Has this ever happened to you before? You work on an important document all day long that you need to send to a prospective business partner by the end of the day. Unfortunately, you forget to send it when you rush out the door at 5:00 and of course, you’re running late to your son’s soccer game. You probably end up doing one of the following:
- Calling your colleague asking them to send you the document so that you can forward it over to the prospective business partner – struggling to remember where the file was saved on the server.
- You worry all evening long until you can get home and remote into your computer at the office to send the document, just barely making the deadline
Now imagine if your business was using Microsoft’s latest business collaborative tools called Office 365 – all you would have to do is pull out your smartphone, click a few buttons and within minutes you’re able to send the file over to your new client securely – just in time to celebrate your son’s first goal of the season!
What is Exactly is This Magical Office 365 Solution?
Office 365 is a hosted offering for Software as a Service (SaaS) providing portals and applications for administrators and end-users. Office 365 combines the familiar Office desktop suite (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) with cloud-based versions of next-generation communications and collaboration services such as:
- Exchange Online offering business-class e-mail, scheduling, and mobility
- SharePoint Online giving advanced document storage and application integration
- Lync Online providing presence availability, instant messaging, and desktop sharing.
Isn’t Moving to the Cloud Confusing & Costly?
Not only does Office 365 include familiar applications and programs, it also features online office collaboration software for email, document sharing, and web conferencing. Office 365 surpasses other file-sharing programs such as Google Docs and Dropbox because it combines familiar and new tools in one comprehensive package to save companies from paying for each program or module. By incorporating these various tools into one web-based platform, Office 365 enables companies to easily standardize on the latest software packages, which Microsoft updates “automagically” on their customers’ behalf. Having the latest Office Suites allows your business to stay on the cutting edge of technology. All of this usually requires less upfront cost which all business love to hear!
We Only a Few Employees – Could We Experience This Magic Too?
Of course – that is a great feature of Office 365. Subscribers only pay according to how much of the service they use. For instance, one of our current clients only has 2 employees. Office 365 not only has allowed them to streamline their work but they are saving hundreds of dollars per year not having to run an email server and file server in their office. Not to mention that a few weeks ago the owner was able to access all the company files from him tablet as he was on vacation…all from a local coffee shop.
Ready to Move?
We can help! Office 365 offers small to mid-size businesses reliable and secure tools for enhanced collaboration and productivity. Here at Greystone our team is fully versed in Office 365. We’ll continue to provide exceptional service and reliability while at the same time, save your business money.
