It has long been a pain point amongst small business users of Microsoft 365 – accessing a Shared Mailbox (which has no licensing fee) from a mobile device. There are workarounds that involve using IMAP or adding an Exchange Online Plan 1 license, but that adds complexity or cost.
Microsoft 365 Roadmap items 32571 and 32572 enable Outlook users on the mobile device to add a shared mailbox without the cost and complexity!
It was such an awesome discovery that was quite timely, having discussed with two clients during the week to move to a one to one Office 365 identity relationship (no shared Office 365 accounts!).
In one instance, a shared info@ account needs to be accessible on a mobile device between two people, which is why they use it as their primary account. Having to add an additional Exchange Online Plan 1 license was a possible solution, but even though its only a small cost – it does cause some friction.
It makes it so much easier moving forward to help move small business customers to using an identity driven security configuration on Office 365 with enhancements like this.
If you’re not using Outlook for iOS or Outlook for Android – I highly recommend you switch over from the native mail app on your phone to take advantage of this, and other security related features that you may want to use in the future.
