Sync Shared Calendars through Outlook to iPhones
Shared Calendars Live on Employee iPhones
Why Use itrezzo UCM for Syncing Shared Calendars to iPhones?
You shouldn’t have to install extra software, touch hundreds of smartphones, or hold user training just to provide mobile access to shared calendars. itrezzo makes it easy to share calendars with iPhone users!
AUTOMATION
Employees have instant access to the company calendar on their iPhone.
UNIFY YOUR CALENDAR
SCALE
Sync shared calendars to every company iPhone.
REDUCE CLUTTER
FLEXIBLE TARGETING
INCREMENTAL UPDATES
Why use an Outlook Shared Calendar?
Outlook calendars are fantastic organizational tools – in fact in most major organizations, a calendar is the back-bone of the average employee’s day to day activities. They run into an issue however – cross referencing and scheduling. The typical solution is to send an invite, ask when someone is available, or just needlessly block out time in order to reserve a meeting time. This is inelegant, time consuming, and a little irritating. As such, many organizations have shifted to using a shared calendar – a calendar which exists in a mailbox that one or more users can view and update in order to confer meeting times. This prevents over-lapping bookings, saves time scheduling, and overall reduces the stress and hassle created by trying to schedule a meeting with a co-worker.
This times with an issue however; these calendars are only accessible while on outlook desktop. If you’re away on your iPhone, they won’t be readable.
Why can't I view my Shared Outlook Calendar on my iPhone?
This is an issue many people can’t get their head around. A typical outlook calendar can be viewed without issue through the Outlook mobile app on iPhones. Shared calendars however are a different construct, and without significant IT intervention the average user is going to struggle to utilize their shared calendar while on their iPhone. Shared Calendars, GAL contact lists, and Public Folder data typically proves difficult to access on an iPhone.
Shared Calendar vs Public Folder Calendar
This one can cause confusion for many users – both a Shared Calendar and a Public Folder can be infinitely useful for iPhone users, yet neither are accessible natively while on an iPhone.
A public folder serves as a repository for information within a group. Here users can store and share notes, calendars, and contacts with one another. The information contained within is available to individuals within that network depending on how it is disseminated. This is fantastic for say, storing a calendar which outlines all company holidays, a list of important contact numbers, or general information everyone in an organization may need.
An iPhone shared calendar on the other hand is a calendar within a mailbox typically shared by 2 to a few people. Common uses of this are two co-workers who regularly need to schedule plans with one another, a CEO and his assistant, or any two people whose schedules need to align nicely. Within a shared calendar one user can change schedules and it will be reflected for both individuals. In the case of the Executive assistant and the C-level exec this is great as the C level can go about his or her day while the EO makes any and all schedule changes that come up – and the C level can over-write and update as need be.
In a typical environment these two users would need to be calling each other back and forth to both confirm and ensure changes are being properly made and updated. This is both time consuming and simply antiquated. Now when people are in the field – wherever they are – a change made on one end is reflected on the other, without any need for the constant back and forth that comes with day-to-day scheduling.
Without a solution to provide this connection however, these shared calendars are functionally useless while using an iPhone; the information is functionally inaccessible if you are not at a computer. As people become more and more reliant on their iPhones the cost of not fixing this problem is compounded.
What are some work arounds for this problem?
Currently, options for on-premise organizations are very limited. Short of utilizing a service that can run an organization tens of thousands of dollars, developing an in-house solution, or abandoning shared calendars all together, the best option for companies to migrate to Office 365 or employ the itrezzo solution.
How does itrezzo fix the Shared Calendars and iPhone problem?
itrezzo has developed a solution utilizing an iPhones native calendar app and the outlook mobile application to sync shared calendars directly to targeted employee smartphones. Users can also update their calendars while out of the office; the information will be reflected when they return to their desktop.
Free for Six Months. Try itrezzo UCM Today.
itrezzo Unified Contact Manager, 10-user fully functional trial version, valid for six months. Updates enterprise contacts and calendars. Schedule a DemoLearn More“itrezzo UCM makes syncing calendars easy! Just ‘set it and forget it!’ itrezzo will do all the work.”
Businesses and Shared Calendars
Shared calendars are an indispensable collaborative tool for businesses of any size. They can be used to keep track of client meetings, company events, rotating work shifts, and company resources. Shared calendars can be easily managed by any employee while at their desk. However, while out of the office on an iPhone is a different story.
iPhones and Shared Calendars
The advent of smartphones has greatly changed the way we work. Work can be done at almost anytime and anywhere if employees have an internet connection. However, this isn’t necessarily true for employees who depend on shared calendars, especially those who have shared calendars in Microsoft servers.
Microsoft offers no way to automatically sync shared calendars to iPhones. This can lead to an unorganized workforce because employees can miss critical meetings and be left unprepared during an emergency. Manual workarounds are not a solution either because they are time-consuming and error prone.
