You can do this stuff for free -- or pay to do it right.
February 27, 2018

You can do this stuff for free -- or pay to do it right.

Justin Beckett | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Microsoft Office 365 (Cloud)

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Office 365

Company-wide communication, including ...
* SKYPE for Business: Used to instant communication between off-site employees; screen and idea sharing between departments; mobile replies when away from the computer; and occasional transfers of non-secure files.
* OUTLOOK: Used primarily for calendar and contact management; in-house and external email
* EXCEL: Used primarily to deliver charts for print production. Occasionally used to open production calendars and walk-backs schedules from printers and other departments.
* WORD: Rarely used; primarily for writing standing memos and policy.
* ONEDRIVE: Used extensively to maintain files across multiple computers and users.

Pros

  • Skype for Business is an excellent program for communicating not only in office, but with other Office 365 users across Windows, Mac and mobile platforms.
  • Onedrive, included with a suite of products you are already buying, is a sufficient cloud-file storage program.
  • Outlook is good for organization-wide mailing lists and ease of distribution. It organizes contacts well across a large company.

Cons

  • Skype for business lacks the ability to EVER communicate with personal Skype accounts. Some of our vendors do not subscribe to Office 365 and therefore are shut out of this communication process.
  • Outlook is a bit bare-bones on email coding and html and tries to be everything to everyone, integrating calendars, schedules, and many other functions instead of just being an outstanding email program.
  • OneDrive is nothing special at the end of the day. Sharing of files across user groups is mildly less intuitive than Google Drive or Dropbox and lacks a good "backup" feature should files go missing.
  • Easy to schedule conversations; keep paper trails; and generally organize tasks and meetings.
  • Can't communicate or share with vendors who do not subscribe to office 365.
  • Easy to share files, make edits and communicate with other 365 users.
  • There are free vendors out there -- but the larger the organization, the more difficult that becomes to implement consistently.
Office 365 does what it does very well -- and nothing more. It is simple to implement across an organization and then share files and results, as well as organizing contacts and calendars.

However, Google Drive, iCloud Drive and Dropbox all also offer seamless cloud file-sharing that can integrate directly into the OS of a computer and mobile device. In the case of Google Drive and Apple iCloud, this includes edits of their native office programs (Google Docs; Apple iWork). And these are cheaper or free than Office 365. The caveat is that they must be set up on a user-by-user basis, which can get difficult and cumbersome to manage in big groups. Slack and personal Skype are free and can generally do what Skype for Business can do -- sometimes better. But they cannot communicate with Skype for Business clients, and they do not provide the same seamless paper trail that Office 365 does.
Office 365 is a must for large organizations. The subscription-base means active directors users can install software on both work and personal devices -- allowing files and tasks to be accessed at all times, from all places. Collaborating on basic office files, such as Word documents, Excel documents, calendar items, agendas and so on comes easily. Skype for Business is a great tool to integrate communication, especially among remote workers. Generally sharing Active Directory based account services across many users in a singular eco-system makes Office 365 ideal for bigger organizations.

Office 365 is not ideal for smaller organizations because there are products that can individually handle its tasks for cheaper (or free). Dropbox, Google Drive, and iCloud Drive are free (or more economical) file-sharing alternatives and often have a better back-up system in case files become damaged or missing. For creative organizations, OneDrive duplicates services already offered in Adobe Creative Cloud and Apple's iWork suites. Skype doesn't play well with other instant messaging programs and there are better, free alternatives (such as Slack) for small organizations who don't have to communicate with large groups. There are countless other programs (Google Docs, Apple iWork, etc) that can do what Word, Excel, and PowerPoint do -- for free.

Using Microsoft Office 365

8 - Creative design; marketing; tour sales; business planning; social media

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