Microsoft Office 365 Update
Software can be quickly superseded by a new and seemingly better alternative, so keeping ahead of the game is crucial for every developer. Cloud-based productivity suite Office 365 is one of Microsoft’s latest products to boast an upgrade.
Dubbed the best productivity suite on the market, Office 365 is well-versed in delivering robust solutions that help businesses of all sizes connect, communicate and collaborate easily. But with a relentless push to keep improving its game, Microsoft has introduced new features to further increase business performance, productivity and ultimately, profit
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This includes enhancements to the Office 365 collaboration tools, which now make it easier to share and manage documents with external users; an optimized Outlook Web App for easier touch-access on tablets and mobile phones; improved anti-malware protection for tighter security; and a new Lync Web App offering a full Lync meeting experience with high definition and VoIP. Lync users will also benefit from one-click meeting access, putting an end to fiddly and forgotten dial-in numbers and passcodes.
Office users will already be familiar with Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Access. But for those unfamiliar with Office 365, the package boosts their potential with added features such as Exchange Online, SharePoint, Lync, and SkyDrive Pro. These component parts, which you can read more about here [link to previous blog article], provide a totally integrated, streamlined and enhanced way for people to work, share and view documents from any computer or mobile device. And Office 365 allows the user to access the entire suite of packages on machines where it isn’t installed. This is a real benefit for any business with an agile workforce that needs to work anywhere, anytime and from any PC or mobile device.
Another key benefit of Office 365 for businesses is the reduction in hassle, cost and risk of maintaining workplace IT. Stories in which staff naively jeopardise their company’s security by altering PC settings and through downloads that expose them to viruses are all too common. The web-based attributes of Office 365 reduce this risk, with support and maintenance carried out centrally, rather than falling into inexperienced hands.
Government endorsement
The Cabinet Office of Government has recently awarded Office 365 Impact Level 2 (IL2) accreditation which will enable a broad range of UK public sector organisations to use it. These include local and regional government, NHS trusts and some central government bodies, who require ‘protect’ level of security for data processing, storage and transmission.
This IL2 pan-government accreditation provides peace of mind for public sector organisations, and the citizens they serve. It provides a degree of confidence that information will stay within the parameters mandated by government-run departments. Microsoft’s EU datacentres are based in Dublin and Amsterdam and the Office 365 service complies with ISO27001 quality standards and utilises comprehensive data processing provisions to UK customers, incorporating the EU Model Clauses.
This is a key milestone in supporting the UK Government’s stated aim of reducing the cost of ICT and moving 50 per cent of new ICT services to the cloud by 2015.
Connexion quote “Mobile working is bringing yet another technology challenge to businesses that already depend of their IT for every aspect of what they do and who often struggle to manage IT effectively. Increasingly businesses are turning to Cloud and managed services to simplify their IT and enable them to focus on what matters most, driving business growth, rather than managing technology.”
“Office 365 is a solution that aims to help businesses increase productivity and save money. And as many businesses look for ways to maximise their efficiency, it also serves as a reminder that success doesn’t just come from working harder. It also comes from working smarter. “
