ACARS is a great tool.
My airline uses ACARS to the fullest extent possible, to the point that we are almost self sufficent on the flight deck. We get all weather, notams and full flight plans from our ACARS.
We also have loadsheets produced and sent via ACARS from one central loadcontrol office for our world wide operation.
Our crewing management also use ACARS for crewing signals and roster changes, our airport traffic officers also use ACARS for parking, catering and passenger information.
All our fleets have FAX and SITA send capability, plus direct mailbox access to publications, fleet management, Pax coordination, training management, engineering, flight despatch etc.
The early generation ACARS are not very adaptable to changing formats, however the A320 B777 and B787 ACARS options are fully re configurable.