In today’s market, there are several business applications, email platforms, and collaborative toolsets that allow organizations to operate day in and day out—the challenging part is finding the right solution for your business needs.
In comes Microsoft Office 365 plans for business. With many licensing models, there’s a license that works for every organization’s need. Office 365 is a subscription plan that includes access to Office applications and other productivity services—such as Microsoft Teams—that are enabled over the Internet. From $4.00/month for the Exchange Online Plan to $38/month for the Enterprise E5 Plan, it’s difficult to find a solution that won’t fit your organization’s budget and productivity needs.
Benefits of Using Office 365
There are other similar collaborative platforms available in the market, but here are some reasons why Office 365 is the best in its class:
Simplified Management: Office 365 will reduce your IT infrastructure, minimizing on-premises infrastructure and all costs and time affiliated with hardware maintenance. All of your content will live in distributed datacenters, so there’s no need to stress over onsite data being lost.
Business-Class Email: Office 365 utilizes Microsoft Exchange for email services. Each user will receive 50GB mailboxes with shared calendars and spam/malware protection through Exchange Online Protection (EOP). You can use your own domain for company email addresses while securely accessing your email from anywhere in the world and on any device.
Collaboration Toolsets: with Office 365 you can schedule meetings or create ad hoc online meetings for up to 250 guests. In addition to web conferencing, you’ll be able to share screens, or leverage Microsoft Teams for its voice, IM, or presence capabilities.
Misconceptions of Migrating Office 365
I fully understand that I’m preaching to the choir, but the largest misconception with Office 365 are the required services: time and consulting services required to seamlessly migrate from your current application (say Google Apps, GoDaddy, etc.) to Office 365.
Often, smaller organizations will find the right license and believe turning everything on and the migration of old emails, files, and folders is as simple as flipping a switch. However, there are several required steps for a successful deployment–many of which people don’t have the time for or the skill set to complete correctly (the first time). Some of these services include, and are not limited to, Setup and validation of Office 365 subscription, Creation of user accounts, Migration of users’ mail data, installation and configuration of Outlook, etc.
If you’re a small company and you’re considering migrating to Office 365, please call PEI at 303-974-6881.
Matt Dixon, PEI
This blog was updated to reflect license price changes that Microsoft implemented on March 1, 2022.
