Office 365 - Confused?
Dr Nick Bradshaw
AI Ecosystem Builder | Industry Analysis | Connecting people, investors & businesses to the emerging 4.0 tech opportunity in Africa.
I think its fair to say that the Microsoft Office 365 Dev Team have been working like coding maniacs over the last 12-18 months. The number of products and features that have been released in 2016 have been amazing BUT its also creating quite a bit of confusion.
I recently stumbled over this great infographic created by OnPoint Solutions that kind of encapsulates what I am talking about. The Office 365 "pizza" is now a fat crust super sized offering, with at least 23 options and a whole lot more sides and sources when you start to consider the security, admin and other cloud functionality. It truly has become a broad feast of choice but like any menu with many pages, what is the best mix of options to satisfy your collaboration and productivity appetite?
Common Office 365 Questions
At Complexus, a leading SharePoint collaboration and productivity practice based in South Africa, we often receive enquiries from a range of companies (big and small) who have bought Office 365 or who are thinking about migrating to an Office 365 package. It can often be a purchasing decision with a bewildering number of choices, add-ons and pricing gotchas and we often find clients are on the wrong package, sometime paying for a package they don't need. Common questions and discussions we pick up on from the Community and client base are:
- The range of products is overwhelming - where do I start?
- Which subscription is right for my business?
- We have a subscription for email but what should we tackle next?
- We have SharePoint included but struggling to get going with it?
- Adoption is limited beyond Email and Office, how can I change this?
- Will it work with my Mac? Can I see key information on my iPad at home?
- How much will it cost per month / per year?
- Do I have to move all my data and content to the cloud?
If you are reading this and thinking, "yep, thats me, I can relate to that" then you will realise (as do we in the vendor community) you are not alone and help is on hand.
So what is office 365 today?
A big misconception is that Office 365 offers feature limited, online only versions of the common Microsoft Office desktop solutions, but that's not really the case. Office 365 contains a whole host of online products and desktop applications that work together, so whether you are on a laptop, desktop or tablet the functionality is broadly similar and syncing data, files and information from work across devices for mobile and home based scenarios is seamless - and YES - even for Mac users (which I am one) you can now use your laptop / desktop with Office 2016 installed on your Mac as part of your Office 365 subscription (so long as you have OS X El Capitan installed) AND you can sync to Office 365 and SharePoint for example. That is a major positive for your workplace Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, making for happier Windows and Mac users a more universal reality for both home and work scenarios.
From basic Exchange, Outlook and Office products you are familiar with, right through to Project, SharePoint, OneNote, Skype for Business, PBX, Video, Apps and a whole lot more, Office 365 has something for every sized Enterprise be they big or small, a one man band or global business. Not forgetting the range of security features, administration panel, back-up, storage and up time guarantee.
So how can Complexus help you?
- Let us help you choose the right plan for YOUR needs - Visiting portals and various information sources to start your own business case for Office 365 is a good place to begin but can be time consuming and confusing. South African Office 365 pricing plans and trial comparisons clients in South Africa can be found on our dedicated Office 365 Support site Just click on a plan that suits you and you get a provisioned trial which we will support. Or just call us and we can get you started for FREE !
- Academia, Government and Not-For-Profit - Have a set of dedicated pricing plans at greatly reduced rates. These are also something we can assist with and we have O365 clients in this sector where often budgets are constrained.
- Process change, deployment & training - We have that covered too, more often we find clients, (especially those in the SMB sector) need flexible / cost effective support packages and we have mentoring and training solutions to suit all sizes of need using our flexible Office 365 Concierge Services Plans. You can buy 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month or 1 year - you pay for the hours and they are all rolled over, no more "use or loose" services and support plans - we find clients like that.
- We use Office 365 & Develop Office 365 Apps - We know the Office 365 suite, its what we use to run our own business and we pioneered developing apps for the platform (check out our App Store) - we have experts that can cut through the options menu and get you going with the minimum of fuss and investment.
- Office 365 updates - As Microsoft role out more and more great functionality Complexus can also help in the decision making process and advise on all aspects of Office 365 updates and features.
- Pricing & trials - Complexus can Office 365 subscription quotations and compare that with the plan you are already on. 90% of the time we have found clients are on the wrong plan and we can save you money. Let us take the strain and demystify the Office 365 plan to put you on the right track to Office 365 success both in the short, medium and long term
No matter what your business scenario and use cases are, and no matter where you are in your own Office 365 journey, Complexus offer a FREE Office 365 consultation to assess your needs just contact our dedicated Office 365 Team +27 8713 52942 [email protected]
About Complexus
Complexus is part of the First Technology Group and a Microsoft Gold consultancy operating out of Durban, Cape Town & Johannesburg. Complexus has grown to become a trusted SharePoint and Office 365 solutions provider with a reputation for innovation in Enterprise Collaboration, Productivity, Strategy Advisory, Managed Services & SharePoint App development. The Complexus Product and Service portfolio is aimed at organisations seeking to collaborate more effectively and gain a greater return on their investment in the Microsoft SharePoint & Office 365 platforms. Complexus is also member of the prestigious Microsoft Business Critical SharePoint Partner Program and SAP EBM Program. Learn more here https://www.complexus.co.za
Solutions Architect
8 年Great article. The complexity factor is definitely an issue, particularly for small businesses that lack the required resources/skills to help inform decision making re product selection, future usage and ongoing support. I recently migrated a small business onto O365, primarily to improve their operational use of day to day email (they were popping business email across multiple PCs and their email provider didn't seem to understand that IMAP was!) The migration to O365 was simple, given that I'm tech-savvy and have years of experience working with MS Exchange, Sharepoint, etc. However, it dawned me afterwards how the support component can so easily slip through the cracks. Perhaps we assume that cloud software just works fine out of box and that support is covered. This is not the case. In fact, I'm still waiting for MS (or whoever they best-shore O365 support to) for a response on service request logged days ago. Basic services like Email is mission critical for many businesses and and inadequate support is a huge risk for them
Nice article Nick.