths to create a Web enabled interface that even looks and behaves as much like Outlook as possible. Which begs the question – why spend so much energy on creating a Web interface that behaves so much like the real product? The answer is not because it works as well as the desktop program, it doesn’t!

If you are sitting at one place most of your working day, then you really ought to consider the advantages of a real Outlook experience.
 
Here are 10 reasons why you should be using Microsoft Outlook, the desktop version:

1. It’s Faster – This should be reason enough, but I continue to be surprised at the number of users at our schools who log onto Outlook Web Access instead of using the program sitting right on their desktop.
2. It’s Always On – Even when your internet access is down, Outlook keeps on going. It remembers everything you do while offline and synchronizes your work when you reconnect.
3. It works Automatically – Outlook checks your email even when you are not working in it. And it does so every 15 minutes, unless you change the default send and receive settings.
4. It checks your work better – The Outlook on your desktop is much like Microsoft Word, and has better spelling, grammar, and word/phrase checking.
5. It does profiles – Need to work with two different email accounts? And not just on the receiving end. Outlook maintains separate profiles for separate email addresses, allowing you to work in two organizations with that organization's domain based email.
6. It has add-ins - there are a number of very useful add-in programs, or utilities that enhance the features in Microsoft Outlook. One of our favorites is the email connector that integrates Microsoft Dynamics CRM (see our education resource management solution) and Outlook. This one reason alone makes the case for desktop Outlook.
7. It is much more customizable – Wallpaper, themes, fonts, colors, and design elements are all much more robust in the desktop version of Outlook. But be careful, sometimes your artistic interpretation makes for very difficult reading .
8. It has a much better search function – although you can search in both versions, the desktop version is much more efficient. And try deleting 500 messages in an overflowing OWA inbox. It takes forever!
9. It works with dial up – Okay, this is kind of cheating on the speed front. But you can actually have a reasonably robust email experience with only dial-up internet service. That’s because Outlook decides on what to download and does so in the background.
10. It has a Ribbon – The ribbon contains an amazing number of formatting commands  and features that are not available in OWA. And if you are doing any kind of serious email composition, you will find those features very handy.

Once you begin using the real version of Outlook, you may find features not mentioned above that you really like. In fact you may begin to like these features so much that you actually look forward to greeting your inbox each morning.

OK, so that is probably a stretch.

But, by using the real Outlook you may have more free time to do something other than email. And I can do something other than writing about it.

What’s that noise?

What’s the big deal about Live@edu? It’s more than a free email account

Offering your students free email will get you about as much mileage as offering them free brussel sprouts for lunch. It's just not a big deal anymore to have an email account, with Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo mail, and Facebook mail all competing for young minds as an advertising audience.

However, there may be very good reason for your school to offer Live@edu services for students. Here are a few advantages of doing so:

• Increased collaboration and communication among students and teachers
• Security and control of your email environment
• Brand and community building with customized logos, color schemes, and campaigns
• Real world training for your students to communicate in a 21st Century work environment
• Reduced infrastructure costs

So, it’s not really just free, it actually pays you significant dividends! Let’s dig a little deeper.

 

Increased collaboration and communication

 

By giving students the ability to email, instant message, video chat, share documents, and store homework assignments in the Live@edu system, you give them a powerful set of creative tools. They can collaborate on project documents using Microsoft Office Web apps, free online companions to Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and One Note.

 

Security and Control

 

Because the Live@edu is centrally managed by your internal staff, you have complete control over access to the system. And with Microsoft’s advanced email security you significantly reduce the risk of phishing, virus, and malware attacks on your internal systems. And in the event of a disciplinary matter, you have access to email communication and message archives.

 

Brand and community building

 

Think about every email sent outside of your organization as a small advertising snippet. As your students communicate around the world and across the community, your institution becomes more visible, relevant, and cutting edge. Your Live@edu email and workspaces are branded with your logo and school name.

 

Real world training

 

Live@edu services are built upon the same technology as Microsoft Office 365, a powerful and widely used business communication and collaboration system. Your students will gain valuable experience in real world communication by using Live@edu. And they can plug into the Live@edu from anywhere and on any device.

 

Reduced costs

 

How much are you spending for student servers? Maintaining shared drives, keeping track of student documents, managing student access, securing other student’s work, and keeping ahead of student hacks is a significant IT management cost. With 25GB of storage per student and access control by Live@edu account, you can eliminate a great deal of administrative expense.

 

Summary

 

Building a communication platform for students to email, instant message, video chat, share documents, and store homework assignments seems like a lot of infrastructure – and it is. An equivalent cost to build and manage such a system internally would be thousands of dollars, not to mention the administrative time diverted from more strategic initiatives.

 

Showcasing your school as a leader in technology and forward thinking will generate interest and improve your recruiting efforts.

 

K-12 institutions have a very specific set of requirements for cloud-based messaging and collaboration solutions. No one brings a richer set of free hosted solutions to the K-12 space than Microsoft Live@edu. Not only are our enterprise-grade services cost effective and flexible, but they also prepare students for the next step with professional tools used in higher education institutions and businesses the world over.

 

Let us help you implement a Live@edu solution on your campus.