MS Office - Still the standard, but for how long?
October 29, 2019
MS Office - Still the standard, but for how long?
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Office 2016
Microsoft Office 2016 is being used throughout our entire organization as the main software for executing daily office tasks. The most used applications within the product would be Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. There is a small group within the school that have very specific data manipulation needs that utilize Access, but they generally use it on an as-needed basis and not day-to-day.
- Data manipulation. Excel takes the raw data we receive and allows us to digest it in ways that are useful to our business processes.
- Communication. Outlook serves as our primary means of communication and setting up appointments.
- Documentation. Word is the default standard when it comes to using a word processor and we are no different in this regard. Nearly every user has to use the application on a regular basis in order to accomplish their work.
- Too many features. This sounds like an odd statement, but there are classifications of workers. You have your casual users, regular users, and power users. The majority of our staff do not fit into the power users group that utilizes many of the features. The hardest issue to support is the user finding what it is that they are looking for.
- Cost. As products from Google and other services gain traction it is harder in our facility to not make the transition to services such as G Suite for education. Our teachers are familiar with the product as it is being used during the class delivery with their students. They don't want to use more products than necessary. We are certainly seeing a divide between the instructional staff and the administrative and support staff in the use of their products.
- End-user help. There will always be a need to train users on software, however as support resources get stretched thinner, it becomes more important that the end-user be able to find the solutions on their own. This is an endless process, and one that will not fit every type of user, but should be considered when building future versions of the product.
- For the user groups that use Office in our organization, they would find it difficult to work without it. Decades of development are hard to just walk away from.
- Office products are considered standard. When sharing data, there is almost never a question of "What format would you like that file in"?
- For the price of convenience at this time, licensing fees are priced where we don't feel that we are not getting what we paid for.
Google's suite of products is a compelling choice when putting it up against Office 2016. Microsoft Office is still the standard to meet and beat. The simplicity of Google's products works well for many of the users who don't need advanced features. Office 2016 for my use as a power user is the only real choice.
Do you think Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued) delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)'s feature set?
Yes
Did Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued) live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued) go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued) again?
Yes