In 2011 when Office 365 first launched, I remember talking to prospective customers about the power of this tool. The conversation always started with email and getting it out of a small business environment. Most companies were scared by placing their email into the “cloud” and most IT providers feared the lost revenue that came from locally managing an application like Exchange. The cloud was some far-off mystical place to many.
Today, most organizations cannot imagine their business without a tool like Microsoft 365. Many of their other business applications also rely on the cloud and their ability to get things done while outside of the office has been greatly improved. I still meet companies though who have their email and other applications on local servers, as they, “do not trust the cloud”. But, I think their provider just hasn’t spent the time to educate them on it.
Weighing the Benefits
Features
Don’t get me wrong there are always security issues when utilizing a public cloud such as Microsoft or Google. But, as in anything, the risk must be weighed against the benefits. Microsoft 365 is so much more than just email too! Here are just a few benefits of the suite of products:
- Users can work from anywhere
- Scalable subscription model
- Automatic upgrades
- Centralized communication
- Collaboration both inside and outside your organization
- Business continuity
- Advanced security features
Reliability
I’ll admit when Office 365 was first released there were email outages and loss of services on a more frequent than acceptable basis. Today, nine years later, it is rare to see even a reduction in services, though it happens and is quickly fixed. This may be some of the reason why Microsoft has rebranded the service from Office 365 to Microsoft 365.
Security
The added security may be one of the least known and underutilized benefits of this tool. Multi-factor authentication (MFA), encrypted email, Data Loss Prevention, Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Advanced Threat Analytics (ATA) are just some of the security features that organizations should consider implementing.
Not all of Microsoft 365 subscriptions include these but they are available as an add-on and worth the investment to make your experience more secure.
What are you waiting for?
Moving to the cloud causes an organization to give up some control but if you haven’t taken a hard look at making this move, you are behind the curve and your competition is passing you by.
Productivity and employee experience is enhanced by the ability to access anything from anywhere at any time. So, if you are considering this move or currently in a hybrid state with one foot in the water and the other still on the shore make sure you reach out to a team that can educate you on the pros and the cons of all of the tools within Microsoft 365.
Implementing a suite like this isn’t something you want to tackle yourself. You want a team with the know-how and experience to customize Microsoft 365 to your organization’s needs.
Let ATB Technologies walk you through setup, customizing, testing, deployment, and support for a seamless transition to Microsoft’s premier tool for remote team collaboration.
Think your business is ready Microsoft 365? Let’s talk.