Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is a Microsoft Cloud subscription service that includes Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access). The software can be installed across multiple devices and ensures that users always have the most up-to-date version of the included Office applications.
$5
Per User Per Month
Workplace from Meta
Score 7.9 out of 10
N/A
Facebook at Work allows users to interact with co-workers through the Facebook interface.
I like these applications, but Google does them for free. You can't beat that. I still use OneNote frequently, but for most work, Google is a winner here.
The other helps out only for files and project management. With Workplace place you can go farther in project management and communication between the different teams. It's really a game-changer for every company that as adopts this tool. If you take it, you will see a really …
Sr. Learning & Development Consultant, E-Learning Specialist
Chose Workplace from Meta
I was not involved in the selection process, so I'm afraid I can't be of much help with this. I do know that my company is a stickler for security, though, as well as for making sure that the vendor is financially stable, so I would assume that Workplace by Facebook passed both …
Microsoft 365 is well-suited for:Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs): Microsoft 365 offers a cost-effective solution for SMBs to access a suite of essential productivity tools without the need for extensive IT infrastructure. It provides a wide range of applications, allowing teams to collaborate, communicate, and manage documents efficiently.Remote Work and Collaboration: Microsoft 365's cloud-based nature makes it ideal for remote work scenarios. With tools like Microsoft Teams, employees can easily communicate, hold video conferences, and collaborate on projects in real-time, regardless of their location.Microsoft 365 may be less appropriate for:Organizations with Specific Software Requirements: Some organizations may have specialized software needs that are not met by Microsoft 365. In such cases, they may require industry-specific software or custom solutions.Limited Internet Connectivity: Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based platform, which means a stable internet connection is essential for optimal functionality. Organizations with poor internet connectivity might face challenges using the cloud-based applications effectively.
Well suited: - leadership communication. When our CEO posts a video to all company - it always gets the highest engagement - recognition/achievements posts - live streams for education, knowledge sharing - we are a company of 12000 associates and there is no other corporate channel for us to gather more than 500 people in one place. Less appropriate: - sharing some very targetted messages - it's impossible to do at Workplace without creating a group. So we use email channel for such targetted communications - instant communication like in a chat (probably it's less appropriate in our specific case because we use MS Teams for such quick communication instead of WP chats)
keeps me extremely organized. It is so easy to link calendars, emails, and documents.
keeps me well connected. It is so easy to send a quick message on teams or send an email to a group (for example, my particular team within the company).
easy to use. Everything is straightforward, making it easy to find an answer to a question. There is even a search option to figure out how to do something within Microsoft.
Bring groups of people together to share info, stories, updates, etc.
The chat app is pretty decent.
Workplace Live is a good large-group meeting broadcast platform.
It's pretty intuitive to use for anyone who's used Facebook.
It provides different levels of "security" for groups, allowing you to have open, closed, and "secret" groups.
It's easy to paste images into your posts and comments, without having to necessarily go through the process of saving an image as a file, etc.
It has search capabilities for finding old information.
It's available for both desktop/laptop and mobile devices.
It's secured to allow only those within the company to see company-related info (but it also has a few inter-company groups, which can be useful, too).
Workplace Chat has the ability to set it to Do Not Disturb.
You can set notifications, including email notifications, if you want to be alerted to new activity in your groups, etc.
Microsoft 365 really needs to work on protection part. In complex environment it is not reliable as compared to its competitors like Proofpoint. There are many instances where it fails to perform effectively.
In SharePoint Online the versioning feature of the document needs to be improved by Microsoft. Sometimes when we have to roll back to the previous version it does not work as expected.
In Teams messaging and app permission policies can be improved. There are some settings where we have to add a lot of things manually.
It would be helpful if a review confirmation checkbox was able to be placed by files that needed to be read or reviewed. Along the same line, approve, review again, etc. would be helpful checkboxes to add by files, proposals.
The layout is clean but suffers a bit from the center column width with two sidebars and a lot of empty space. It almost looks like a going out of business sale retail store where you notice the empty shelves. Workplace feels a bit bare at times. I think some good design modifications can help. Now on mobile, it is a great layout. I am addressing specifically the desktop browser login.
An admin control dashboard would be really effective and even more so with more users on the platform.
The interface of the different tools (this suite has MANY different tools) is usually simple to use and intuitive, and you can always re-arrange and add or remove the task you use most frequently from the menus and task bars.
Each tool / product includes a lot of features that may require a more intensive learning, but usually Office 365 tools are simple to learn from scratch, adding more knowledge as you required more advanced features
Having to download multiple apps just to use the tool is very cumbersome. Facebook would have make this better by wrapping it in as a main feature within their app, but having to use multiple apps to see discussions and walls is so frustrating.
Over the past 8 years of using Microsoft 365, I have noticed that they change vendors often. This always leads to a poor experience in the beginning, then levels out after some time for the company to get things worked out. As a customer, it is really frustrating because I don't have time when something isn't working to have them "look into my issue" and get back with me. They have even closed a ticket I specifically told them to keep open. Your applications are only as good as the support.
Workplace by Facebook is an excellent fit in respect of support and documentation. It has excellent tutorials and documentation, as well. The UI and UX are already great as it is developed and maintained by Facebook, so most of the times, there is no need for any support or documentation.
Google Sheets is better for sharing and collaborative editing. Versioning of the same file is also one of Google Sheets strong points.
Microsoft 365 is better for working with local files. It is much easier to store the file in multiple places and backup multiple versions in multiple places.
LibreOffice is free but the usage is much counter intuitive than Microsoft Office. OpenOffice is worse when it comes to UI.
Microsoft Excel's performance with larger files is much better. When opening huge files, excel loads it asynchronously and I can start working right away.
Workplace by Facebook is so much more than just a project management tool like Basecamp or Slack. The ability to disseminate information to employees is easier and better with Workplace by Facebook. It can also be used for informal messaging and sharing of information. It combines the best features of both with the same look and feel as Facebook.
Positively, it has increased productivity and efficiency in creating templates and being able to systemize some of the protocols we are working on putting into place.
It has been a positive as well as most individuals and companies that we associate with also use MicroSoft 365 and therefore there is no need to have formats change in our documents when they open them up using another type of program.
We can meet the project times, that with the communication in real time.
We provide solutions to our suppliers in a reliable and efficient manner.
When a business can save time and at the same time respond to the demands of customers, this translates into greater market capture of action for the company.
