For decades, Microsoft only sold software to its office users as an independent program, which was usually upgraded to a newer version after 2-3 years, but there was an issue. Its users had to wait for almost 3 years before they could have access to a newer version or an upgraded version, which according to them, was not an efficient service, as there were other competing companies offering related service.
Office 365 was the answer to some of the limitations of Microsoft’s services.
What Is Office 365?
Office 365 is a cloud-based application that functions as a subscription based model.
Office 365 was first announced by Microsoft in October 2010, which later launched a beta testing with business organizations, before reaching for a public beta in April 2011. This was immediately accompanied with a general roll out of its service on June 28, 2011. It initially targeted businesses and corporate organizations, curating Office 365 as Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite(BPOS).
Apparently, Microsoft’s major competitor, Google, was offering a related service for free, but Microsoft never wavered from charging its tiered payment, and the competition between both parties led Microsoft to expanding its Office 365 reach to Individual users, as it was originally rolled out only for business organizations.
There was a website created by Microsoft to compare Office 365 and Google Docs.
It’s no secret that large public sector organizations have consistently valued Microsoft’s cloud offerings not only because of our deep understanding of enterprise organizations, but also for their ease of use, security, and privacy capabilities. Regardless of how organizations are thinking about the cloud, Microsoft provides a choice for their productivity needs; on premises, in the cloud or as a hosted solution.
Office 365 Is delivered in two versions, targeted at small businesses and enterprises. The small business is targeted towards businesses that have less than 25 workers.
The enterprise version comes with a variety of premium features and offerings.
Subscribers will have access to Microsoft Office Professional Plus desktop software, email, voicemail, instant messaging, extranets, web portals, enterprise social networking, and voice, video, and Web conferencing.
Office 365 Home and Business allows users to access most of the applications including PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, Access, Excel and Publisher, etc.
An Office 365 consultant specializes in managing and administering web-based solutions for an organization. An office 365 consultant assists you to carefully critique which specifications suit your company’s needs. Their duties cut across helping you to customize current solutions. These alternatives are usually suited to your individual sector and all of your company’s unique characteristics.
Furthermore, an Office 365 consultant can assist you in staying on track. As a result, he or she will offer you regular support and guidance, as well as optimization advice.
Roles of An Office 365 Consultant
A lot of organizations have subscribed to using Microsoft’s Office 365 products for security purposes, increase revenue, automate operations, increase productivity and reduce workload. Achieving this feat would require that an organization hires an Office 365 consultant to help optimize and customize the platform to suit their needs.
The following are the roles of an Office 365 Consultant;
- Simplify Technical Aspects On The Platform
Originally, Office 365 is quite easy to work with and navigate, but due to an increasing upgrade of platform’s functionalities and features e.g, As a web-based application, there are a lot of tools that have to be upgraded to meet up with the increasing growth of technology, product development and research, and clients’ demands.
These new tools which are not available in the previous version would require that organizations take out time to learn and understand the features. Nonetheless, an Office 365 consultant will assist your organization to understand all the tools.
2. Optimize And Customize Platform For The business
Different organizations come with varying specifications and needs, which most times would require that they have the platform customized to fit their every day activity.
An Office 365 consultant would help to maximize the usage of some of the features on Office 365.. An Office 365 consultant can help to pattern and customize the fundamentals of Microsoft Office 365 apps to suit your business needs.
This will boost efficiency even further while reducing potential risk. It also helps reduce workload, when you automate some duties.
3. Counseling session on usage of Office 365
It’s best to stay current with the software because it’s changed frequently. An Office 365 consultant can assist you on the greatest and most up-to-date tools for giving your company a competitive edge. For example, a business can utilize Sharepoint to see documents rather than printing them. Employees can also access information seamlessly using the same technology.
4. Training Team To Use The Platform
Microsoft software is used by many enterprises in some form or another. As a result, employees must be educated on the company’s plans. An Office 365 consultant may teach your employees how to use the tools and understand shortcuts so they can work faster and more efficiently.
5. Transition from Obsolete System to New System
Data can be lost while trying to transition from an old system to a new one. It could also be irksome and time consuming due to some complexities that come with the platform. Hiring an Office 365 would help reduce any form of risk and also, deliver on the job at a fast rate.
Merits To Working with An Office 365 Consultant
- Helps to determine achievable goals and objectives:
An office 365 consultant would help critique the reasons why your company currently needs an Office 365, challenges or setbacks that you want the application to solve, and your type of business operation.
These are some of the reasons why you need the help of an Office 365 consultant, whose duties are to help you achieve the goals by creating solutions to challenges using the application, optimizing and customizing the application for your business needs. And also, explain some of the intricate details to you.
2. Increase User-Friendly Features:
There are quite a number of features on Office 365, which can be somewhat technical. The assistance of an Office 365 consultant would be utilized here to harness third-party websites and other Office 365 cloud sections to yield increase in productivity.
3. Increase In Business Profit:
In order to maximize profit and minimize loss, most organizations would rather seek help from an Office 365 consultant to know what’s working, what they should stop doing and what they should re-strategize on, all to minimize expenses and increase revenue in the organization.
In conclusion, Office 365 consultants are a must-have for an organization that wants to maximize Office 365 application for its business operations.