How to connect a BlackBerry to Office 365

Microsoft and Research In Motion (RIM) announced some time ago that the BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) normally required to power BlackBerry smartphones would be provided to Office 365 customers free of charge. Interestingly it was promised that this service would be delivered in January 2012 but as the date approached there was no further news, leading many to suspect its release would be delayed.

The beta had been available for a few months however launch delays are not uncommon. So when the service was release for general availability on January 30 the blogosphere and Twitterverse were abuzz with the news.

While the service is free and available to customers of Office 365 it is important to note that it is only available for customers on the Enterprise level plans or services. It is not available for customers of the Small Business and Professional plan, and there is no indication as to when this will be made available.

At Paradyne we’ve been running the beta for a few months and have found it to be quite a reliable and functional service, as BES has usually been in the past. Unlike in BPOS (the predecessor to Office 365) there is no charge to use BES, except for any plan or data charges applied by your mobile carrier.

I believe this is almost a requirement in order for RIM to stay relevant in the Windows Phone/Android/iPhone world and will definitely help those corporate executives who much prefer RIM devices regardless of their additional cost.

For those who have a BlackBerry device and are already on an Enterprise plan, follow these instructions to start using your service.

NOTE: Before connecting a BlackBerry device to Office 365 the BES device service should be enabled in the Microsoft Online Portal:

1. Log in to http://portal.microsoftonline.com.
2. Click “Enable Hosted BlackBerry services from Research In Motion”.
3. Agree to the information sharing agreement.
4. From the Microsoft Online Services Admin Overview, click “Manage” under “Hosted BlackBerry services from Research In Motion”.

You will also need to enable the user with the BlackBerry device to utilise the BES service. This will need to be done under the user account properties. After enabling the user in Office 365 for BlackBerry cloud services for Office 365, you will then need to connect the BES-enabled device to the Exchange Online mailbox.

1. Log in to http://portal.microsoftonline.com with user’s credentials.
2. Click on “Setting up emails on mobile phone” under the Resources section.
3. In the newly opened window click on “BlackBerry Web desktop Manager”  link as shown.
4. “The Blackberry Web Desktop Manager” will be opened in a new window.
5. Under the Home section click on “Create an Enterprise Activation Password”. Create a new Enterprise Activation password to connect to Exchange Online.
6. Click on set the enterprise activation password.
7. In the BES enabled device navigate to the “Enterprise activation” option.
8. Now enter the email address and the activation password. The activation server field is left blank.
9. Click “Create” which will activate the BlackBerry cloud services for Office 365 on the BES-enabled device.

Unfortunately there are many small businesses out there with fleets of BlackBerry devices who will not be able to take advantage of the BES functionality. They are left with the same three choices as previously:

1. Upgrade to an Enterprise plan.
2. Stick with using BlackBerry Individual Service (BIS) to receive mail over the air and plug into the PC to synchronise contacts and calendars.
3. Change devices.

Loryan Strant is a Microsoft Office 365 MVP (Most Valuable Professional). Follow him on Twitter @TheCloudMouth.