
What is Office 365?
Microsoft Office 365 is a group of subscription services from Microsoft designed to make the work-related aspects of the business easier and more efficient. It is used widely in companies across the world to help people manage their schedules, information, and collaborate more easily. This service is available as a subscription model, where a user will be charged on a monthly basis or can get it for free depending on their needs.
Microsoft Office 365 suite is one of these products.
The suite includes two products: Microsoft Office Web Apps and Microsoft Office 365 Personal. The first product is usually aimed at businesses and hence is the larger of the two. The Personal version is mainly aimed at personal users and hence is much smaller.
As per the MSN Blog, Microsoft is planning to release three additional products in the future called Microsoft Office Business Solutions (MEBS), Microsoft Office Application Solutions (MEAS) and Microsoft Office 365 Business Solutions. The blog indicates that the new features from the MEBS will include the option for store integration, which will allow you to manage your custom digital asset stores such as excel and word files. SharePoint will also be integrated in the suite to help you share information across multiple platforms. In addition, the suite will also introduce four new productivity tools namely, Microsoft Power Point, Microsoft Slide, Microsoft Business Analyst, and Microsoft Word.
Microsoft Office Mobile is the first application introduced in the Microsoft Office suite last year.
It allows you to use the Windows platform to take your documents around as you need them. With this software, you get access to all the features available in Office through the mobile browser including outlook, calendar, and contacts. One of the main factors that made Microsoft Office Mobile so popular was its price; it is priced at a very affordable rate, especially when you consider the features it offers. The suite however, does come with a hefty price tag, hence the decision to go for a subscription model for the software.
Microsoft Yammer is yet another micro-blogging app that can be downloaded straight from the Windows store. It is designed to provide an instant messaging experience within the company. Yammer also lets users create their own blogs that they can update regularly. As with Microsoft Yombo, Yammer will allow for the synchronization of email accounts across multiple Microsoft Dynamics GP accounts. The Yammer suite includes Microsoft Sharepoint, Microsoft Business Center, and Microsoft Dynamics GP Online.
Microsoft 365 subscriptions will also include three extra features this year namely Microsoft Office 365 Premier, Microsoft Office 365 Business Solutions, and Microsoft Dynamics GP. With the Microsoft Dynamics GP Online, the user will be able to connect the Dynamics GP Information portal and connect directly from Excel to Dynamics GP Online. With the Microsoft Office 365 Business Solutions, you will be able to access the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint applications from within Outlook and these apps will not be disabled when you are signed up with Microsoft 365. The monthly subscription fee will be $6.00 per month and will give you access to four mailboxes, four calendars and three task bars.
Microsoft has also introduced the Microsoft Office Web Apps as a separate module which enables you to run your web application in either Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. The main purpose of this suite is to make it easy for business people to collaborate on the go and while they are on the move. With this new outlook, the data that was formerly stored in Microsoft Lotus Calendar is being moved to Microsoft Office 365 Calendar. The upgrade from Lotus Domino to Microsoft 365 Calendar is free and all you need to do is to download and install the software.
- Microsoft has plans to roll out more enterprise 365 subscriptions in the future.
- It has already rolled out the version for small and medium businesses and now it is working on the same with the commercial segment too.
- The commercial suite consists of Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Office Online, and Microsoft Dynamics GP.