It’s become a commonplace to sneer at Microsoft products. But the fact is that Windows still runs on 89% of all personal computers. Whether we like it or not, Microsoft still has the power to shape the experiences and productivity in the workplace or at home for a wide swath of the population with their new roll-outs. We can dismiss their efforts or we can interrogate them. In the case of Microsoft Office 365, there are a number of reasons why we should do a double-take. Rather than just sneering, I think in this case there are reasons to be excited and intrigued.
Many businesses, both small and large, rely on Microsoft’s Office Suite for all (or nearly all) their productivity needs, from email to spreadsheets to business presentations. This works well when everyone is in the office, but what about people who work from home or are traveling? According to mobile analytics reporting, 2010′s mobile data traffic was three times the size of the Internet in 2000. Obviously, mobile access to business files is an increasingly important part of business productivity, a fact recognized by Microsoft and addressed in Office 365. In addition to increased accessibility, users are rewarded with better communication, collaboration, reliability and pricing options than with offline versions of Office.
Accessibility
Microsoft Office 365 allows users to access documents across a wide range of platforms. Users with Office 2010 or 2007 with Service Pack 2 can use their Office suite to directly access files hosted on Office 365. Those who don’t have either version of Office can access their email, calendar, contacts, Word, PowerPoint and Excel via their web browser, allowing users to access their work even if they don’t have access to their usual computer. One of the most useful features for people travelling on business is the ability to access their resources via their mobile devices. Office 365 features mobile support for all of the major platforms, such as iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7, ensuring that, no matter what type of smart phone a user has, they will be able to access their documents and email on the run.
Communication
An Office 365 subscription includes the use of Microsoft Lync, a real-time communications platform that blends video, voice, desktop sharing, instant messaging and file sharing into one service. Users can easily connect to a company-wide IM and voice service, removing the need to rely on external services like Skype. Further, Lync allows users to conduct online conferences, sharing audio, video, online whiteboards, presentations and their desktop displays with people both inside and outside of their organization. All major smart phone platforms are supported by Lync, keeping travelling users connected with their business colleagues.
Collaboration
Microsoft Sharepoint is included with Office 365, giving businesses a central location for storing documents. Users can connect to Sharepoint with Office, on the web or via their smartphones, ensuring that no one is left without access to critical documents. Further, Office 365 allows multiple users to work on a single without producing conflicts, enabling a distribution of work and real-time document collaboration that has not yet been available on such a scale.
Reliability
Because Microsoft hosts Office 365, they are responsible for keeping the system secure and running. This removes the burden of support from the subscribing businesses. Microsoft guarantees a 99.9% uptime and backs up their guarantee with a financially backed service level agreement. Office 365 features multiple redundancies and disaster recovery, giving subscribers peace of mind when it comes to stability. Additionally, Microsoft protects users’ email 24/7 with antivirus and anti-spam scanning.
Pricing
Microsoft offers several price points, allowing businesses to choose the plan that will suit their needs the best. Small businesses, those with fewer than 25 employees, can pay $6 per user per month and receive 25GB of storage per user, access to the Office web apps, mobile access, Sharepoint, and Lync. Larger businesses are offered prices ranging from $10 to $27 per user per month, with additional features, such as sharing Office documents created on the desktop with Office Web Apps, access to full-featured Office applications and enterprise voice capabilities available, depending on the plan.
Microsoft Office 365 is a new step towards unifying businesses’ productivity and communications platforms. It will be especially useful for small businesses that can’t afford to hire IT personnel to run these services in-house. Additionally, mobile users will be able to stay connected to their business no matter where they go, enabling access to their communications software and documents on all major smart phone platforms.
Well written article. Office 365 really looks good. I wonder if MS Access will ever become part of it.
Can’t understand why people use OpenOffice when Microsoft now offer their equivalent free also.
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Twitter: usmank11
says:
Even now I’m not convinced on using any web based office suite. Just prefer the starter edition of MS Office if nothing else is available.
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This is fantastic! I love it! I think so its very useful and knowledge able.I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work Quotes future as well.
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365 is one of the cloud computing application which provides the accessing of data online. It provides platform independence and easy manage data from anywhere/anytime.
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Office 365 is Microsoft Office collaboration and productivity tools delivered through the cloud. Everyone can work together easily with anywhere access to email, web conferencing, documents, and calendars. It includes business-class security and is backed by Microsoft. Whether you are a small business or multinational enterprise, Office 365 migration offers plans designed to fit your organization’s unique needs.
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Twitter: DopedFish
says:
Microsoft Office + cloud technology = Microsoft Office 365 one (if not) the best suite for a business.
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