Leading tools for workplace modernization and digital transformation.
There has been a big push across industries in the last few years to modernize outdated processes. Every business today needs powerful digital tools to protect them from cyberattacks, support the productivity of their teams, and harness the power of data analytics to grow their operation.
Microsoft, in particular, has championed the concept of the Modern Workplace, a new way of working built around cutting-edge cloud tools, collaboration platforms, and security features. Together, they help companies achieve more, spend less, and retain the agility they need to adapt to a constantly evolving marketplace.
Modern work must be enabled by a digital transformation that embraces cloud services and business apps that connects teams seamlessly both synchronously and asynchronously, on-site and remotely. Doing so streamlines business workflows, enhances communications, simplifies compliance, and drastically improves the employee experience by giving employees the power to work when, where, and how they prefer.
The benefits of the modern workplace are becoming clearer all the time. The only question left is how to best go about making it a reality:
Choosing the Right Platform to Build On
Microsoft isn’t the only game in town when it comes to building a modern workplace. Google Workplace, formerly known as G Suite, is its largest competitor and offers many (but not all) of the features Microsoft does.
Both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are cloud-based productivity suites that offer a wide range of tools for communication, collaboration, and document creation. Google Workspace offers a range of tools that are tightly integrated with each other, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, and Google Docs. The platform also offers a wide range of add-ons and integrations, making it easy to connect to other tools and services.
Microsoft 365 (formerly called Office 365), on the other hand, is a more comprehensive productivity suite that includes not only the classic Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) but also other services such as OneDrive, OneNote, and SharePoint. Microsoft 365 is designed to work well with Microsoft’s other products, such as Windows, and can be a good choice for organizations that are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem.
Microsoft 365 also offers more advanced features for IT administrators than Google Workspace, such as the ability to control access to documents and set permissions for different users.
Taking Full Advantage of Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a versatile productivity suite that is widely used to support a wide range of tasks and workflows. From across a variety of industries, it is known for its reliability, compatibility, user-friendly interface, and depth of capabilities:
- Writing and Editing: Word, Excel, PowerPoint support authoring, editing, and collaborating on documents such as reports, presentations, and spreadsheets.
- Email and Calendar: Outlook is a popular email and calendar management tool that is used to organize and schedule meetings, send and receive email, and manage contacts.
- Data Management: Excel is a nearly ubiquitous spreadsheet application that can be used for tasks such as data entry, data visualization, and creating charts and graphs.
- Presentations: PowerPoint is used to create presentations for meetings, conferences, and other events. It allows users to create slides and add images, videos, and audio.
- Project Management: Microsoft Project is a tool used for project management that helps teams plan, execute, and track projects.
Going Virtual with Windows 365 Cloud
Microsoft 365 may be an incredibly flexible and powerful productivity and communication platform, but it still needs an operating system to run on.
And given the push towards cloud migration, many companies are choosing to do away with their own hardware and adopt Windows 365 Cloud instead. It’s a natively cloud-based platform for creating Windows virtual machines (also known as cloud PCs). Each user is given their own dedicated Windows device that includes all of the productivity, security, and collaboration benefits of Microsoft 365.
What is included in Microsoft 365?
There are numerous available plans and add ons available for Microsoft 365 so that organizations can customize their modern workplace experience and expenditure to fit their exact needs. But, at base, all Microsoft 365 packages include:
- Word for documents
- Excel for spreadsheets
- PowerPoint for presentations
- Outlook for email and scheduling
- OneDrive for secure file storage
Can I Buy Microsoft 365 Outright?
No, Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based service, meaning that subscribers pay a monthly or annual fee to use the software, rather than buying it outright. The advantage of this model is that companies always have access to the latest version of Microsoft’s apps and receive constant updates and support from Microsoft.
That said, Office 2019 (the one-time purchase version of Office) is still available for purchase, but it doesn’t include cloud services like OneDrive and Outlook.com, and also, it doesn’t receive updates as Office 365 does.
Go Further with Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise
A base Microsoft 365 package might be appropriate for very small operations or those with minimal requirements, but for most, including many digitally-empowered SMBs, Microsoft’s enterprise-grade plans are a smarter choice.
Microsoft’s incredibly popular E5 package, for example, includes everything in the base plan but adds:
- OneNote for digital note taking
- SharePoint for document management
- Teams for employee collaboration
- Power BI Pro for data analytics
- Intune for unified endpoint management
Businesses choose Microsoft 365 apps for enterprise for:
Security and Compliance
Microsoft is trusted by enterprises globally because it develops some of the world’s most advanced security and compliance features. It helps organizations protect sensitive data and meet regulatory requirements with features like data encryption, threat protection, and conditional access.
Scalability and Extensibility
Microsoft 365 for enterprise can be easily customized to meet the needs of different departments and teams within an organization, and it has a rich collection of add-ons to customize it to specific requirements.
Mobile and Offline Access
Microsoft 365 apps for enterprise are available on a wide range of devices, including smartphones and tablets, and they can be used offline, which allows users to work on documents even when they don’t have an internet connection.
Office is Everywhere
Over one million companies and 1.2 billion users worldwide use Microsoft 365. It is by far the most powerful, popular, and extensible business software suite in history. Statista reports there are more than 731,000 companies using Microsoft 365 in the U.S. alone.
For example, beverage giant Coca-Cola uses it to connect its 100,000 strong worldwide workforce, as does GE for over 300,000 people. Other big names include pharmacy chain Walgreens, athleisure brand Lululemon, consumer goods manufacturer Procter & Gamble, and the global consultancy firm Deloitte. Even NASA trusts Microsoft 365 for its quite literally mission-critical digital operations.
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