Outlook is the industry standard. It is the email client of choice for approximately 850 million users worldwide. Close to 1/3 of all email accounts are now accessed using Outlook. Outlook’s penetration in the business segment is even higher, probably more than 50%. So it is natural for an Outlook user who wants email integration to Salesforce.com to look first for an Outlook plug-in. But in fact, syncing email directly from Outlook to Salesforce.com has serious drawbacks. Better to email sync email to Salesforce.com in the cloud with a service like Match My Email.
Using a plug-in means that email syncing is only working if you are logged into your email account. If you are not at your desk or working on your laptop, your email WILL NOT be synced to Salesforce.com. Since more and more people are mobile and rely on their smartphones and tablets to run their businesses, an Outlook plug-in will not solve your email syncing in real time, 24/7, 365 days per year. To have email integration that is always on and always working, you need a cloud service that talks directly to your email server like Microsoft Exchange or service like Gmail, Rackspace, Sherweb, Fasthosts, 1and1, Yahoo!, AOl etc.
In addition, there are lots of different versions of Outlook – 2003, 2007, 2010 and soon 2013 – and they are constantly changing. Plus the underlying operating system like Windows 7 or Windows 8 and browser technologies like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Safari are constantly moving. This makes it hard to get an Outlook plug-in to work consistently across an organization and over time. If an end-user is on Mac and using an Outlook clone like Entourage, it is even more difficult.
The cloud is a better solution. In the cloud, updates are consistent, across-the-board and based on standards that transcend Outlook’s underlying operating system, browser, or version. Cloud-based email integration like Match My Email is platform-independent because it is based on open standards like IMAP and open source like OAuth. By working in the cloud, Match My Email eliminates all the time and hassle of ‘software maintenance’ or OS upgrades.
Visit Match My Email on the Salesforce.com AppExchange to learn more about this cloud service or to sign up for a free 30-day trial.
