Well, I can't see the problem myself. We do exactly as you want to, using Exchange 5.5 and OL98/OL2K clients. It works very well, and laptop users can have easily updated access to the folders, using offline folders. This beats any file sharing scheme into a cocked hat.
What are your objections? If ou are using Exchange, you need to be sure that you are backing up anyway.
What I don't understand is, why are you having a problem setting the folders up? In Outlook, create a new public folder under the Public Folders/All Public Folders folder. Er, that's it really. Maybe you need to set some permissions, right-click the folder and go to Properties. Doesn't this work for you?
Once the folder is there, then just grag-and-drop files into it, or (for Word and Excel) you can use the File/Send To/Exchange Folder menu item.
At what step do you get stuck?