Microsoft Office 365 is a powerful choice for businesses that want to leverage familiar productivity apps and take advantage of collaboration features. The cloud-based program suite gives your business access to more functionality and helps your employees be more efficient, productive and effective.
Many Hillsborough County and Polk County businesses turn to Alltek to configure, manage, monitor and maximize Microsoft Office 365. In 2019, Microsoft Office 365, and other cloud-based Microsoft tools can give your business the competitive advantage it needs to stand out.
How Does Microsoft Office 365 Work?
Microsoft Office 365 Business is a web-based tool that provides online access to all the familiar Microsoft Office apps, including:
- Word (word processing)
- Excel (spreadsheets)
- PowerPoint (presentations)
- Outlook (email)
- OneNote (note-taking)
- OneDrive (file hosting and synchronization with 1 TB of storage)
- Access (database management, for PCs only)
With the Premium package option, users gain access to more applications and tools, including:
- Exchange (mail server and calendaring management)
- SharePoint (website building tool to share, organize, store and access information)
- Teams (a relatively new product for collaboration, meetings, chat and communication)
- Planner (task and teamwork management)
- Invoicing, booking and business intelligence tools
- Customer relationship management functions
How Does a Business Implement Microsoft Office 365?
Working with a proven, established technology partner like Alltek lets you quickly migrate from an in-house solution to Microsoft Office 365. Our experienced engineers and technicians coordinate your migration and manage the application for you in the cloud. Our teams manage licensing, security monitoring, updates and users remotely, letting your employees focus on core business objectives.
We develop a streamlined migration plan that minimizes disruptions and downtime for your business, employees and customers. You’ll be up and running with email, documents and communications tools that are fast, reliable and accessible from any browser on any device. For employees traveling, working remotely or hired as freelancers, your teams can access information and collaborate on projects easily.
Our Office 365 experts are ready to assist your users with all the features, benefits and advantages that make a migration an important investment.
What Is Microsoft Teams?
Launched in 2017, Microsoft Teams combines functions for teams to communicate, collaborate and work together better via shared tools and information. It includes the Skype for Business functions that Microsoft had previously offered.
Teams allows for team chat, better connections among team members and more productivity. It’s designed especially for teams with employees at different locations and freelancers. With its group chat rooms, team members can engage in threaded conversations and access shared content stored in OneDrive, all without leaving the app. Team members can review and edit documents together. And if they decide they need to talk things over, they can switch to a video call with the push of a button.
Teams has some overlapping functionality with other Microsoft apps, such as Yammer, Outlook and SharePoint, but is very effective for smaller teams that need to interact frequently. The Teams functionality is accessible via browser, desktop app or mobile app.
There are four key components:
- Channels. Create different channels for each project a team is working on. Every channel has its own email address. When you email the address, it creates a new team conversation.
- Tabs. Configure team projects with the tools or services the team regularly uses.
- Connectors. Access services like PowerPoint or Excel without leaving the Teams application.
- Chatbots. Want to automate simple work like meeting scheduling or team updates? Chatbots gather necessary information and complete basic tasks.
Are There Any Recent New Features to Microsoft Office 365?
One of the advantages of subscribing to Microsoft Office 365 is that updates and new features are automatically made available without the need for cumbersome downloads, patches or new purchases. Microsoft regularly updates its applications to add new functionality and improve performance. Here are a few of the improvements added in early 2019:
- A new Outlook calendar function that lets users build in travel time (5-10 minutes) by default between meetings
- An Ideas button in Excel that looks for patterns in your data and makes personalized suggestions and visualizations
- Transform a Word document from a static element to a shareable web page
Generally, Microsoft adds new features every month to some of its Office 365 products.
I’m Not Sure Our Small Business Needs All Those Features. Are There Other Options?
Microsoft offers a cloud-based subscription service very similar to Office 365 designed especially for smaller operations. Microsoft Office ProPlus gives your company licenses for 5 PCs, 5 tablets and 5 smartphones. It provides desktop, web and mobile versions of the four most popular Office tools — Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook — and the 1 TB of storage. It’s a great option for smaller businesses who want a predictable monthly software expense and global connectivity.
How Does Microsoft Office 365 Manage Email Accounts?
Microsoft Office 365 business versions come with Microsoft Exchange Online, which offers full administrative capabilities, including:
- Anti-spam and anti-malware mailbox filtering
- Permissions management
- Compliance management
- Mobile device management, including approved device lists, PIN lock enforcement and removal of confidential information from lost or stolen phones
Exchange Online provides globally redundant servers and disaster recovery tools to protect your information and make it available when needed.
Are you looking for IT and Microsoft Office 365 support in Polk County or Hillsborough County? Alltek has served local businesses for years, delivering IT strategy and solutions that help companies achieve greater success. To learn more, connect with our team today for a free consultation.