Microsoft 365's solution for managing email and an appointment calendar is called Outlook. The app has been around for many years and its busy interface tends to be either loved or hated by users. It's available with both the Business and Premium subscriptions.
This app sets the standard for word processors and is available with Microsoft 365 for both Business and Premium. If users in your Business need to create documents, this is the tool they will use.
The spreadsheet has been the workhorse for basic data analysis since its invention back in the previous century. Excel is the current standard-bearer and comes with Microsoft 365 for Business and Premium.
Communicating information to a group of individuals at a meeting often involves a presentation. Microsoft 365's PowerPoint allows users to create, display, and disseminate information in formats ranging from the basic slide to animation to video.
The other basic and fundamental cloud-based application is storage. With each Microsoft 365 Business subscription, Microsoft provides users with up to 1TB of cloud storage in the form of an application called OneDrive for Business.
As the workforce has become more mobile, the need to capture information on the go has become increasingly important. Applications like OneNote allow users to take notes on any device and then retrieve those notes from any other device. It's your basic productivity cloud app.
Microsoft Office 365 is a well-rounded tool aiding many small to medium-sized businesses in their daily operations.
Hosted on the cloud, the software allows you to work from anywhere and connect with all your colleagues at the touch of a button – whether they are in the same building as you or across the country.
The latest version of Microsoft Office applications includes the critical software you need to run your business and with an Microsoft 365 Business subscription you get the tools you need to leverage the cloud and increase productivity within your business.
One of the biggest advantages of Microsoft 365 is the ability to work from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection. Because it’s entirely cloud-based, you can access your email, files and Office programs (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) from any location and any device. If you have a plan that includes desktop version of Office, they can be installed on up to 5 devices per user.
This is especially helpful for companies with remote employees, multiple locations and companies with employees who travel often.
If working in teams is at all a part of your company, you’ll appreciate the collaboration features of Microsoft 365. The biggest advantage of this? You get one version of the truth.
Everyone who needs to contribute to or edit a document (or spreadsheet, or presentation, etc), can work on the same version (and get real-time changes) rather than having multiple version floating around that have to be combined.
You can also share direct access to your files, rather than send files as attachments. This means people can make changes to one file rather than having multiple copies. Versioning is included in case you need to go to back to an older version.
With Microsoft 365, you’ll also have access to the latest versions of Office at no additional charge. You’ll get the latest and greatest features without having to uninstall and reinstall Office on everyone’s machines. In addition, Microsoft is constantly making upgrades to features across programs – you’ll get access to those, too. Check the Office Blog to get an idea of what kind of upgrades you get with an Microsoft 365 plan.
Several different Microsoft 365 business plans are available with different programs and features. Not everyone in your company is going to need the exact same thing. You can mix and match plans so you don’t have to pay for more than you need. It’s pretty easy to switch between plans, too, if you find that an employee needs more or less than what they have now. You can check out a breakdown of the different plans here.
Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based service, meaning you pay a low monthly fee (per user) rather than a large lump sum upfront. This can be helpful from a cash flow perspective. Plans are typically paid month-to-month (though some places will do yearly subscriptions, sometimes for a discount), so you turn off what you’re not using to save money.
One of the biggest misconceptions about the Cloud is that it’s not safe. In reality, it’s no less safe than an on-premise system. It’s all in how you use it and what security measures you put in place. Microsoft 365 has many built-in security features to protect your company’s data. Some of our favourites include:
Encrypted email: This keeps anyone other than the intended recipient from reading your email
Data Loss Prevention: This is a set of policies that checks and prevents sensitive information (like social security numbers) from leaving your organization via email. We’ve broken it down a little more in this post.
Mobile Device Management: These features allow you to control Office on your employees phones to protect company information. If an employee’s phone is lost or stolen, it can be remotely wiped to prevent anyone who shouldn’t have access from getting to company data.
Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA): ATA uses analytics and machine learning to detect and alert you to suspicious behaviour on your network. Our favourite part of this? It will scan emails as they come into your network for malicious links and attachments and if it detects something fishy, it’ll prevent the malicious attachment from getting in. Your employees will still get the email, but will get a message explaining why the attachment isn’t there. This can go a long way to preventing a data breach due to human error.
These certainly aren’t all the security features available in Office 365 – just a small sample. Please note, these aren’t available on all plans. To have everyone in your organization covered, you’ll need to get them all on plans that include it or purchase it as an add-on.
Microsoft 365 provides users with the basic productivity applications necessary to get work done in the modern enterprise. Productivity applications include but are not limited to a word processor, a spreadsheet, an email client, a calendar, and a presentation application. The applications are split into two categories; Productivity Applications & SaaS Applications.
The cloud is changing the way we do business. It has become more flexible, secure, streamlined and cost effective then having infrastructure on site. With Office 365 we can increase productivity and collaboration in your business allowing you to work and share resources anywhere you have an internet connection.
If you’re looking to migrate your business to the cloud and be well supported after your migration, contact us today.
Computerman IT have served the Cairns region for over 20 years. When it comes to Business IT support in Cairns we really know our stuff.
As a Business IT service, we will come on-site to your business, saving you the time in delivering your PC or Mac to a service center. We also provide laptop repairs including screen repairs, data recovery, network configuration, virus removals and so more.
We service from Palm Cove on the north of Cairns all the way to Aloomba in the South of Cairns and everywhere in between.
Mon – Fri:
9:00am to 5:00pm
Sat – Sun:
By Appointment Only
