It’s a common misconception that having your Office 365 in the cloud means your productivity tools can only be used online. This is a myth – you can still use MSOffice365 in the traditional, offline manner that you are accustomed to, and the benefits of moving to the cloud are mounting.
Cloud communications became invaluable when the pandemic hit, reinforcing the prevailing notion that the cloud is a future aspiration—it’s an urgent mandate at the core of every business.
5 Benefits of Office 365 in the Cloud
Bring IT Expense $$ Back To The Bottom Line
#1 Lower the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Without a doubt, the most significant benefit of moving MS Office 365 to the cloud is in reducing TCO. Not having to buy, support, upgrade, and replace hardware is a huge savings. The cloud “pay as you go” cuts capital expense cost for server replacement.
And when taking this responsibility off the plate of your IT team, you’re giving those individuals the ability to focus on new innovations.
Additionally, many companies have already made the leap to the Microsoft cloud, and become perplexed at the expense because they don’t understand their tenant licensing.
Consider this scenario – one of our clients had made the move to the cloud. During our cost savings audit we noticed that all users were lumped into the same license, which is unnecessary. The C-Suite needed the downloadable productivity license, but many of the other constituents would be served very well with the online only license. This audit and later license change shifted $96,000 back to our client’s bottom line in the first year!
Layers of Protection
#2 Security
With Office 365 in the cloud, Active Directory credentials control access, and from the portal, users can access email, contacts, and calendars, and create and edit documents online—anytime and from anywhere, on any device.
O365 has built-in, award-winning security, backed by Microsoft’s experts, and built with extra layers, such as data loss prevention, multi-factor authentication, advanced threat protection, Safe Links, and log-in auditing to name a few. So, now imagine cutting all the security software you are running to keep your on–premise servers compliant.
Installation is also extremely easy. To install Office 365 PC’s, the user simply logs into the Office.com portal, clicks “Install Office Apps,” and selects Office from the list. This supplies instant access to all the organization’s shared content and files. From the same portal and tab, the user can also send an installation link to phones and tablets as an email or text message. One click, and all Office applications download and allow access to all emails, shared content, and files from work. It’s that easy.
Everything Under One Umbrella
#3 Improved Office Productivity and Collaboration
Perhaps the most valuable benefit Office 365 in the cloud offers to everyone on your team is real time collaboration. Microsoft productivity applications make it easy to share documents internally and externally. Co-Collaboration ROCKS! Multiple users can work simultaneously on documents live while viewing their colleague’s edits – sharing comments, offering feedback, and having real time Q&A discussions.
Colleagues can conduct productive meetings regardless of their locations – through MS Teams, a feature of the O365 suite. Teams holds a plethora of benefits for working in the cloud – video conferencing, project management, data storage, contained VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone system and more. Read more about Microsoft Teams here.
OneDrive offers secure data storage of all your files in the cloud and you can keep the same organization system you used on your physical servers. Microsoft’s layers of security keep your files safe.
SharePoint gives you the ability to host you own company intranet site. Companies find this feature invaluable to share resources amongst their divisions, while privately sharing sensitive projects. SharePoint offers infinite possibilities for connecting groups within your organization.
Smart Seamless Updates
#4 Automatic Updates
With O365, pushing out software updates is a thing of the past. Updates no longer need to be installed in each machine. All Office 365 updates are automatically downloaded and installed, just like Windows updates. All applications stay current without intervention.
An evaluation of your tenant environment will reveal any gaps
#5 Microsoft Partner Assessment
Contact Prone2DreamTechnologies, a Microsoft Partner, for a complimentary audit of your systems. Whether you are looking to move into the cloud for the first time or would like an assessment of your tenant, we have the experience to guide your team to savings. O365 is an essential force in today’s world. Contact us today for your complimentary consultation – Call 469-294-5233 or Email ContactUs@prone2dream.com