What are the benefits of using Office 365?

“What are the benefits of using Office 365?”

First, we need to understand what Office 365 is. Office 365 is a cloud-based system from Microsoft incorporating your email, files, office programs such as word, powerpoint and excel in one place and from any location or device. With a desktop version of Office, you can install this on up to 5 devices per user.

Office 365 allows you to work from anywhere on any device that has an internet connection. As it is entirely cloud-based, you can use your email, files or office programmes from your mobile or laptop while on the go as long as you have an internet connection. This enables remote employees to work from multiple locations and to work when travelling.

Another great benefit to Office 365 is collaboration. All users who need to edit a file be it a document, spreadsheet or presentation can work on the same version in real-time together rather than having multiple versions saved on disk and having to incorporate the changes manually. It also includes versioning should you need to go back to an older version.

With Office 365, you will always have access to the latest versions of Office at no additional charge. Updates and features will be introduced freely in your plan without the need to reinstall and update on individual machines.

Office 365 also has a mixture of plans available to choose from so you can mix up what you want to purchase. Certain features or programmes are not going to be required for your business so you can change your plan and not pay more for what you don’t need to use. As a subscription-based service, you always know what money is going out to Office 365 and as such can plan your finances accordingly.

Office 365 has several useful security features to keep your data safe. Office 365 emails are encrypted, keeping others from reading your email. Office 365 also features data loss prevention which checks and prevents sensitive information from leaving your organisation via email.

Office 365 also features mobile device management allowing you to control Office 365 on your employee’s phones to protect company information. Should a phone be lost or stolen it can be remotely wiped to prevent data theft.

Finally, Office 365 features advanced threat analytics which uses machine learning and detection to alert you to suspicious behaviour on your network. It will scan emails as they come into your network for malicious links and attachments preventing it from entering the network and providing your employees with a message explaining why an attached file has been blocked or removed.

“So I should switch to Office 365?”

Well Gary, let’s have a chat and discuss your current cloud service and software to see whether or not switching to an Office 365 plan will be better for your business.

In the meantime, if you or your IT department are looking for assistance with your IT services, consider giving us a call like Gary and outsourcing to one of our experienced IT  consultants. We can even be your IT department if you don’t have one. External or on-site, find out what AAG-IT can do for your IT services today on 0114 352 0688.