office 365 Archives · Page 2 of 2 · AE Technology Group

Why Choose Office 365 Over G Suite Google Apps

Google is known the world over for their search engine, free email, Android smartphones, along with a host of other technologies such as AI and self-driving vehicles. So it might seem natural for companies to assume that Google’s G Suite is in some way superior to Microsoft’s Office 365 line of productivity tools. After all, if Google is everywhere, they must be the best, right? Not necessarily.

In this post, we will outline several factors companies will want to consider before deciding which set of productivity tools will work best for their particular needs.

Scalable and Reliable

Companies want productivity tools they can count on and they want those same tools to scale along with their business. Microsoft is so committed to delivering just such a product, they are willing to prove it. If any of their on-demand services drops below a virtually perfect 99.9 percent availability level of service, Microsoft covers it with their comprehensive service level agreement. In contrast, Google does not acknowledge service downtime until at least 5% of a company’s user base is affected.

Consistent and Familiar

The use of Office’s products remains consistent, regardless of device and whether a user is online or offline. Consistency breeds familiarity, which leads to a shorter learning curve and an increase in user productivity. Google’s G Suite products are not as user intuitive, meaning employees will spend more time trying to learn how to use their products rather than actually producing. Google’s capabilities are not as robust offline as when online, thus reducing the number of convenient “anytime, anywhere” access opportunities.

Better Security

When it comes to security, Google simply adheres to their standard, one-size-fits-all privacy policy for both business and personal users. While robust, this security policy may not necessarily address all the security and regulation requirements needed for a variety of industries. Microsoft provides their business users the higher level of security required in many industries. Microsoft’s commitment to business security includes state-of-the-art data centers, multi-factor authentication, encrypted data access, and premium antivirus, anti-spam protection.

A Stronger Commitment to Productivity Innovation

While it is clear in a broad sense that Google is a strong leader in technology innovation, unlike Microsoft’s commitment to their Office 365 apps, Google’s commitment to productivity tools is more of an afterthought. Microsoft’s approach to their productivity tools is different. They are fully committed to supporting their current business customers through their Office 365 line of products, along with committing real investment dollars for future innovation.

If you would like to know more about the differences between Office 365 and Google’s G Suite, please contact us.

Office 365 vs. Office 2019 for Business

Microsoft is an essential part of many business’ operations. Businesses rely on Microsoft Word for their word processing needs, Excel for spreadsheets and PowerPoint for presentations. The cloud has become an integral part of Microsoft’s offerings, and this had led the company to offer two different versions of Microsoft Office:

Office 365
Office 2019

Each version can be used for business, but which is ideal?

Office 365: Cloud-based

Office 365 is cloud-based, so you pay for a subscription either monthly or yearly. Cloud-based, Microsoft worries about updates, infrastructure and security. You or your employees simply log into Office on your web browser and can make Word documents, spreadsheets or any other file under the Office suite of products.

What’s nice about Office 365 is that it can be accessed anywhere on any Internet-connected device.

You can work on a document in the office, go home, and then work on the document some more. Automatic saving makes the process streamlined. Office 365 for business comes with the following office applications:

Access (only on PC)
Excel
Outlook
PowerPoint
Word

All versions come with OneDrive, but the higher version comes with a few extras:

Exchange
SharePoint
Teams

You will receive a desktop version of Office applications with Office 365. The maximum number of users on the business plan is 300, so everyone in the office can have access to Office 365.

Office 2019: Standalone Version

Office 2019 is a standalone product, so it’s a one-time purchase. You won’t have to pay subscription fees, but you won’t have the benefit of online collaboration on the cloud. Licenses are valid for one PC or Mac, and fully-installed versions will include the following:

Excel
OneNote
Outlook
PowerPoint
Word

You’ll need to update Office 2019, and all of your files will be stored on your computer or server. A disaster recovery plan should be in place when using the standalone version of Office 2019, or you risk losing your data if your hard drive fails, you get a virus, or data becomes corrupted.

Which Office is Best for Your Business?

If you don’t have the budget for Office 365, Office 2019 may be the best option. In most other cases, Office 365 will offer the most flexibility. Not only does Office 365 come with its own version for your PC or Mac, but it will also offer:

Regular updates from Microsoft (you never need to upgrade)
Cloud-based data storage
Ease of collaboration for larger teams
Linking directly to files in the cloud
Access to all applications on multiple devices

Office 2019 will need to be updated when Office 2020 is released, but you can continue using Office 2019 for as long as you wish.

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Microsoft Teams New Features: Shifts and More

As technology advances, organizations find they can plan more, direct more and execute more because they have more relevant and timely information, thus allowing them to better decisions. As part of the trend of providing more effective and efficient ways to relay information, Microsoft has expanded multiple features within their Microsoft Teams app. Features that promise to connect the right people with the right information, at just the right time.

Shifts

Not every group of employees works together in a close environment. In many cases, staff members are spread out across the local landscape or perhaps even the globe, as in the case of flight crew members. Regardless of the physical location of their employees, shift coordinators need an intelligent mechanism that allows them to plan and coordinate work schedules, which in turn enables seamless delivery of services and/or products to their customer base. With the Teams app Shift tool, managers can easily create, keep track of and update an entire work schedule, thus ensuring that even employees disbursed all over the globe, know where they need to be and when they need to be there.

Updating Made Easy

Especially when employees work out in the field, they need features that will allow them to connect to and update other members of the group who made not be physically nearby. For mobile users, Microsoft’s Team app has a location sharing feature, allowing managers to keep tabs on their employees, as well as allowing employees to verify they are where they say they are. Workers can easily snap and upload photos of work-related issues and share with others, thereby garnering additional insight for problem-solving. They can also immediately text or share their comments by voice, or they can record audio or video messages for viewing at a later date.

Integrate With Current Systems

Microsoft understands that moving an entire organization over to new software takes time. That’s why they created a Graph API that enables organizations to seamlessly integrate their current workforce management system with the new features of their Teams app.

Give Recognition

Lastly, Microsoft’s Team app allow managers and others to send out praise and recognition to individual employees, as well as project groups for a job well done. For those who often work independently, managers can use Microsoft’s Praise tool within the app, thereby helping employees in the field understand their employer truly appreciates all their hard work.

Even more tips for Microsoft Teams can be found here. If you would like to know more about the Teams app and how it can help organize and coordinate your company’s team efforts, please contact us.

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Three New Things Microsoft SharePoint Has to Offer

Microsoft SharePoint is still the most used platform for intranets, portals, and digital collaboration. There are challenges and limited updates, but that hasn’t done much to alter the success rate of SharePoint. Microsoft has made some changes to the collaborative platform, but knowing what they are won’t explain how it will help business.

Here are three things that should be known:

Usability

When using products, ease of use is a huge part of what makes it successful. Microsoft has made great changes to improve the user-friendliness of SharePoint. One new feature, the App Launcher, is an extension that allows you to access Microsoft owned applications, like OneDrive for Business, as well as navigation between on-premises and the cloud. The App Launcher also allows the addition of favorite sites for ready access. Other features include support for increased file sizes, removal of character stipulations of file names, images and videos are more easily viewed, and folder creation. Of course, these are just a few changes to the interface.

Searching

Finding documents after adding them to SharePoint is an essential feature to any document sharing product. Utilizing SharePoint for business allows members of that network to add, view, share, and download documents. Like a large filing cabinet, it needs some kind of organizational tool to assist with locating a file quickly and efficiently. The search engine can be used to pinpoint files with certain keywords as well as the title.

Hybrid with Office 365

SharePoint can be used in conjunction with Office 365. Many features require that both applications are functioning in order for them to work properly. OneDrive redirection allows you to use the Office 365 subscription to be redirected to the online version of the application and no longer On-Premises. Sites can be saved via Office 365 and On-Premises to the App Launcher; searching is unified — meaning that searching for one document will allow it to be located either in Office 365 or On-Premises SharePoint.

To become more informed about how SharePoint can improve your business or any other technical questions, please send us a message here at AE Technology Group.

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Microsoft Sharepoint Online and the ‘5 Pillars of SharePoint Governance’

At first glance, the joy of owning Microsoft Sharepoint online may be a bit overwhelming due to its vast array of features, particularly in the absence of an overall implementation plan.

Often, SharePoint’s is seen in a “singular” context to provide more efficient—and secure— document management and collaborative integration throughout the organization.

Often overlooked, are the software’s other capabilities, such its ease in developing and maintaining the company’s Intranet; too, select vendors can be given limited access to team member documents during a project.

The overall success in launching, training and maintaining the SharePoint suite can be summed up by reviewing the “5 Pillars of SharePoint Governance” with ‘security’ being the first on the list; the other remaining Pillars (auditing, reliability, usability and supportability) are also key to securing content; this, through designating user permissions, for example, not to mention keeping the network up-to-date with the most recent patches.

One of the methods of overseeing the platform to make sure it is meeting a “business goal or objective” is to appoint one Business Owner of the suite who works with the technical team ensure the untapped potential of SharePoint will ultimately evolve toward meeting those objectives.

It’s an age-old problem of overcoming people’s resistance to change, and bringing SharePoint on board pushes the envelop for many users: they need to be shown “the value in the change.”

As Jennifer Mason points out on CMSWire:

“…the trick is to know where you want to be, to start small and keep growing. You may be using SharePoint as a way to centrally store documents today, but as long as you keep the forward momentum, who knows where you’ll be three months from now?”

Furthermore, it isn’t about getting it SharePoint up and running to it’s maximum potential from the outset. More so, the successful users started “small” with an eye to adding features when the modules were understood.

Today’s successful businesses understand how important it is to use the right technology to maintain their competitive advantage. Contact us to learn more about implementing cloud-service tools like SharePoint, or why more and more clients are coming to rely on us as their managed service provider.

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