Microsoft Office 365

Check out the Features and Benefits of Office 365 that makes it Worth Buying

Needless to say, Microsoft Office is one of the most popular software in the tech world, featuring cutting-edge and feature-packed productivity apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, to name a few. Currently, more than 1.2 billion people worldwide use Microsoft Office products for work or personal projects. Users are using MS Office products for communication, document creation, business presentation, and balancing their books. Realising the growing use of this productivity software, MS Office started moving towards subscription-based access to these applications in 2013, the bundle was kept on dubbing Office 365 until 2020 when it was renamed Microsoft Office. Now, there are more than 258 million active users of subscription-based Microsoft 365, enjoying a suite of applications including Office 365 Outlook, Office 365 Word, Office 365 Excel, Office 365 PowerPoint, Office 365 OneNote, Office 365 Access, Office 365 Publisher, and more.

Though subscription-based access to Office 356 can deter many users, undoubtedly, Microsoft is offering one of the best affordable subscriptions in the consumer market. In this write-up, we will let you know the ins and outs of Office 365 including price, subscriptions, plans, and more. Ready to delve deeper? Let’s get the ball rolling! We start with the basics.

What is Office 365?

As it has earlier been mentioned Microsoft 365, formerly known as Office 365, is a cloud-powered productivity platform that is accessible through subscription. You can access all suite of applications that is available in traditional Microsoft Office Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneDrive. Moreover, you can install it on Windows, Macs, tablets, and mobile phones.

Microsoft 365 comes in various plans. Each offers a unique set of features and benefits.

1- Microsoft 365 for Home:

This bundle is suitable for individuals and families. Priced at around £59.99/year (as of November 2024), Office subscription to Office 365 for Person can allow you to sign in 5 devices at a time, ad-free secure emails, 1 TB of cloud storage, and identity, data, and device security.

All productivity MS applications are available under this package.

2- Microsoft 365 for Business:

It is for small and medium-sized businesses and it comes in various plans such as Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and Microsoft 365 Apps for Business. Depending on the subscription fee, each model offers different features and applications.

3- Microsoft Office 365 For Enterprises:

Lastly, this bundle is the most advanced and designed to provide large-scale management, security, and productivity apps. Similar to Office 365 for business, it also comes in various models and versions. For instance:

• Microsoft 365 E3 (no Teams)
• Microsoft 365 E5 (no Teams)
• Microsoft 365 F3
• Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise
• Office 365 E1 (no Teams)
• Office 365 E3 (no Teams)
• Office 365 E5 (no Teams)
• Microsoft 365 F1
• Microsoft 365 F3
• Office 365 Government G3
• Office 365 Government G5
• Microsoft 365 Government G3
• Microsoft 365 Government G5

Key Benefits of Using Office 365 for UK Businesses:

Here are the benefits of deploying Microsoft 365 for businesses in the UK or anywhere else.

Secure Cloud Services:

Since Office 365 is a cloud-based productivity software, it means that your files and other important data are well-protected. It comes with various advanced security features such as Two-Factor Authentication, Threat Detection, and anti-malware measures, allowing you to protect your files from unauthorized access and an entire spectrum of cyber threats. It is particularly important for those e-commerce and other businesses that have to handle sensitive data or information.

Frequent Updates and Upgrades:

All the essential productivity apps such as Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and more are included in Office 365. More importantly, all these apps are updated automatically at predetermined intervals, freeing you from any worry about updating or buying the latest versions. Security features are also updated frequently to neutralize fast-evolving cyber threats.

Centralized Collaboration:

This is the most important of Office 365 because it allows you to access collaborative tools, enabling you to share documents, contacts, calendars, and email boxes in real time with your fellow teammates. You can schedule meetings, check which one is available and when, and streamline workflow tremendously within your organization.

More importantly, you can access all files from anywhere and at any time. Office 365 also supports mobile-based productivity apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more, allowing you to access files and work on them when you are out of the office.

Core Features of Office 365:

Here is a brief rundown of key features of Office 365 that you should need to know:

1- Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Online:

MS SharePoint is one prominent web-based productivity platform supported by Microsoft 365. It helps users to perform management, collaborate with teammates, and create documents and intranet sites. SharePoint is known for helping users to develop customized workflow, interactive dashboards, and organization of information effectively to ensure enhanced productivity and resource efficiency.

2- Microsoft Teams:

Microsoft Teams is another important collaborative tool available within the Office 365 package. It comes with all the tools available for video calls, chats, scheduling meetings, and document sharing within the organization.

Microsoft Teams has certainly become a preferred choice for promoting collaboration within organizations regardless of whether they are working work from home or physically within the premises.

3- OneDrive Cloud Storage:

OneDrive is another salient feature of Microsoft 365, offering 1TB of secure cloud storage for storing, sharing, and synchronizing files across devices. What’s more, OneDrive allows easy collaboration on various documents, enabling users to access and work on files simultaneously. It also provides with latest tools to block any unauthorized access to files and track changes to documents in real time.

4- Copilot for Microsoft 365:

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 is a powerful and innovative AI tool that works on Large Language Models or LLMs. It is capable of working with data stored in Microsoft Graph Microsoft 365 suite of applications.

The power of LLMs and data accessibility means that you can enhance your productivity to an unprecedented level, streamlining workflow and saving both time and energy of your and your teammates.

5- Office Applications:

One of the biggest benefits of Office 365 is that it offers a bundle of all MS Office applications including but not limited to Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Loop, and OneNote.

You can access all these apps from a single platform, allowing you to perform productivity tasks such as document creation, spreadsheet management, presentation making, file editing, instant communication, and arranging online meetings. In this way, you can boost the productivity of your work considerably.

After discussing the benefits and features of Office 365 or Microsoft 365, it is now time to discuss the steps involved in setting up and migration.

How to Set up Office 365 for Your Business:

Here is a step-by-step guide to setting up Office 365

1. Go to the Office 365 website and visit office.com/setup. Create a new account there, and if you have already a Microsoft account, sign in.
2. Select an Office 365 plan that best serves you, you can choose Office 365 for Personal, Office 365 for Family, or various versions of Office 365 for Business.
3. You can now purchase an Office 365 subscription or you can enter the product key, if you have one.
4. After signing in, you need to click on “Install Office” to download Office applications. Now, all you need is to follow the Instructions Prompts for complete installation on your device.
5. You have now Office 365 on your device, click any app that you need, say Office 365 Word, sign in and follow on-screen instructions to complete the installation of a particular Microsoft 365 App.

How to Migrate from G Suite to Office 365 for UK-based Businesses:

Here are the steps involved in moving your data, emails, and users from Google Workspace or G Suite to Office 365 business.

1. First thing first, sign up for Office 365 Business and then sign up for Microsoft 365 for migration. In this step, you need to validate the domain and make sure that you own the domain you use in Google Workspace. You should also need to create an Admin Account there.
2. Now, you need to set up security policies for Windows devices because securities are separately set up on the Setup page of the Microsoft 365 admin centre.
3. After validating that you own the domain for Google Workspace, all of your users can use old emails to sign in to Office 356 Business Premium.
4. Now you can install all Office 365 productivity apps on user devices.
5. For migration of emails, calendars, and contacts from Google Workspace to Office 365 Business, you need to run Exchange Online migration.
6. You can also use Migration Manager to migrate files from Google Drive to OneDrive. By the end of this step, all data from shared and personal devices would have been copied and transferred to Office 365.

Final Thoughts:

Cloud-based accessibility and mobility, real-time collaboration with teammates, advanced security features, regular updates, access to a range of productivity apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.), integrated solutions, and easy scalability are some factors that have made Office 365 or Microsoft 365 a widely used software for both persons and corporations. Microsoft 365 is particularly suitable for businesses as it comes with comprehensive versions, catering to the productivity, collaboration, security, and communication needs of large organizations.