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MICROSOFT 365 AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
The term digital transformation has been around for a while and often discussed by analysts and vendors to the point it became an abstract concept to most business leaders. There was no tangible way to fully understand digital transformation – or its benefits – until now. Strictly speaking, digital transformation is not about technology but the process of using digital technologies to create new — or modify existing — business processes, culture, and customer experiences.
So why now? With Microsoft 365, we have a technology that allows organizations to truly realize digital transformation. A platform that provides a single client — Microsoft Teams — to access office applications, communication applications and development tools from any location on any device.
Businesses no longer need to build and maintain infrastructure to take advantage of the latest technologies. IT departments no longer need to spend more than half their time simply maintaining and managing these complex infrastructures, and small businesses are not excluded from advanced capabilities. Businesses, small or large, can focus their efforts on improving personal and organizational productivity.
Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise Licenses
Microsoft 365 is delivered from the cloud, eliminating the costly and complex challenge of buying and managing the infrastructure to support your business. Once you have your licenses, you can almost immediately start using Microsoft 365 - no long hardware delivery lead times, costly installation and maintenance contracts. No worries about keeping up to date.
Microsoft 365 comes in two core license groups - Business and Enterprise. The break point is at 300 licenses. If you need less than 300 core licenses, you can choose one of the Business plans - Basic, Standard or Premium - each with supporting a variety of applications and tools. Customers requiring more than 300 licenses must choose one of the Enterprise licenses - E1, E3 or E5.
There are significantly less expensive versions for qualifying Education or Not-for-Profit organizations.
Microsoft 365 - A platform and a suite of applications
Most business users would be more familiar with Windows and the Office suite of applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. While these are all part of Microsoft 365, there are actually many more capabilities built-in, including the industry leading collaboration client - Microsoft Teams lets you access all your communications tools such as chat, video calling, file sharing and co-editing but also 'Teams' in which colleagues can work together on projects or tasks.
As a Platform, Microsoft 365 includes a number of tools to manage your organization and even simple business process development tools in a suite called Power Apps. It is in this area that organizations can truly drive towards digital transformation.
Microsoft Teams is your New Phone System
Microsoft Teams is the hub for work. A single client that lets an individual user access all their communication and collaboration tools and applications. It is also the client that lets users create 'watering holes' to dynamically and continuously work together - as a team, on a project or topic. All information can be posted and shared in a team, including files, co-editing and engaging in dynamic and scheduled video calls. We discuss Teams in more detail here.
By adding either Microsoft Calling Plans, Microsoft Business Voice, or a service from a company like Unity Connected Solutions that leverages Microsoft Direct Routing - an organization can add PSTN calling that eliminates the need for a separate, standalone phone system or PBX. Users can make and receive PSTN calls through their Microsoft Teams client.
Work From Home or Anywhere
With ubiquitous WiFi, LTE and high speed networking, people are no longer married to their office desk. With the right tools, people can be just as productive working from home, on the road – anywhere they can access a data network. Cloud delivered apps mean you don’t have to battle with complex VPNs to access dedicated company servers. With Microsoft’s security, your data and access is safe.
Cloud also means you are always up to date. New updates can be made available to all users as soon as they are available. And by connecting them all together, you get far more out of each tool than they could deliver on their own. Processes can be simply built on top of the tools already in place.
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