Sunbelt Rentals streamlines its Exchange Server administration using Exchange Reporter Plus

Business challenges

Any organization with a handsome employee count will eventually face significant IT challenges. Sooner or later, things get mazy and tedious for the systems team, and Sunbelt Rentals with over 10,000 employees was no exception. Irrespective of how miniscule a challenge may seem to be, if not addressed properly, it might have devastating implications.

At Sunbelt Rentals, with expansion of resources, communication via on-premise Exchange mailboxes wasn't quick. Subsequently, users depended on advanced Exchange features to communicate while on the go. So administrators had to become more vigilant because Exchange operations started becoming tricky.

Prime IT Hurdle: Rigorous operations on PowerShell scripting were getting too tricky for the system professionals and needless to say, time consuming as well. According to Ken Collins, senior system engineer at Sunbelt Rentals, Sunbelt Rentals had a lengthy arena of task modules to look after and scripting commands for each one wasn’t really an ideal approach. The company needed something strategic to make the process simple

• Exchange administration is a broad activity, and the system department wished for a reporting tool for Microsoft Exchange Server that would be operationally effective and cost efficient.
• They wished for a solution that would provide comprehensive data in a prompt, sophisticated fashion without compromising on data security.

The solution

Sunbelt Rentals began scouting for an appropriate solution to streamline its Exchange Server administration. Prime weightage was assigned to product features, performance, and cost. The company evaluated Quest Software, ENow, PROMODAG, and ManageEngine.

Besides performance and economy, there were two implicit evaluation criteria – easy deployment and round the clock product support. In general, one does not consciously make an effort to identify and evaluate such parameters; they are generally on the back of the buyer’s mind. In such cases, there is an unconscious affinity towards a known brand.

ManageEngine had already been on the shelves of Sunbelt Rentals and therefore had an edge over its competitors. Ken admits that they've been happy with ManageEngine products and have had good experience so far. This aided ManageEngine’s chances of making it to the vendor shortlist.

But the real dealmaker was yet to come. ManageEngine offers a 60-day free trial on Exchange Reporter Plus. During this evaluation period, Sunbelt Rentals could:

What ManageEngine did here was allow the customer to obtain value that outweighed the price. In this case, Sunbelt had the privilege of enjoying the benefits without actually spending a penny. This made the deal for Exchange Reporter Plus.

• Experience the process of downloading and installing the product.
• Interact with the ManageEngine support team during product configuration.
• Use Exchange Reporter Plus for unlimited mailboxes.
• Evaluate the effect of numerous bulky mailboxes on product performance.
• Monitor the product's effect on the system and IT network.

The product has certainly enhanced Sunbelt Rentals' Exchange reporting system. With a sophisticated user interface, Exchange Reporter Plus is easy to use and offers precise and granular information on the company's Exchange server activities. With this worthwhile addition to their software directory, the system engineer’s tasks have come down significantly, and managing on-field staff communications has become time-bound and glitch-free.

About Exchange Reporter Plus

Exchange Reporter Plus is a reporting, change auditing, monitoring, and content search tool for hybrid Exchange environment and Skype for Business. It features over 450 comprehensive reports on various Exchange objects, such as mailboxes, public folders, and distribution lists, and also on Outlook Web Access and ActiveSync. Configure alerts in Exchange Reporter Plus for instant notifications on critical changes that require your immediate attention