Excellent choice for small businesses looking to increase productivity
October 22, 2018
Excellent choice for small businesses looking to increase productivity
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft 365 Business
Microsoft 365 Business is used in many ways within my organization. We collect lots of data, being an environmental surveying company, but we also have to present that data and process it. Microsoft Office applications are the go-to because they are familiar to all employees and accessible, so creating reports and tutorials are easy and professional in appearance. 365 Business provides us with the full Office setup as well as cloud storage and security. The cloud storage is especially helpful as we work from home or from the field site many days of the week. Overall it is a great program that allows my company the comfort and reliability of Microsoft Office with the security and flexibility 365 adds to it all.
- Microsoft Office! Being able to have a package deal that includes "old faithful" Microsoft Office, as well as current updates, is a blessing. With some older employees, Microsoft Office is the only processor they've really dealt with and it simplifies everything not to have to train them on new programs.
- Cloud storage. With 1TB of cloud storage, we can do so much! We collect a lot of data but also end up co-writing reports and making new tutorials for instruments. Being able to share those easily through my computer AND have the file types be synchronized (see my Office point above), is a timesaver and really increases productivity and how quickly we can get back to our clients.
- The combination of Outlook and Exchange makes it so easy to remember everyone's schedules, along with the company schedule. As a new company, projects and presentations come up last minute and it's hard to keep track of different calendar systems and emails. This is definitely a stress-reducing part of 365 Business.
- The security and data protection is also reassuring. We have had a few clients previously where the data and final reports are somewhat confidential and this is just an added layer of protection around the company!
- While it is nice having Outlook connected with everything, it has always been a little difficult to adjust to using a new email receiver if you have only been using the host. The interface is different and, though not bad, definitely takes some getting used to.
- More simplified and accessible storage upgrades would be nice. 1TB is a LOT, I know, but in the science world some instruments collect a LOT of data. And we need somewhere to keep it where it's accessible and secure.
- It's a great bang for your buck. Familiar applications make business carry on as usual without any large adaptations or time away for training.
- The shift from different email receivers can be difficult if you had previously set up your email in the host itself, it takes a bit to reconfigure things to work with outlook on your computer and mobile.
- The shared calendars and cloud storage really make business simpler. No confusing schedule discrepancies, and it's easy to access what your coworkers have been working on to make edits or polish and send to a client.
Microsoft 365 Business is Microsoft Office on steroids, plus some. There are all the benefits of Office (reliability, no need for training in most cases) plus the benefits of cloud storage, email and calendar synchronization, and built-in data security. Office is great for individual work but if you need to be working alongside others and planning events, 365 Business is perfect. It's great for small companies, too, who just need a step above Office and not too much more.