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Outlook 2003 cached mode benefits

I was on the train this afternoon, coming back from a meeting and doing all of the catching up that you need to do from time to time,  email triage and all of that stuff when the bloke (guy) sitting beside me said:

"That's Outlook 2003 isn't it?"

"Yes it is, why do you ask?"

"Well we've been evaluating it in our company and we can't see any benefits over the last version"

Oh heck, < put Microsoft hat on, launch into business value mode >

Well how did I justify the benefits?  I went into the functionality, how cached mode is a great way to improve the experience for users.

So how does this work?  Cached mode can cope with interruptions to service caused by network issues. Users work with a local copy of the data, so they probably would be unafected by these interuptions to service.  If these interruptions are significantly longer, the user community won't suffer significantly. Tools like calendaring, Email, and tasks will still work, however sending and receiving email will be delayed, but won't interupt the basic flow of the users dily work. 

This business view seemed to appease him and he left the train really enthused about continuing with the pilot.  But I'd have much rather have convinced him over the all of the fantastic new techy features and gone into a description of how cached mode really works.  But his eyes glazed over and I knew I'd lost him then.  Obviously not a techy at all.....

At least this I'd sat next to someone interesting, and not one who just wants to show off all of his mobile gadgets (which are newer / better / bigger / more functional than mine) like some bizzare game of poker.... They're just a bit wierd... It's probably related to the car thing...

 

 

Published Friday, March 18, 2005 7:33 PM by Eileen_Brown
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Comments

Friday, March 18, 2005 9:36 PM by Gabe

# re: Outlook 2003 cached mode benefits

Whether you have cached more enabled or not, Outlook 2003 handles network outages far better than any previous version than Outlook. This alone makes the upgrade worth it.

Another feature that people use daily is the ability to view multiple calendars side by side.
Friday, March 18, 2005 11:56 PM by NikC

# re: Outlook 2003 cached mode benefits

"Well we've been evaluating it in our company and we can't see any benefits over the last version"

Can't see ? time to review the eval process wouldnt you agree.

Sunday, March 20, 2005 9:37 AM by Chris Haaker

# re: Outlook 2003 cached mode benefits

While everyone in IT *loves* Outlook 2003 and cached mode, most knowledge workers at my company are complaining about it. They cannot get used to the fact that they now get new mail every 3-5 minutes instead of instantly. And of course, they could care less about the reduction in network bandwidth. Typical. Of course, once I switch them off of cached mode and they lose the SPAM filtering they are begging to get back on [cached mode].
Sunday, March 20, 2005 8:24 PM by Eileen Brown

# re: Outlook 2003 cached mode benefits

Gabe,
I couldn't agree more! Cached mode works really well with my dodgy wireless connection in my home! And the search folders means that I only view my unread mail directly in all of the folders, simple and effective.

NikC,
You know, that's often the problem with some of the business guys - they discard the word of the techies and can't see the immediate gain in productivity from their users. They don't use Outlook enough to discern any gains themselves, and close their mind...

Chris,
What jobs do your work colleagues do that they need such "instant" access to their mail? If they need a totally instant response, then there's always the phone... :-)
Oh how did we work before email? It's hard to remember isn't it? Aaah - we left our desks and actually talked to each other...face to face instead of staring at the screen!
Monday, March 21, 2005 3:23 PM by Michael Cottenden

# re: Outlook 2003 cached mode benefits

1. Now if you could just get rid of Outlook 2003's default "Show All in Groups"! With hundreds of Public Folders this is a serious PITA.

2. I have had the same feedback from users as Chris. They don't like the delay, and likewise aren't concerned about network bandwidth. You try to explain that mail is store and foward technology, but they have been spoiled by its nearly instantaneous performance.

3. I wasn't really sold on Cached Mode - until - I started using it from home over my VPN connection. Now I just Connect to the Exchange Server and forget about it. In the past I always worked Offline with a 15 minute Synch rule. That certainly worked, but Cached Mode and always connected is certainly WAYYY better.
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