Traditionally, email and documents are accessed through two different storages – Outlook and SharePoint. Things have been going-on like this, until its 2013 versions were launched by Microsoft. With the introduction of site mailboxes, users can access information from a single user interface layer- increasing user productivity, collaboration and even compliance.
Functioning much like a filing cabinet, site mailboxes enable users to store email and other data that need not be accessed separately on Exchange (i.e. for mail) and SharePoint (i.e. document) rather together through Outlook or SP; but also can be shared to other authenticated users.
The architecture above shows how SharePoint functions with site mailbox. Documents, emails and other data are stored in a central repository over the cloud and can be accessed by its authors and other authorized members. This data is managed through version controls, metadata and other compliance policies that make site mailboxes an ideal solution to improve document storage, processing and collaboration.
In the site mailbox, users can see both emails and documents together in the Outlook or SharePoint client making it easy to find and share.
Site mailboxes in general provide one user interface layer to access contents regardless of cloud storage (i.e. Exchange or SharePoint).
Legal compliance in SharePoint site mailboxes can be done through the eDiscovery Console. This allows the site mailbox to do keyword search which in effect allows emails to be placed on legal hold if needed. Mailbox retention, which is another compliance measure, can also be configured by setting a lifecycle policy on the SharePoint site.
Utilizing site mailboxes in SharePoint improves productivity by giving users one portal to access emails and documents and collaborate from there. If you need help in setting up your SharePoint site mailboxes and our team of experts at Portal Integrators can help you. Contact us now.
