Lotus Notes vs Exchange - Which is the Best Email Software?

Running a business without email is just impossible. Neither can we imagine this. Email and email clients are the primary means of business communication. If we talk about the email clients, the options are endless. IBM Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange Server are two best examples of communication software. In this article, we’ll be discussing Lotus Notes vs Exchange Server. Also, I’ll help you choose the best email software between these two.

Table of Content

Lotus Notes vs Exchange Server

Determining the best email software between, i.e. Lotus Notes vs Exchange Server, is a very complicated task. It’s just because both these clients share common goals and allow users to exchange information through emails. Also, they have other useful features which include calendaring, contact management, and much more. Both these products provide smart features to perform enterprise-level operations. However, they follow a different approach to delivering email messages. Let’s start with a general introduction to these two best email software.

Download a trial version of Shoviv Lotus Notes to Exchange Migration to know in a better way.

IBM Lotus Notes

IBM Notes, formerly known as Lotus Notes, is a popular email client application provided by IBM. It’s installed on the local computer, and it allows users to access both the mail files and Notes applications. Although IBM Lotus Notes is an old email client of early 90s, it’s still widely used in organizations ranging from small businesses to government agencies. It includes multiple components to accomplish different tasks, such as email, address book, calendaring & scheduling, database, programming, and web browser.

Note: Although there are so many choices for users today, the capabilities Lotus Notes offers are still great.

Microsoft Exchange Server

Microsoft Exchange has become a popular name in the world of business communication. It ain’t just a simple mail server, it’s more than that. It provides many advantages over simpler hosting options. You get smart features like email, calendar data, and contact management in one streamlined package. If you’re looking for the most reliable and secure way to host your company’s email data, Exchange Server best suits your needs.

However, with so much competition in new emailing products, it’s debatable whether Microsoft Exchange is still a must-have solution for business communication.

Note: Exchange Server is a great solution on which businesses have been relying for years.

Benefits of Lotus Notes

There are so many benefits of Lotus Notes if you’re planning to switch to this email software. For many people, Lotus Notes is just an email client. But that’s not right. Unlike Microsoft Office suite that has different products for multiple tasks, IBM Notes is a single tool that has all the features and functionality which you might be looking for. Why is IBM Notes so popular among email users? Being an email client, it has almost all the features which you’re getting in other products including calendaring and scheduling.

Benefits of Exchange Server

Now let’s discuss the benefits of Exchange Server, one of the best messaging and collaboration system around the world. With the help of Microsoft Exchange Server, organizations can make their day-to-day business operations more efficient and systematic.

More than Just an Email Client: If you’re hosting your email on Microsoft Exchange Server, it offers you more than just email. You get features like calendar, contacts, and task management in one easy-to-access place. The AJAX webmail interface used by Exchange Server allows users to access the emails from any web browser. This will make your work more organized and productive.
Flexibility: Generally, the professionals today need flexibility in their work and 24×7 access to their important data. And Microsoft Exchange Server best suits their needs, especially the new Exchange Server Online available on Office 365. Also, Exchange Server uses the Outlook client as the email platform that provides email and contact management functionality. In this way, the Exchange users can access their emails at any time from anywhere.
Smart Work Collaboration: One of the most important benefits of Exchange Server is the smart collaboration that makes businesses more productive and organized. Exchange Server has different features like scheduling, contact management, calendar sharing, etc. which improve collaboration with colleagues, resulting in productivity increment.
Complete Data Backup: Being a part of the Exchange Server, you don’t need to worry about your data. It provides a centralized hub that takes the regular backup of all the email messages.

Why Should You Switch to Exchange Server?

We’ve already discussed Lotus Notes vs Exchange Server above. By closely examining the benefits provided by these two best email software, I would say Microsoft Exchange Server is way better than IBM Lotus Notes. Why? The Exchange Server is having 78% of market share that makes it the largest on-premise email software around the world. Many organizations are migrating from Lotus Notes to Exchange because of the rich feature set of the Microsoft solutions, the strategic value of partnering with Microsoft, and the high availability of IT staff trained on Microsoft technology.

How to Migrate from Lotus Notes to Exchange?

Migration is a long, complex, and expensive task that must be carefully planned and executed.

If you’re currently using IBM Notes and planning to switch to Exchange Server, you need to get familiar with the Exchange database aka EDB file. Just like Lotus Notes or any other email client, the Exchange Server also creates a file to store the email messages. The file is called EDB (Exchange database). On the other hand, IBM Lotus Notes creates NSF database to store the email messages and other business data. Microsoft Exchange Server doesn’t support NSF file format.

Lotus Notes to Exchange Migration

So if you’re planning to migrate from Lotus Notes to Exchange, you need to use a third party Lotus Notes to Exchange server migration software. There are many vendors in the online marketplace which provide Lotus Notes to Exchange Migration software. But remember, it’s always difficult to choose the best one when there are too many choices. However, the Lotus Notes to Exchange migration tool provided by Shoviv Software is considered one of the best solutions to migrate the mailbox data from Lotus Notes to Exchange Server. It can effortlessly export emails, contacts, calendars, tasks, etc. without causing any alteration. Even the original NSF database files are remained intact during and after conversion. At a time, you can select any number of NSF files, and migrate them over to Exchange Server.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve discussed Lotus Notes vs Exchange Server, and the benefits of using these two best email software. Microsoft Exchange Server is undoubtedly a better email solution for business communication. Also, we’ve learned how to migrate from Lotus Notes to Exchange Server by using a professional Lotus Notes to Exchange Migration tool.

Author
Recent Posts

Pradeep

Pradeep Katiyar is a true tech geek and fond of writing about new technology and Troubleshooting email client errors. In his spare time, you'll find him sharing how-to guides and making portraits. He has commendable command over Emailing and Troubleshooting.