[PWC-Mikey]

Hello everybody

A client of mine has recently upgraded their small business to Office 365. They have 4 employees all with BB handsets but they want to be able to sync email and calendars. They used to have email working just fine (and it still works through a pop3 setup) but the calendar doesn't sync at all. So, they have asked me to investigate if this can be done. I myself do not have a BB handset so I'm a little unfamiliar with how to set things up. I have read that to use Office 365, BES is required. Is this correct? I am basically looking for the easiest way for them to set this up.

For background, they are a small HR company. They love their BB's and have had many different ones over the years. They do not want to try different handsets and I wouldn't want them to either as they are very comfortable with them. Does anyone know how I could set this up for them easily? Maybe have a link to step by step instructions? I have told them about the new BB's coming up in 2013 but does anyone know if the new operating system will sync easily too?

Thank you for your time and patience.

Kind regards,
Michael

[Thunderbuck]

RIM hosts BES services that connect to Office 365. I don't know how that translates to a service that's already been purchased, but you can find out more here:

BlackBerry - BlackBerry Business Cloud Services with Microsoft Office 365 - Canada

One thing to consider: BB10 will connect to Exchange via ActiveSync. This makes management incredibly easy and removes the need for BES completely. Maybe (ActiveSync is basically MS' mobile client for Exchange and doesn't have all the policy and security features of BES).

[robsteve]

You need to be on one of the 365 enterprise subscription(E Plan not P Plan). From within Office 365, the administrator will have a link to open a BlackBerry Web site to administer their BlackBerry phones and send the activation email. The users will have to download the enterprise activation application from AppWorld and they can just use a regular BIS plan.

I played around with it when Office365 was in trial using the phones in the family and it worked well.

[PWC-Mikey]

Great stuff lads, thank you very much for both your replies. Very useful info in both.

They have decided they are going to wait for the BB10 devices. They are not on the enterprise subscription so I think them waiting for a bit is better for everyone.

Thanks again,
Michael