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Since its initial release in June of 2011, Microsoft’s Office 365 has grown from “just another productivity suite” to one of the dominant tools in its category available today. Thanks to the way it integrates with cloud-based services, it has opened a series of incredible new doors for businesses in terms of productivity and collaboration alone.

Still, organisations that have been hesitant to make the jump into the cloud have been equally weary about embracing the next generation of Microsoft Office. In truth, there are a number of incredible benefits that your business can get by migrating to Office 365 that you likely aren’t going to be able to find anywhere else.

Out of the various options, we believe that the top 7 benefits of migrating to Office 365 are:

  1. It Empowers Your Ageing Infrastructure

  2. Integration With The Tools You Already Have

  3. You Can Work Anywhere, Anytime, No Exceptions

  4. It’s Scalable with your Business

  5. Security + Control = Peace of Mind

  6. Safety In High Cloud Availability and Data Redundancy

  7. Maintenance-Free Operation

 

1. It Empowers Your Ageing Infrastructure

One of the most significant benefits of migrating to Office 365 has to do with how it allows you to save not only time but money with regards to your ageing equipment. As an infrastructure ages, costs tend to skyrocket. What you used to be able to accomplish with one solution now requires two or more. Even simple things like video conferencing become laborious and intensive.

The Girl Scouts of Colorado is just one example of an organisation that saw these benefits firsthand. The staff was able to accomplish a wide range of tasks just by migrating to Office 365, like:

  • Reducing the number of servers they had to maintain from ten to five, with three of those being virtual

  • Execute calls and web conferences without the need to go beyond Office 365.

  • Embrace instant messaging and other collaborative tools like remote desktop that allowed employees to communicate with one another and share files without requiring them to set up a VPN tunnel

In the end, they were able to save approximately $100,000 by making the jump — especially when you include staff time needed to set up and maintain alternatives. 

In summary:

With a skilled managed service provider (MSP), migrating to Office 365 does not require a complete overhaul of IT but an optimisation of existing infrastructure. The Girl Scouts of Colorado saved $100,000 by migrating to Office 365 this way.

 

2. Integration with the Tools You Already Have

On a basic level, another major benefit of migrating to Office 365 is that it works seamlessly with the tools you’re likely already using. If your business relies heavily on Microsoft Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, Publisher, and other solutions, you don’t have to worry about relearning everything all over again.

These tools will still continue to work, and thanks to the cloud-based nature of Office 365, you can even take the results you can achieve with these tools to the next level.

In summary:

Migrating to Office 365 increases the efficiency of existing software so you can dramatically improve productivity. 

 

3. Work Anywhere, Anytime, No Exceptions

The most obvious advantage of migrating to Office 365 is that it provides web-enabled access to just about everything. Documents, email, contacts, calendars — everything can be accessed anywhere, at any time, on any computer, smartphone, or tablet that you happen to have handy. This comes at a significant advantage for companies offering flexible work arrangements to their employees.

Carpool Agency had always used mobile solutions, but after implementing Microsoft Teams and the Office 365 productivity suite, productivity dramatically increased. The increased flexibility boosted staff morale and, as a result, improved the efficiency of the agency.

Benefits of Migrating to Office 365

In summary:

Microsoft Teams, and the rest of the productivity suite can enable positive productivity and cultural shifts in your team.

 

4. It’s Scalable with Your Business

Office 365 is also highly scalable, allowing it to continue to grow and evolve as your business does the same. With Office 365, you pay for what you’re using — this means everything from embracing new solutions to adding on additional data storage as you bring on new employees are both effortless and highly cost effective.

When Japanese innovation agency, Dream Factory experienced unpredicted success with a major project, the growth led to critical infrastructure gaps being exposed. Previously, they employed several different IT systems to help them grow, but these proved only temporarily successful.

Office 365 provided Dream Factory with the scalability and flexibility they needed, while also managing to reduce overhead costs involved with managing their own systems. Now they are poised to help manage the radical success of their project and prepare for the next venture.

benefits of migrating to office 365

How Office 365 Helps:

Office 365 allows you to pay for your individual business needs, meaning nothing is wasted and everything is used. Dream Factory used Office 365 to manage an unpredicted radical high-growth project with major success.

 

5. Security + Control = Peace of Mind

Office 365 is also highly advanced in the realm of security. With Office 365 you get the same protection for documents, networks, and emails that’s used by the biggest enterprises in the world. Microsoft data centres further manage your data stores and are certified to meet industry standard certifications.

Built-in tools allow you to control file security on a granular level, allowing you to set permissions by employee or by their role in your organisation. Not only do you see who has what data, but you can also actively change their permissions, giving you complete control and transparency.

And if a mobile device with Office 365 connectivity is ever lost, you can wipe it remotely so that this data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

 

How Office 365 Helps:

You get world-class data security and are able to completely control and  set the transparency of your company’s data.

 

6. Safety in High Cloud Availability and Data Redundancy

Two key benefits of working in the cloud with Office 365 is availability and redundancy. This means that you are able to access all data on the cloud as you wish, bypassing delays from server mishaps, technical breakdowns or severe disasters (e.g. fires, power outage, extreme weather etc).

This significantly decreases the possibility of suffering catastrophic data loss to the point where any particular file or collection of files would not be able to be recovered.

How Office 365 Helps:

Through Office 365’s cloud storage system, you get access to data when and where you need it while safeguarding your data in case of extreme unexpected events.

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7. Maintenance-Free Operation

Speaking of high availability, Microsoft also guarantees 99.9% uptime and 24x7 online and phone support to all users. This, coupled with the guaranteed maintenance of all Office 365 servers, provides your organisation with the technology it needs without having to worry about unexpected disruptions at the worst possible time.

How Office 365 Helps:

With Office 365, you get 99.9% uptime and up to 24x7 online and phone support so you know all your important work is accessible no matter what the circumstances may be.

 

Empower Your Organisation’s IT with Office 365

As you can see, Office 365 is more than just a simple productivity suite. Gone are the days where the functionality of Microsoft Office worked in silos, trapped in a series of disparate applications that did well on their own but failed to rise as a completely productive set.

With Office 365, you get a comprehensive collaboration and communication tool that enables you to do your best work, anywhere, and at any time so you can work smarter, not just harder.

Office 365 empowers your employees and your entire organisation to be in the best possible position to improve business performance and outcomes across the board.

If you have any additional questions about the major benefits of migrating to Office 365, or if you’re looking for strategic insight into how you can better apply technology to accomplish your business objectives, contact Lanrex today.

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