Why I Like Office 365
April 20, 2017

Why I Like Office 365

Brian W. Caldwell BIT | MIS | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review

Software Version

Microsoft Office 365 (Cloud)

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Office 365

We are a MSFT Gold Partner. We use Office 365 for our own internal use with our main organization as well as our two sister companies. We also resell (via CSP model) Office 365 to many of our customers in the region. Given that Office 365 is the name for an entire suite of products and services, its function, usefulness, and ability to resolve many specific business problems common to any organization are worthy of note and cannot be overstated.
The following is a summary of the business problems solved

Messaging:
E-Mail via Exchange Online with built-in spam and virus filtering
Instant Messaging via Skype for Business
Telephone Conferencing via Skype for Business with Conferencing
Telephone Calls via Skype for Business with PSTN - Local and International dialing

Office Productivity Applications:
Outlook (for E-Mail), Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access

Business Intelligence with Power BI

Collaboration and File Sharing using SharePoint and OneDrive
  • The Exchange Online service is particularly functional and highly secure.
  • OneDrive allows for secure file sharing across and outside the organization.
  • SharePoint is very useful for team sites.
  • The Skype for Business application is a bit difficult to learn for conferencing but is improving.
  • The Skype for Business with PSTN dialing is in its infancy but due to be a major player in the coming months. MSFT has stated it wants to be the single largest telecommunications provider in the world.
  • PowerBI Desktop seems to have some undocumented upper limits somewhere over 100 queries before it crashes.
  • Microsoft Office 365 has had a positive impact on our organization and our overall business objectives primarily because we of course are a Microsoft Partner.
The only real alternative in my opinion is the Google G-Suite (Google Apps for Work/Business).
Another lesser and unequal alternative is Amazon Workspaces.
Office 365 is well suited for the SMB market. It's excellent for education institutions of all sizes. Microsoft offers competitive rates for education as well as government entities of all sizes. It is not well suited for those without internet access or frequent internet outages. Not suited for very slow internet connections.