Five things to know about Office 365

Five things to know about Office 365

If you're trying to decide if Office 365 fits the specific needs of your business or organization, here are five things to know about Microsoft's cloud based version of Office.

What is the difference?

Chances are you're already familiar with the desktop version of Microsoft Office. Components like MS Word and MS Excel have been staples on our PC's and in our offices for years.

Office 365 and Office Web apps are the most recent add ons to the family. Office Web Apps is a free and limited version of Office that integrates with Microsoft's cloud storage service Skydrive.  Skydrive allows users on a device without Office installed to view and do basic edits of Office files via the web.

While Web Apps is great for viewing and making basic text or formatting edits, Office 365 offers full desktop Office functionality in the cloud through a subscription-based plan.  Office 365 has become increasingly popular because it is a near hybrid of the desktop and web- based version of Office and it supports multiple devices.

What are the System Requirements?

Office 365 requires Internet access, Windows 7 or 8, OS X 10.6 (or later) on a Mac, and compatible browsers such as IE9, Chrome 18, Firefox 12 and Safari 5. Optimal performance will require systems to have 3 GB of free hard drive space for Windows and 2.5 GB for Macs, either 1 GB of Ram (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM(64-bit), and a 1 GHz processor for Windows or Intel processor for Mac.

How Much Does it Cost?

There are multiple Office 365 subscriptions to choose from:

• Small Business Plan: For businesses with up to 25 users, Office 365 is available at a monthly "pay as you go" rate of $6.00 USD per user or $60USD if they pay annually.  A premium package is priced annually at $150 per user and includes the desktop version of each Office app.

• Enterprise Plans: Enterprise Office 365 plans for mid sized businesses with up to 300 users and large enterprises accommodating over 300 users are available for anywhere from $8 USD to $24 USD monthly per user.

• Home Premium Plan: For personal and family use, you can have Office 365 for $9.00 USD monthly or $99.99 for the year for up to five devices.

Is It Compatible with Older Versions of Desktop Office?

For businesses already using older versions of desktop Office, Office 365 is compatible with both Office 2010 and 2013 but some functionality is lost with Office 2007. A compatibility pack for Office 2003 users has been discontinued since January 2014. 

Is It Secure?

Security is a concern of all business moving to the cloud. Office 365 has the very same Trust Center and user-level security options as desktop Office. Each office application supports encryption and allows permissions to be set.  With files stored off site in secure specialized data centers, it can be argued that small businesses are actually more secure using Office 365 than they are on their own.

If you feel Office 365 may be the right fit for your business or organization, you may find the services of a qualified IT consultant are needed to assist your integration with your existing environment.  Ensuring that you maximize the value out of your Office 365 investment is an important part of your decision to deploy.

 

        

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