There are vast amounts of blogs preaching why an Office 365 migration is a must. Just one simple Google search similar to that of today’s title will attest to this. You could spend all day learning about the wonders of SharePoint collaboration or the amount of OneDrive storage that is issued per user (1TB!).
However, sometimes the needs of a business can be simple. When you strip away all the features and functionality that comes with an Office 365 migration, it can boil down to just 3 elements that a consumer will have a genuine vested interest in: Productivity, Cost and Security. Will it improve us? How much will it cost us? How secure is it?
Let’s look at these factors and highlight how they are affected by a migration to Office 365.
Productivity
One 365 license can provide up to 5 devices with access to the Office applications, including mobile devices. Users can pick up where they left off on any device that is signed into 365. For example, one could commence work on their work PC, and then continue on a laptop on the commute home.
Having the benefit of being able to work anywhere from any device also overcomes physical issues you may experience in the office. For example, if there is a power outage or a server issue, staff can still work remotely. This means there is no downtime whatsoever. The flexibility of working from any location can be monumental for businesses.
Gone are the days where being sat in the workplace was the only way to be able to work.
Cost
Storing data costs money; whether its stored on the cloud or on company servers. Therefore it’s important to consider what is the more cost-effective approach for the individual.
There are going to be initial start-up costs with 365, however they can be far less than the amount you may find yourself paying for servers. Someone will be getting paid to maintain and update these servers. Servers need to be stored somewhere which introduces other costs e.g. Data center renting, electricity etc.
In terms of access to the Office applications (Word, Excel etc) for company staff, Office 365 provides a far more effective option.
Office 365 licenses are issued on a per user basis and can be charged monthly. Having the option to pay monthly instead of a one-off fee (for say Office 2016) can have its advantages. If a new employee starts, simply purchase a new license. Alternatively, if someone departs then remove the license. This makes billing control simpler due to only paying for what is required at that moment in time. This of course means a business can easily scale both up or down.
Security
Using Office 365 for email and data storage means your data is held in the cloud. This means that losing/ breaking a laptop doesn’t have to mean you have lost your data (unless the data was saved locally). Stored data in the cloud will always be available, whereas data stored in a physical office is subject to potential threats as mentioned in Productivity.
Office 365 encrypts all data. Microsoft use an encryption tool called BitLocker to do this. BitLocker protects against authorized access/ changes to the data. Those who are aware of the current Malware attacks in the news will know the importance of this.
In terms of where exactly geographically Microsoft stores your data; it will be in the region that was specified when the Office 365 subscription was setup. It is more reassuring for a consumer to know their data is local, and not the other side of the world. In addition to this, Microsoft doesn’t disclose the locations of their data centers publicly which is particularly encouraging as well.
If you are considering an Office 365 migration, or would like to speak to someone to get further clarification if it is the right move for you, please email sales@bangitsolutions.com or call 1300 770 035.
Thanks for reading,
Bang IT Solutions.