Please note : This article applies to CRM online prior to CRM 2016 Online version.

CRM online currently doesn’t support Exchange on server to be connected directly for Server side sync with Exchange on-premise.

Recently one of my colleague was designing a deck for customer to tell them the way forward. Customer has a on-premise exchange server which they use for consumer queries and also wanted to move to CRM online for case management.

So, one of my colleagues suggested the below architecture. Since, this is not a architecture I saw available in community or TechNet links, I thought it is worthwhile to share the information here.

Here consumer is sending over emails to Exchange On-premise server:

This emails are forwarded to office 365 tenant via a forward rule in exchange. Emails are added to a support queue where CRM users can access and convert to a case.

It is a simple and efficient workaround to use Server side sync in tandem with Exchange on premise server for incoming mails.

Hope it helps and happy CRMing!