What is Office 365?

Office 365 is a cloud based subscription service from Microsoft which gives users access to a suite of productivity software including (but not limited to) Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint, Access, Teams and Skype. There are a number of subscription options available depending on your needs, from plans which include only the online version of office applications to plans which include desktop office applications plus additional services like OneDrive and Sharepoint.

So why should you switch?

Here are 10 reasons to switch to Office 365.

1. Access your Office products from any location at any time

Office 365 is cloud based, so you can securely access your office products from anywhere that has an internet connection as long as you have a compatible device. You just need to browse to https://portal.office.com and log in.

2. No servers or maintenance required

Because Office 365 is cloud-based, there is no requirement to have your own local server (although Office 365 can integrate with an existing on-premise solution if desired). This means you can make big savings on maintenance costs associated with having an on-premise server.

3. Scaleability

Office 365 subscriptions are designed to be scalable and flexible. Licensing works on a pay-as-you-go basis so you can add and remove users and licenses as required. Because there are no minimum license requirements, you can buy as many or as few licenses as you need at the time, meaning you will never over pay or be forced to buy licenses that you do not need.

4. No downtime for updates

With Office 365, you will always have access to the latest version of your Office products. Because you are using Microsoft’s servers, there is no local server downtime required for updates. Office will download and install these updates in the background automatically – this means no disruption to your business critical services.

5. 10 Installs per user licence

With Office 365, every user is given up to 10 Office installs. 5 of these can be on a desktop and 5 on a mobile device. This means you can have Office installed on every device you are likely to use at no extra cost other than your monthly subscription.

6. Security

Office 365 has some of the best security measures in the industry. Office 365 complies with ISO 27001, HIPAA and FISMA. Data Loss Prevention Policies, message encryption, Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA) and Mobile Device Management (MDM) are all built in as standard to help keep your corporate data secure.

7. Cloud storage

OneDrive for Business provides each licensed user with 1TB of cloud storage. This is great because it enables users to securely store and access their important data from anywhere.

8. Moves IT costs from large one off costs to smaller monthly payments

Because Office 365 is subscription based, this eliminates large annual costs for Office products and replaces them with a smaller monthly cost. This monthly cost can be really helpful from a cash flow perspective and it also gives you the flexibility to add and remove services as required to help manage costs.

9. Support

Microsoft provide full support for all Office 365 products. Support for critical issues is available within 1 hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

10. Easy migration

Microsoft provide many different ways to migrate from your existing service over to Office 365. They provide step-by-step guidance on how to do this for each scenario on their website and detailed information on the potential impact of each method. If you choose to migrate over to Office 365 with us, we will take care of every step of the process and work to ensure minimal disruption to your business.

For more information on Office 365 and how it can benefit your business, click here to contact us today!