What is our primary use case?
We are a consulting company. We deploy Microsoft Exchange. One of our clients has been working with a file drive endpoint with Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft 365 Exchange. We use the latest version, which is a hybrid platform with Microsoft 365. I also work with departments in the government that use the solution for email purposes.
The maximum number of users that I am working with is approximately 20,000 users at a time.
What is most valuable?
We've been using Exchange as an email platform. Our clients require multi-country, multi-regional email collaboration with controlled mail flow. The most valuable feature is the capability of message tracking and the protection of user data.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see Microsoft Exchange improve its documentation. The legacy version of the solution had very accurate product documentation. Also, they had very good training courses. Recently, as Microsoft has been frequently adding new features, the documentation has not been as detailed. This means that we need to spend more time making use of our own experience to tackle some problems.
New users will need help from technical professionals. There are not many people in the market that have in-depth knowledge of the product. The documentation for Microsoft Exchange is scattered, poorly organized, and often incomplete.
Due to the lack of adequate documentation, users cannot determine the optimal way to operate the system and end up crashing the product. Unfortunately, many of them do not seek help as they are unwilling to pay Microsoft the high cost of professional services.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Microsoft Exchange for twenty-three years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Exchange has been in the market for more than twenty-five years. It is a stable, mature product. Any concerns with stability usually have to do with the fact that the user is not using the product in the correct manner because Microsoft did not teach them how to operate the solution correctly.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
As long as you have a good plan, Microsoft Exchange can scale very well. However, the solution does consume a lot of web resources if deployed on physical hardware or on VMware. For example, I have an organization that has 200 users and Microsoft has eaten up more than 100 gigabytes of memory.
If you use Microsoft Hyper-V, the scalability is good.
How are customer service and support?
It is not unusual that when you implement the solution and you need information, you can not find it, or it is not very detailed. You will then need to engage with the Microsoft support team. You will need to spend a lot of time making use of your own experience to tackle some problems.
Microsoft charges very expensive professional fees for support services. Unfortunately, the quality of support is very low. They are not grooming sufficient people to support the end-users.
How would you rate customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Microsoft Exchange is not complicated. However, if you need to set it up to work in harmony with any other program, you need a very in-depth understanding of the platform.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Licensing costs for Microsoft Exchange have increased, but are still fair. For some users, the cost is high considering the number of functions and features they will use.
What other advice do I have?
The advice I would give to anyone considering this solution would be to use the latest online version. It is the only way to get quality support when you encounter any type of problem.
If you are not going to use all of the functions and features and only require primitive functions, this solution may be too expensive. When you consider the cost in terms of storage when you are leveraging the online version of Microsoft Exchange, it is quite a good investment.
When considering just the product itself, I would rate Microsoft Exchange a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.