WebEx Expands Productivity with Mail

We talked with Derek Peplau Senior Product Manager of WebEx on Thursday about their WebEx mail product launch. WebEx's WebOffice expands on-demand productivity even further with this addition of a fully integrated business class mail service. WebEx products and services are highly diverse and widely considered the premier online “go-to” online solution for small to medium sized business. Derek guided me through some of the features of their mail service and other aspects of WebOffice.

WebEx and WebOffice

It is rather difficult, or perhaps improper, to tell our readers about WebEx Mail without reviewing the backbone of WebEx's effort for small business solutions. WebOffice is a suite of 11 extremely powerful integrated applications that meet or exceed any Web 2.0 standard I can think of, and where collaboration, speed and efficiency have been addressed substantially. The graphic below demonstrates a tiered hierarchy of services built one-upon-another to ascend the ladder of customer solutions across a decade.

The following WebEx Office applications represent 10 years of continual improvement from the WebEx team:

• Document Management - Storage and sharing of documents from secure information to pictures with authorized users
• Online Calendar - Schedule meetings and events via an organization wide integrated scheduling calendar
• Web Meetings - The world's #1 meeting application interfaced with other suite apps
• Task Manager - Again, a fully integrated task management and delegation tool
• Web Database - Creation and manipulation of a powerful integrated data management application
• Discussions - A centralized idea and comment exchange element for collaboration
• Announcements - A posting aspect to share links and messages with the organization
• Contact List - Personal and company interactive contact directory
• Expense Reports - A simple way to organize and standardize expense reports
• Opinion Polls - This is a great feedback tool to gain valuable input (and it's fun too)
• Administrative Tools - Customizable and very flexible configuration application
• Customization - From matching the corporate logo to tailoring the way WebEx works for your organization
• Add-Ons - Affordable upgrades expand WebOffice as you grow or to meet other needs

To be honest, I spent quite some time testing some of these elements and discovered that no simple stumbling through this virtual skyscraper of a service could portray these exceptional applications like they are meant to be used - that is in a tough and demanding work environment. WebOffice is simply what we wish we had 20 years ago at some of the companies I worked for. A better illustration of WebEx for you our reader is revealed via a short comparison that Derek showed me in the demonstration Thursday.

Comparing the Incomparable

In comparison with Office Live, WebEx has been in business tweaking these suites 10 times longer than MS. With over 2 million users and 27,000 corporate customers WebEx has and is the standard by which other are measured. Office Live's service is and up sell application while WebOffice is quite exactly a solution to a multitude of problems facing small businesses. Honestly, the difference in any Web application can usually be determined within 20 minutes of running the application. In this case WebEx is a John Deer tractor compared to a shiny new riding lawn mower in my estimation. The UI at WebEx is completely integrated and universal and the quasi-integration appearance of MS's offering is not only confusing but really juvenile by comparison.

Add WebEx Mail

Set inside this comprehensive set of office tools is a new business class, fully integrated mail service. WebEx mail has desktop features accentuated by advanced features like drag-and-drop and automation features. X-mail's live search allows users real-time results and POP/IMAP compatibility makes the service fully collaborative with Outlook and other client software. Combined with WebOffice's calendar and meetings integration this mail service operated inside a corporate framework simply adds world class integration and accessibility for a fraction of what it would cost to build and maintain an internal service ala 1998. I am sure WebOffice's mail functionality and interoperability far exceed what has been expected of an online mail service.

Above: WebOffice Mail from the demo 

Conclusion

I have been out of the corporate madness for a few years now, but I know the IT resources we devoted to internal office applications were extensive. A small business today does not have the luxury of wasting resources on what Web 2.0 and 21^st Century technology consider “simple integration”. WebEx's depth and functionality are not something that can be reviewed easily. What you are looking at in this article is a drop in the bucket compared to even what Derek illustrated to me in our short conference.

WebEx is obviously dedicated to providing value and continual improvement for their users. This is a “pay as you go and grow” service, but in the final analysis it is all about getting what you pay for. WebOffice is as refined and also as simple a service as anyone can expect from so much function. We are seeing WebEx approach the line where excellence and functionality approach possible simplicity and ease of use. A good term to describe this architectural convergence might be “The last easy button”.

Above: WebOffice revealing contituents blocked out for a new event.