Recently, a Saratoga, California, design firm contacted KalioTek with an urgent need. The firm wanted to improve employee productivity, communication and collaboration by upgrading their software.
KalioTek, specialists in IT solutions that help companies focus on their core business priorities, was happy to help. As experts in Office 365 migrations, we’ve helped hundreds of clients upgrade their productivity tools to help employees become more effective.
What Is Microsoft Office 365?
Office 365 is a cloud-based version of the popular Microsoft Office suite. The Office 365 Business version of the software includes:
- Outlook, for email, contact and task management and calendaring
- Word
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Access (only for PCs)
- OneDrive, for file sharing and storage. Comes with 1 TB of storage
Office 365 Business Premium adds additional apps:
- Exchange
- SharePoint
- Teams
Both of those plans include desktop versions of the software applications plus Publisher (for PC only),
How Popular is Office 365?
According to Microsoft’s 2018 annual report, the company now boasts 135 million monthly Office 365 users. The report noted that commercial Office 365 revenue grew 41 percent in the previous year, an indication of the continued adoption of the product.
How Much Does Office 365 Cost?
The design firm that contacted KalioTek was concerned about the price of productivity applications. Price is one of Office 365’s main advantages. Instead of paying for new seat licenses, software and installation as with other products, cloud-based Office 365 is priced at a predictable, monthly, per-user rate. You’ll know your software annual costs upfront. What’s more, when you add new users, providing them access to Office 365 is simple and fast.
What Are the Advantages to Microsoft Office 365 Migration?
You and your organization realize greater flexibility, collaboration and support when you choose KalioTek to manage your Microsoft Office 365 migration. Here are a few of the advantages:
- Seamless Integration. For employees, the introduction of Office 365 should be seamless, using the same tools they’re already familiar with. The desktop and cloud-based versions are integrated, meaning there’s no risk of losing messages, files or data when switching between versions. In fact, Microsoft noted the importance of that integration in its recent annual report: “Certain cloud services, primarily Office 365, depend on a significant level of integration, interdependency, and interrelation between the desktop applications and cloud services.”
- Anytime, Anywhere Access. In business today, you need access to information, communication tools and data across the globe. Mobile workforces, flexible work schedules and the growing use of freelancers mean your applications have to be available all the time and from anywhere. With Office 365, your users can access all the tools and files from wherever they have an internet connection. Office 365 works on multiple operating systems and devices, too.
- Collaboration Inside and Out. Collaboration among internal teams and external clients, customers, vendors and partners is essential. With cloud-based and web-accessed applications and files, your collaboration can be even better. Connect employees in different locations, customers, in different time zones and traveling employees, with everyone seeing and using the same information.
- Simple and Straightforward. The learning curve is very low. After you complete your Microsoft Office 365 migration, employees can immediately use the cloud-based tools, which are designed with intuitive and familiar interfaces.
- Online Meetings. You can host audio, video or web conference meetings with Microsoft Teams.
- Data Security. Your data is backed up automatically, protected with state-of-the-art security tools, and monitored 24/7 to detect suspicious activity.
- Reliable and Available. Office 365 comes with a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee and the reliability, speed and performance you expect from cloud solutions.
- Easy Administration. A web-based Admin console uses a dashboard and drop-down tools for system administrators to monitor app health, identify issues and set up domains, groups and users.
- Automated Updates. If there are patches or updates required for any of the applications, automated processes update Office 365 behind the scenes, usually with no impact on users.
- Scalability. As your business scales, Microsoft Office 365 adapts with it, giving you the flexibility to scale up or down depending on business growth, demand or seasonal variances.
What’s Involved in a Microsoft Office 365 Migration?
A Microsoft Office 365 migration is a complex series of steps designed to make for a seamless transition. At KalioTek, that means preparing users for the change, assessing your infrastructure, setting up groups and users, migrating mailboxes and ensuring everything is working.
KalioTek simplifies the migration work, whether you’re moving from Microsoft Exchange, Google Apps, Lotus Notes or another email service. We also support hybrid configurations between Office 365 and Exchange. Whether you’re a small- or medium-sized business or a multinational enterprise, KalioTek has the expertise to make migration simple, fast and organized.
When you choose KalioTek as your strategic partner, the work does not end there. We also help you optimize your investment and leverage all the capabilities and functions the applications offer. To see why KalioTek is the preferred choice for Microsoft Office 365 migration services throughout the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, schedule your free initial consultation today.