Microsoft Office 365 delivers almost immediate value to your users with little training because of their familiarity with the desktop Office productivity suite. But Microsoft Office 365 is so much more. Its seamless integration with other powerful Microsoft collaboration tools such as Lync and SharePoint extends its capabilities and takes your users’ productivity to a new level – whether they’re at their desks or on the move. The cloud model delivers significant IT advantages as well – including simple administration and enterprise-level IT and security at a fraction of the cost of running it yourself.
Planning a successful move to Microsoft Office 365 is easy with a few key considerations upfront. Once committed to deploying this powerful cloud-based solution, these additional tips can help you unlock the full potential of your Office 365 implementation.
Depending on your organization size, growth trajectory, business continuity strategy, and industry regulations, it’s possible that you will want the data loss prevention (DLP) functionality in SharePoint Online. Or, you may want to run Office 365 in hybrid mode to allow for sensitive data to be kept in-house. Critical considerations for your Office 365 implementation include the number of users you have as well as your security, compliance, and collaboration requirements. Planning for today’s needs – and anticipating tomorrow’s – will help you maximize Office 365 as your business grows.
Office 365 offers powerful collaboration capabilities beyond the traditional Office productivity suite – including file sharing and web-based conferencing. Office 365 can be bundled and integrated seamlessly with Microsoft Lync and SharePoint Online to increase your user productivity and deliver more advanced, centralized capabilities for user collaboration and communications.
To help your growth strategy, Microsoft’s PowerShell systems administration environment can give added capabilities over the Web-based administrative console built into Office 365. For mid-to-large-sized companies with in-house IT administrative talent, PowerShell could make the ongoing management of Office 365 more powerful and efficient. Even relatively smaller organizations might find it a useful option.
For decades, businesses of all sizes have relied on the desktop version of the Office suite for its email functionality and popular business productivity tools. Now it’s time to think outside the box with Office 365’s extended capabilities. The cloud-based Microsoft Office 365 enables reliable anywhere-anytime access for PC and Mac users across multiple device types. Plus, Microsoft Office 365 can be paired with other tools in a powerful, integrated environment that enables cloud-based collaboration, file sharing, and web-based communications such as video conferencing and more.
Microsoft ensures rock-solid reliability for its Microsoft Office 365 cloud infrastructure. Your Microsoft Office 365 deployment also requires a highly reliable Internet connection from your organization to that cloud infrastructure to ensure “always on” access to your organization’s files and email functionality. It’s important to assess whether your bandwidth is sufficient if you need a backup Internet connection for some or all sites, and which power protection capabilities you might need for your network closets –before you deploy your Office 365 cloud solution.
Be sure you are considering all of the ways that Microsoft Office 365 might add value to your business, and use the tips offered here to unlock the full potential of this innovative solution. If you need assistance in deploying Microsoft Office 365 in your organization or have questions about the technical aspects of configuring your solution for optimal performance and fit, please reach out for a free consultation.