We often get enquiries from people unsure whether Hosted Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Office 365 is right for them and their organisation. The choice between the two depend on a customer’s business needs. Office 365 is designed for users who want a simple email and productivity suite. Hosted Exchange provides a range of services, with users able to select the ones most suitable for them.
Comparing Hosted Exchange with Office 365
The table below compares the main features of our Hosted Exchange and Office 365 Business Premium services.
|
Hosted Exchange |
Office 365 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Mix and match mailbox sizes to meet your needs. We offer unlimited, 25GB and 1GB sizes. | 50GB mailbox. No option for other sizes. | |
| Outlook provided | Outlook provided free on selected packages. | Outlook provided as part of the full Office suite, on selected Office 365 services. |
| Self-management | Yes, with a dedicated control panel for administrating user accounts. | Yes, with the standard Office 365 interface. |
| Migrate between services | Yes, you can migrate between Hosted Exchange services without losing data. | No, you cannot migrate between Office 365 platforms. |
| Unlimited mailbox hosting | Yes, there are no limits on the number of Exchange mailboxes you can have. | No some Office 365 platforms have a maximum limit on the number of mailboxes. |
| Tech support | Free UK support 24 x 7. Available on the phone during office hours and via email at other times. | Office 365 customers buying direct from Simply Mail Solutions benefit from 24 x 7 UK support. |
| Email migration | We can migrate your email over to Hosted Exchange from other systems, including Office 365. | Office 365 customers buying direct from Simply Mail Solutions benefit from a full migration service. |
| UK data storage | All data is stored in UK facilities. Which may be a requirement in some industry sectors. | Data is stored out of the UK. Potentially stopping some companies from using Office 365. |
| Archiving | Advanced, 10 year unlimited archiving is available. Archives are not part of the users mailbox allowance. | Archiving can be activated on a mailbox. As standard the archive is part of the users 50GB mailbox allowance. |
| Spam and virus protection | Spam filtering included, with advanced protection available. | Yes, Microsoft’s own spam filtering included. |
| Public Folders | Yes, on Exchange 2007,2010 SP2, and 2013 | No Public Folders support. |
| Mobile and tablet sync | ActiveSync provided free on all Hosted Exchange services. | ActiveSync support included. |
| BlackBerry sync | Both BES and ActiveSync supported. BES provided free with Exchange 2010 and 2013. | Only ActiveSync, on BlackBerry 10, is supported. |
| Office support | Use your existing Office apps. No need for users to learn a new app interface, or have to use a web browser. | Full suite of Office apps included. |
| Unified Communications | Yes, with Hosted Lync. | Yes, with Skype for Business. |
| Cloud storage | Yes, with Hosted SharePoint. | Yes, with Onedrive for Business. |
| Maximum users | Unlimited. | Limited by which version of Office 365 taken. |
| Exchange upgrades | You control when your company upgrades to a newer Exchange version. | Microsoft automatically update the Office 365 service. |
Office 365 is designed as a complete package, which means it may not be suitable for your particular business. With Hosted Exchange you can choose which services to use and build a package that matches your communication needs
Contact us
Interested in seeing how the cloud can help your business? Email our sales team, have a live chat, or call +44 01925 696185.
