Microsoft launched Office 365, their cloud-based services a couple of years ago. Its main target has been primarily home users and small to mid-size businesses. Customer adoption of this platform has met with various levels of success. Perhaps, its most interesting recent development coincides with the release of the newest version of Microsoft’s flagship desktop productivity suite: Office 2013.
In the beginning, Office 365 was to replicate Microsoft’s email and calendar server, Exchange in the cloud. This meant businesses no longer had to maintain the infrastructure required to support those applications in house. As Office 365 has evolved, Exchange has been complemented by Sharepoint and Lync, Microsoft’s document & collaboration server and instant messenger platforms, respectively.
The combination of all of these services at a low monthly per-user cost was fairly compelling and made the competition scramble to repackage their offerings. However, the service did not address the larger costs associated with Microsoft’s desktop productivity- Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), Microsoft’s profit machine for over 2 decades. That is…until now.
Microsoft has just introduced a new level of Office 365 services, enabling each subscribing user (starting at $12.50 a month) to license its desktop applications for installation on up to 5 different machines. At that price, your employees can install Microsoft Office on multiple machines – including even in their homes.
To further advance their extensive new offering, Microsoft introduced a lineup of mobile Office applications which allows users to view and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents from a Windows Phone. Office 365 has also begun supporting the iOS and Android platforms in an attempt by Microsoft to cement their position.
It’s a matter of economics, but if you’ve been frustrated over Office licensing spending in the past, you should definitely give the Office 365 suite a closer look.
For more information about Office 365, contact Superior Technology Solutions, a Microsoft 365 Partner. Visit us at www.superiortechnology.com or contact us at
845-735-3555.
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