Migrate To Microsoft Office 365
Over the past few years, productivity suites have become more and more popular with businesses of all sizes, in a wide and varied range of industries. It’s the type of solution that has something to offer everyone.
Cloud-based technologies, in general, are changing the way users like you view the capabilities of their technology – especially Microsoft Office 365.
Interested?
Good, but – if you’re not already using Microsoft Office 365, then you have to figure out how to migrate to it, which you may think you can handle on your own.
And to be honest, it’s possible that you can. But before you dive in, make sure you have answers to the following questions…
Which Microsoft Office 365 Plan Should I Use?
Keep in mind – these are just a few of the plans that Microsoft offers, but they provide a good idea of what to expect when looking for a cloud productivity suite that’s intended for businesses.
Office 365 Business Essentials
With Web and mobile versions only it provides:
- Email hosting with 50 GB mailbox and custom email domain address.
- Web versions of Office applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote (plus Access and Publisher for PC only.)
- File storage and sharing with 1 TB of OneDrive storage.
- Online meetings and video conferencing for up to 250 people.
- 24/7 phone and web support.
Office 365 Business
It includes access to Office applications and online productivity services, as well as business services such as web conferencing, hosted email, and online storage. You’ll get the following when you sign up for Office 365 Business:
- The latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, OneDrive for Business, and Access.
- Office 365 mobile apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneDrive for Business, Skype for Business, Yammer, and OneNote) installed on up to 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets, and 5 phones per user.
- 1 TB of OneDrive for Business cloud storage for each user, which can be accessed from anywhere and syncs with PC and Macs for offline access.
- Creation and sharing of interactive reports, presentations, and personal stories with Sway.
- (Business email is not included.)
Office 365 Business Premium
This plan offers access to:
- Email hosting with a 50 GB mailbox and custom email domain address.
- Desktop versions of Office applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote (plus Access and Publisher for PC only).
- File storage and sharing with 1 TB of OneDrive storage.
- One license that covers fully-installed, always-up-to-date Office apps on 5 phones, 5 tablets, and 5 PCs or Macs per user.
- 24/7 phone and web support.
All three of Microsoft Office 365 Business plans have a maximum of 300 users.
But what about Enterprise plans?
You may have heard that Microsoft Office 365 has a number of other plans for you to choose from, but the fact is that these Enterprise-level options offer a range of add-ons and modifications – in short, they can be quite complicated to parse on your own.
If you’re interested in finding out more about Enterprise plans, you would be wise to consult with Microsoft or an IT company directly.
Can I Move My Current Microsoft Data?
Not necessarily.
It would make sense – if you’re already using a Microsoft solution anyway, you don’t want to lose that data in the transition, right?
Moving your current Microsoft data to Office 365 is possible, but you should be aware that it’s not always an easy process. There a number of ways you can encounter obstacles when it comes to extant data in the transition.
The templates you’ve been using for a long time may not work with Office 365 – that means you have to rebuild them or figure out to convert them to a new format.
Furthermore, ensuring that nothing gets missed or lost during the migration requires close supervision of the entire process (your IT company will make sure of that if you’re at all worried).
Will I Be Secure?
Security should always be a top priority and must be on your list when considering a change in your IT.
When it comes to Office 365, this is one worry you can cross off your list. Microsoft’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution may be hosted on a public cloud, but security and reliability are the primary focus of their engineers.
Designed around the principals of the Security Development Lifecycle, Microsoft has made embedding best-practice security requirements in everything they create a mandatory part of their software development process.
Data security and industry compliance requirements have been taken into consideration, influencing the safeguards Microsoft has in place.
Using Azure Active Directory, Office 365 has built-in security features including authentication tools, access control, and identity management in addition to their own top-notch network and system security.
Will My Microsoft Office 365 Data Be Backed Up?
As a cloud-based platform, all of the data you access in Office 365 is backed up to a secure off-site location. This occurs simply by the nature of a cloud solution like Office 365.
Many businesses believe that just because the program already exists in the cloud, all of their important information is being backed up automatically to a secure location, but this is not the case. Office 365 can be easily integrated into your Business Continuity solution.
By doing so, your critical data can be:
- Safeguarded from the most common cause of data loss – user error
- Made recoverable from data loss resulting from a system error
- Protected against a wide range of internal and external threats
- Available whenever you need it, and in the proper format – no exceptions
The rule of thumb is that any cybersecurity solution will include a primary and secondary data backup to make sure that should something go wrong with one backup, there is still another to restore from.
A non-Microsoft affiliated cloud platform or an on-premise server are recommended options for a secondary data backup solution.
Can I Migrate To Microsoft Office 365 On My Own?
Again, it’s possible. But if we’re honest, it’s unlikely.
As you can see, there’s a lot to consider, and this doesn’t even take into account the time and money you would spend on handling the process independently.
It’s much wiser to simply enlist the assistance of an IT company. They will be able to offer the experience and skills necessary to manage the migration end to end and avoid the common pitfalls.
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