As we’ve previously explored on this blog (Business Benefits of Cloud), moving to the cloud can bring huge benefits to businesses of all sizes.
From futureproofing your business and making it more agile, to increasing collaboration and productivity, there are many advantages to making the switch.
Microsoft’s flagship project, Office 365, has made many advances in recent months to position itself as an essential tool for business.
It gives instant, always-on access to the same range of productivity tools and applications that are familiar to so many of its desktop users.
Here, we give a lowdown on the benefits Office 365 can bring to your business:
Work Anywhere
One of the biggest advantages of Office 365 is the ability to work from anywhere with an internet connection.
Because it’s entirely cloud-based, you can access your email, files and standard Office programs from any location and enabled device.
And if you have a plan that includes the desktop version of Office, it can be installed on up to five devices per user.
Enhanced collaboration
Office 365 enables multiple users to work on and edit documents, spreadsheets or other files simultaneously and in real time, rather than having multiple versions of the same file that need to be consolidated.
You can also give people direct access to your files, rather than sending them as email attachments, meaning people can make changes to one file rather than multiple copies.
Version control is also included – and is extremely useful for when you need to revert to an older version.
Always up-to-date
With Office 365, you’ll also have access to the latest versions of all its applications at no extra cost.
You’ll get the latest features without having to uninstall or reinstall Office on everyone’s machines.
Microsoft also makes regular upgrades to features across all applications.
Pay-as-you-go
With several different Office 365 business plans and pricing structures available, you can simply pick the one which best suits your needs and circumstances at any given time.
Because not everyone in the business is going to need the exact same thing, you can mix and match plans so you pay for only what you need.
And you have the flexibility to switch between plans, too, so your Office 365 implementation can be scaled up (or down) as your business needs change.
Subscription-based
Because Office 365 is a subscription-based service, you can maximise your investment by paying a monthly fee at a lower cost, rather than a large sum up front. It can help you budget and plan your cash flow more effectively.
Again, because you can mix and match your serve and payment plans, you can pay for only what you need, when you need it, and switch off applications you don’t use to save money.
Enhanced security
While it remains to be seen whether cloud systems are more – or less – secure than their on-premise equivalents, Office 365 comes with plenty of security features to keep your critical data and information safe and secure, including:
- Encrypted email – to prevent anyone other than the intended recipient from reading your email
- Data Loss Prevention – to prevent sensitive information (like personal customer data) from leaving your organisation via email.
- Mobile Device Management – allowing you to control Office 365 on your employees’ phones, to protect company information.
- Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA) – which uses device data and machine learning to detect and alert you to suspicious behaviour on your network.
Conclusion
Although Office 365 comes with a host of features designed to make your business more agile, efficient and productive, only around 20% of users actually use its enhanced features to their full potential.
If you’re ready to make the switch, or already have Office 365 and are unsure how to make the most of it, Spectrum can help.
We are a silver small business Microsoft Partner and can deliver a bespoke service to migrate you from your current IT systems on to Office 365.
Our experienced and accredited engineers and consultants can guide you through the process.
We can handle initial configuration, email migration, user creation and active directory integration.
And we can offer bespoke support packages to help you manage and get the most out of your Office 365 deployment.
Interested? Get in touch today.
