Traditionally, Microsoft Office has been a software application that you simply download and install onto one or more PC's under one or multiple user license agreement.
First introduced in 2010 and expanded in 2013 to incorporate new plans, Microsoft Office 365 may be a pay-as-you-go subscription version providing ONLINE access to varied software and services removing the necessity to possess your own Microsoft Small Business Server, you can try Microsoft by downloading the setup from office.com/setup. Typically the plans can include:
- Microsoft Office Suite (word, publisher, excel etc.)
- Microsoft Exchange Online (hosted email)
- Microsoft Lync 2010 (communications server)
- SharePoint Document Management (document server)
- SkyDrive Storage
- Malware Protection
So is MS Office 365 right for you and your business?
The Pros of Office 365
1. Your applications are often accessed via any device (including mobile), through any browser as long as you've got the right permissions and access to an online connection, (even wi-fi).
Reduced cost
2. Instead of paying for brand spanking new versions, Office 365 upgrades are automatically included within your subscription
3. Multiple users can have access to an equivalent documents, for instance you'll store documents in SharePoint 2010 and have the power to form changes, review versions or maybe leave notes for colleagues.
4. Removes any infrastructure headaches do you have to got to undertake office relocation.
Greater server stability, with a high uptime Service Level Agreement. (assumes network reliability)
The Cons of Office 365
1. Your data is stored in 'the Cloud' in Microsoft Data Centers so you're reliant on both network and bandwidth. If your internet connection fails you'll lose access to your software and data until it's restored
You have little or no control over this 'cloud' environment your data is stored in, whilst there are uptime guarantees any datacenter infrastructure failure can have an immediate impact on the supply of Office 365. If Microsoft or other high end Data Centre provider outages do occur, small businesses haven't any leverage.
2. You may consider there to be higher security risks related to 'online' data storage. If this is often a key factor for your business, there are upgrade options available but they might be cost prohibitive.
Application performance could also be slower over an online connection, especially if you've got home based users with inferior internet connectivity and broadband speeds. this might have the play effect of reducing productivity
3. There are limits to the amount of email recipients you'll have within a 24 hour period
Ultimately if you're considering switching to Office 365, you would like to guage its suitability supported your own individual business requirements. How would your business be affected if you were unable to access the applications? Are the possible security implications an issue? What budget does one have available? does one have any internal IT support? Will you continue to need an area server surely requirements?
4. With any IT decision it is often better to hunt help to spot the impact on your business and the way to attenuate any potential risk.
