You probably have colleagues or peers whose organizations have migrated to Office 365. Some swear by it, others face some kind of malfunction or problem every now and then, which gets you wondering: Would an enterprise level Office 365 migration be worth it for my business?
As a CEO of a premier managed service provider, it’s one of my ambitions to see every small and medium sized businesses prosper technologically. Today’s technology, when leveraged correctly, can make an incredible difference to a business’s operations and bottom line.
Microsoft Office 365 business, when implemented correctly, can help organizations do just that.
According to Microsoft, 70% of the Fortune 500 companies have purchased its Office 365 business plan in the last 12 months. If this trend hints at anything, it’s the usefulness and productivity businesses can get out of migrating to Office 365.
What is Office 365?
Microsoft Office 365 is an off-premises i.e. cloud-based suite of programs such as the web versions of the desktop based Office suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook), Exchange Online (hosted business email), Lync (web conferencing), OneDrive and Skype.
Not only can Office 365 be used on laptops and Macs, the same subscription can be used over a number of smartphones and tablets (Android and iOS). There are different subscription plans for Office 365 business.
Benefits of a Company-Wide Office 365 Migration
Here a few of the top benefits companies, whether small, medium or large, get out of migrating to Office 365:
Reason 1: Privacy and Security
This is perhaps the biggest concern for businesses when considering cloud services, and rightly so. Security for cloud isn’t something all companies have the budget for. However, Microsoft regularly updates its security (data encryption, spam and antivirus protection protocols) for its cloud and when it comes to security and privacy Office 365 is perhaps the best cloud solution in the market today.
Reason 2: Work from Any Device, Anytime
Office 365 gives its users the freedom to access their data because of their web apps – spreadsheets, documents, Outlook etc. – from any web browser in any device (tablet, smartphone and/or computer). All you need is a Wi-Fi connection.
Moreover, it has offline working capabilities, as well. If your Office 365 plan is one of those which include desktop installations for Microsoft’s software, you can update, create and change documents offline. Once connected, it will automatically update your files on the cloud.
Reason 3: Identical Appearance Regardless of Device
Whether you’re operating from a tablet, smartphone or computer – Office 365’s UI remains similar throughout. This similarity means, you won’t have to go fishing for the functions/tools you want to use, you’ll know exactly where everything is.
Reason 4: Easy Office 365 Migration Plans
Migration to Office 365 can be easy if done properly and with professional help. And it can also seamlessly integrate with your on-premises IT solutions, if you opt for it. This will undoubtedly save you big on maintaining your local servers.
Reason 5: Data Loss Prevention and Financially Backed Service Level Agreements
Office 365 offers data loss prevention by consistently backing up your documents. Meanwhile, their Service Level Agreement (SLA) ensures that the availability of their cloud services will never fall below 99.9% for any of their clients. This means your business critical operations will always be running optimally.
Parting Thoughts
There’s a reason why around 22.2 million users, personal and business combined, prefer Microsoft Office 365.
However, migrating your entire system to Office 365 can be troublesome if you don’t know what you’re doing. To avoid any difficulties and problems, the best way forward is to hire a managed service provider to help your transition.
As an experienced IT service in Los Angeles, we’ve helped countless organizations migrate to Office 365, seamlessly. Get in touch with us and we are happy to personally evaluate your cloud services, give you our best recommendation and help you migrate effortlessly to the cloud.
