Office 365 is a subscription-based online office, software and services suite, which offers access to various services and software built around the Microsoft Office platform. Office 365 was officially launched on June 28, 2011.
With Office 365, business users can get an email server in the cloud using any domain name that they own, the most up-to-date Microsoft Office software, SkyDrive, Lync and SharePoint. This makes it one of the best small business IT solutions available.
Perhaps most importantly to price conscious business consumers, Microsoft’s new subscription-based model for its Office productivity suite has a price tag that is quite appealing for small business users. In many cases, switching to a subscription-based plan from Microsoft is much cheaper than purchasing new versions of Office for any moderately sized business with many users, especially when the retail price for the top-level edition of Office on a PC, Office Professional, goes for around $400 per user.
Office 365 has a number of plans that can appeal to many types of users, these include:
- Office 365 Home Premium: Aimed at mainstream consumers and families; includes access to most Office applications for home/non-commercial use (excluding InfoPath and Lync) on up to five devices, 20 GB of additional SkyDrive storage, 60 minutes of Skype international calls per month.
- Office 365 Small Business: Offers access to hosted Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync services only.
- Office 365 Small Business Premium: Aimed at businesses with 1-10 employees. Offers access to the Office applications on up to five devices per user, plus hosted Exchange (with 25 GB mailbox), SharePoint (with 10 GB of storage, plus an additional 500 MB per user), and Lync services.
- Office 365 ProPlus: Offers access to the Office 2013 Professional Plus applications for up to 25 users on up to five devices per user.
- Office 365 Midsize Business: Aimed at businesses with 10-250 employees. Offers access to the Office 2013 applications from ProPlus, plus hosted Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync services.
- Office 365 Enterprise: Intended for use in enterprise environments. Offers access to all Office applications, hosted Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync services, plus enterprise-specific legal compliance features and support.
With Office 365, a business can provide their employees with the most up-to-date Microsoft Office and top-notch email service, without the need for an in-house Exchange server. This combined with Office’s many other features makes it a good bargain.
SOHO Solutions, Inc. can help your company setup Office 365. Contact us today for more information on small business IT solutions, or to to find out how the benefits of Office 365 will help your organization.
