Microsoft 365 (previously known as Office 365) is the productivity cloud suite from Microsoft designed to help build, run and grow your business. Alongside the Microsoft Office apps (i.e. PowerPoint, Word, and Excel), Microsoft 365 combines the best productivity tools (including Outlook cloud e-mail, OneDrive and Microsoft Teams) with advanced security and device management. All in all, it offers a fully connected, state-of-the-art experience.
With Microsoft 365, you’ll use calendaring and professional email for reaching out to your co-workers and customers, no matter where you are – allowing you to store, access, and share documents and information on any device. Likewise, businesses benefit by keeping teams aligned through online calling, video meetings and group chat in Microsoft Teams.
What is Microsoft 365?
Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based subscription service – allowing you to run your business from anywhere – with Microsoft handling the IT for you, protecting against real-world threats, managing devices, and offering the newest business software. With this, your team can be productive anywhere – whilst maintaining a secure remote work service and reducing costs.
What are the Services and Features of Microsoft 365?
There are a plethora of features that you can enjoy with Microsoft 365, including:
Office Apps: The Office products (including Excel, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, and OneNote) are included with most plans, and are automatically updated allowing your business to benefit from the latest features without the hassle of manually upgrading. Each subscription offers Microsoft Office on up to five devices per user, including phones, laptops and tablets.
Calendar and Email: The calendaring and email product of Microsoft 365 includes Exchange and Outlook – allowing access to contacts, emails, and shared calendars from any location on any deice.
File Storage and Sharing: OneDrive is the cloud storage and sharing solution of Microsoft. It offers 1TB storage per user, and is expandable up to 5TB. OneDrive keeps your files in-sync across your devices – meaning changes you make are going to be updated on all synced devices.
Teamwork and Communication: Through Microsoft Teams, you’ll enjoy unified communication including instant messaging, video conferencing, and group instant messaging – alongside the ability to hold online video meetings with up to 250 users.
Security: Included as standard is Exchange Online Protection – helping to automatically protect your e-mail against malware, spam, and online threats, whilst supporting your organisation to remain compliant with the GDPR.
Benefits of Microsoft 365 for Businesses
Microsoft 365 Business helps small and medium-sized businesses to work more efficiently:
Stay Up and Running: If your in-house server crashes, or the office gets destroyed by flood or fire, there’s an inherent risk to your data. With Office 365, data is securely held in the cloud – meaning all business documents and e-mail services remain fully available.
Data Control and Security: Microsoft 365’s built-in security takes care of data security, and makes it easier to know where your data is and who is accessing it.
Work Anywhere at Any Time: Allows your business to work remotely – with little IT skills or special configuration required.
Choosing Microsoft 365 is not going to be an instant switchover, however our team will carefully plan and manage the switchover to minimise disruption. For more information, including details of which plan is most suitable for your team, get in contact with our Halifax-based team.