Roughly 80% of Fortune 500 companies have moved their business data to Office 365. But it’s not just the big players who are taking advantage of Microsoft’s powerful suite.

A growing number of start-ups, small and medium sized businesses are following suit—and finding great benefit.

In all fields and industries, organisations of all sizes are moving the needle, driving growth and pushing their industry forward. Yet most businesses continue to use the same outdated technology, underpinning their entire work, even though new solutions have significantly advanced these legacy tools.

Why would businesses continue to limp forward, hamstrung by their own outdated tools? Many site reasons like staff being used to the way they work, or their current tools are good enough even though they’re rough around the edges and a little clunky.

But one of the biggest reasons for failure to upgrade is data migration. Most businesses believe they have too much data to migrate, or it’s too much of a hassle to migrate all their data to a new platform.

Nowadays, that just simply isn’t true. In reality, the risk of continuing to use legacy platforms means significantly reduced support over time. Eventually certain tools and platforms stop receiving vital updates and other related support, which leaves you vulnerable.

Not to mention that when tools are slow or fail to integrate with new or existing solutions, overall productivity takes a nosedive. This creates a serious potential risk for money to be left on the table in terms of failure to optimise staff time and collaborative power, as well as even costing the business money.

One study revealed that for every $13,291 worth of salary, disengaged employees account for a $4,520 cost to their employer.

Why migrate to Office 365

Productivity Gains

Microsoft’s Office 365 is the total package. A state of the art enterprise IT environment that is single handedly altering how organisations of all size do business.

One way Office 365 is improving workplace productivity is through cross-platform support. This allows employees and users to access their documents on all devices (PCs, Macs, iOS and Android). Likewise, users can access their work from anywhere at any time.

Another significant driver of productivity with Office 365 is the collaborative power. Users can share documents and collaborate in real time with the ability to track changes to specific users. This reduces the number of files being created and keeps everyone working on the same page—and not accidentally on old or outdated documents.

Flexibility

One particular benefit of Office 365 that entices people is the flexibility it offers users. Some organisations have driven costs down significantly by allowing bring-your-own-device initiatives as Office 365 lets users sign into accounts from multiple devices.

Business director and co-founder of Imagination Yoga, Jessica McClintic, was drawn to Office 365 for the suite’s flexible per-user pricing structure. After many years, with the addition of a number of franchisees and licensees, the business now uses Office 365 to share and distribute documents—even using the suite’s video conferencing tool to conduct yoga training.

“I have teams in Texas and Ohio and Pennsylvania, so if they have questions when I give them information about a new posture or pose, we can hold a video conference,” McClintic Says. “It’s nice to have everyone rolled into one tool.”

Likewise, Office 365 offers a number of flexible deployment options, depending on the organisation’s migration timeline and security needs. Office 365 can be deployed on-premise, via cloud or as a hybrid deployment.

Significant Cost Savings

While many businesses cite time savings, whether through improvements to productivity and collaboration, as an important element that drove them to migrating to the cloud—cost is still one of the most significant drivers.

The Girl Scouts of Colorado had recently merged all of their individual councils into one, with five offices. The new arrangement required cross-site collaboration, during which time they found themselves paying inflated bills for a 3rd party web conferencing solution and phone calls.

After migrating to the cloud with Office 365, the organisation was able to address several issues in one go:

• The need for 3rd party solutions were eliminated, as employees were able to call and conference through Office 365
• The number of servers the organisation required dropped from 10 to 5—two physical servers and 3 virtual servers
• The Office 365 software suite came with collaborative tools that enabled employees to work together through instant messaging, remote desktop connections and file sharing—all without the need for a costly VPN

The migration came at a time when the organisation’s infrastructure costs were rapidly increasing, due to servers coming to the end of their lifetime.

The organisation explained that, had they not migrated, they were going to have to purchase, build and maintain several servers, which can be very costly.

Always Up-to-date

Regardless of deployment type, Office 365 subscribers enjoy automatic updates and the latest version of Office suite products.

Users gain access to all enhancements upon release as Microsoft handles all the updates in a way that doesn’t inhibit availability.

Predictable Costs

The Office 365 suite gives organisations the freedom and flexibility of scaling up or down as and when you need it.

Previously, organisations purchased Office products as they hired new employees. If that person left, or the business scaled down, Microsoft doesn’t let you return that software.

Office 365 scales with your business by allowing you to pay for what you need when you need it. When your organisation grows you can take on additional services and data storage, or reduce those services if needed.

A Simplified Experience

Office 365 allows you to pick the tools you need (Microsoft also has some great business apps—some of which are free!) and access them all in the one place.

Where technology and business are heading, Office 365 is the future of workplace productivity and collaboration. The question isn’t if an organisation should make the switch, but rather when. Increase productivity and manage costs by contacting us today.

You can learn more about how you can use Office 365 with eStorm.

If you’re interested in Office 365 and Office 365 migration services, eStorm is here to help. Contact us at any time to learn more, or to find out how we can help you. 07 3210 0640 – [email protected].

Research shows that we interpret colour far more quickly and effectively than rows and columns of data and information. In our new video we show you how to create colour coded categories in Microsoft Outlook for specific events, appointments and contacts. We then cover how to automate the entire calendar organisation process in Outlook so you can set it and forget it while continuing to keep your calendar organised. You can learn more about our Microsoft Office 365 support, migration and solutions.

For over 15 years eStorm Australia has been partnering with business, education and government as their trusted Managed IT Services provider and single source supplier. Our team of specialists deliver superior on-site and remote services tailored to suit your specific requirements.

Call us today on (07) 3120 0640 or email us at [email protected].

We all spend countless hours in Outlook every day writing (sometimes dodging) and replying to emails. And sure, we know how to send and reply to emails, attach documents and CC people into email threads — but there’s so much more we could be doing in Outlook to make our lives easier. So in this video we put together a few simple tips and tricks to improve your productivity with Outlook.

You can also learn more about our Office 365 support, migration and services for business and enterprise.

For over 15 years eStorm Australia has been partnering with business, education and government as their trusted Managed IT Services provider and single source supplier. Our team of specialists deliver superior on-site and remote services tailored to suit your specific requirements.

Call us today on (07) 3120 0640 or email us at [email protected].

As team collaboration tools and services become ever more important in facilitating teamwork and communication within organisations of all sizes, recent reports claim that Microsoft could be adding a free tier to their Microsoft Teams service.

Microsoft Teams is a digital platform that combines conversations, workplace chat, meetings, notes, apps and attachments in one place. The service integrates with Microsoft’s Office 365 productivity suite, including Microsoft Office and Skype, as well as featuring extensions that can integrate with non-Microsoft products, to create collaborative communities.

According to recent reports, the latest developer preview version of Teams has several references to a ‘freemium tier’, which would see a free offering of the service to those who aren’t Office 365 subscribers. While the free version of Teams will have certain limitations, there has never been a better time to see if Office 365 is the right fit for you or your organisation’s needs. This is particularly important if you are a sole user of Skype for Business – now is a great time to make the switch as Microsoft are beginning to take action with the aim of making Teams a one-stop-shop for all your meeting needs within Office 365, including rolling Skype for Business into Teams.

At eStorm we work closely with you to determine how your business can benefit from Microsoft Office 365 solutions, as well as help you to choose the right plan that makes sense for you and your needs. If you are not currently an Office 365 user, you’re considering making the switch to Office 365, or you simply don’t know where to start – please feel free to call us on (07) 3120 0640 or email us at [email protected].