Microsoft 365 for Small Businesses
Updated May 17, 2019
Microsoft 365 for Small Businesses
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft 365 Business
We use Microsoft 365 Business to provide all of our basic office software solutions including word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, email, cloud-based document management, etc. We moved to Microsoft 365 Business as a cloud solution to avoid having to upgrade individual laptops on a regular basis, provide our employees with access to licenses for multiple devices and eliminate the use of another third party exchange email provider. Microsoft 365 Business provided us better solutions and lowered our costs.
Pros
- Easy and cost-effective management of licenses for users. It's super easy to add and delete users with costs being prorated appropriately. Being able to manage everything through the cloud allows us to administer our licenses remotely rather than sending someone to go to each computer.
- Access and ability to expand to use other software as necessary including Visio and MS Project. Very cost effective for small, intermittent use cases. This allows us to only pay for software as we need it and turn on and off licensees as needed. We can also provide new software instantly and remotely which saves us time and money.
- Document management and collaboration of documents via the cloud. SharePoint is included in Microsoft 365 Business which provides us a cloud based document management and collaboration tool which we did not previously have.
- Web conference calling and screen sharing capability. This is functionality that we did not previously have that improves our productive with no additional costs.
- Ability to store files in the cloud on an individual basis in addition to company basis. Cloud storage improves our backup capability and allows us to utilize files across devices and switch devices seamlessly without incurring additional costs.
Cons
- Integration between cloud products still needs work. Microsoft still needs to improve the integration across it's products particularly related to SharePoint.
- Cloud products can be difficult to use, particularly the web-based versions. Web based SharePoint is hard to use which reduces users willingness to adopt the new technology.
- Synchronization with cloud products still needs work. Sometimes files in the cloud do not synchronize as they should. This technology appears to still be evolving.
- Confusion between Skype for Business and Skype. The Skype products are confusing and now Microsoft is rolling out Microsoft Teams as a new product altogether which hopefully will address this issue but may increase the confusion.
- Positive ROI because of the integration with email which allowed us to eliminate our separate email vendor. By eliminating our third party exchange server provider we were able to reduce our costs and increase our ROI.
- Loss of ability to spread costs over long periods of time by avoiding upgrades. Our costs our incurred monthly regardless of how long we keep our computers so we can no longer reduce our software costs by extending the life of our hardware.
- Eliminate the need to purchase separate cloud services for storage, collaboration, IM, etc. We get cloud services at no additional costs which increases our ROI
Using Microsoft 365 Business
25 - Management consultants providing financial, process improvement and system implementation support.
We run a self service support model and Microsoft 365 Business requires very little effort to support it.
- Email
- Excel/PowerPoint/Word applications
- Skype for IM/screensharing/conference calls
- Ability to add additional Microsoft software such as Visio and Project
- Provide licenses for multiple devices
- Provide remote control off laptops to provide IT help
- Try out new Microsoft software without making long term commitments to using it
- Increase usage of other Microsoft software products
- Leverage SharePoint for document management
- Leverage OneDrive to replace our backup software
Evaluating Microsoft 365 Business and Competitors
Yes - Microsoft 365 Business replaced standalone Microsoft Office and third party exchange email
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Vendor Reputation
The reduced costs by eliminating the need for a third party exchange email provider coupled with the ability to manage licenses online were critical to our decision.
We are very happy with the process we went through and the decision that we made so would not change anything.
Microsoft 365 Business Implementation
- Implemented in-house
No - We implemented everything at one time and it was a smooth implementation
Change management was minimal - We did not need very much change management to support our implementation
- Explaining how the new software works
- Configuring user ids
- Creating email groups
Microsoft 365 Business Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Good followup Problems get solved No escalation required Support understands my problem | Support doesn't seem to care |
No - We don't have a need for premium support and don't want to incur the extra cost.
We have had limited support needs so do not have an example of exceptional support.
Using Microsoft 365 Business
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Technical support not required Consistent Quick to learn Feel confident using Familiar | None |
- Office suite of software
- Managing licenses
- Managing billing
- User administration
- Technical set-up
- Finding pricing details
Yes - We don't have any real issues with the mobile interface but don't use it very often
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