Microsoft 365 is a powerful productivity suite for the cloud and one of the leading tools for growing businesses these days. Its fame could be attributed to the fact that it assimilates very well with cloud-based solutions, presenting exceptional opportunities in terms of collaboration and productivity alone.
Still, organisations have been uncertain about making the jump to cloud-based platforms and are wary about embracing this next-generation tool, i.e., Microsoft 365.
At the beginning of 2017, the platform had 24.9 million subscribers, most of them were medium and small-sized businesses. However, now, even giant global enterprises are leveraging the tool as their productivity suite.
And over a million organizations are using the platform as of 2021.
While multiple medium and small-sized businesses are switching to Microsoft 365, making the decision to move or migrate to Microsoft 365 is still overwhelming to many organizations.
The decision brings many questions like how secure is Microsoft 365, what licensing options you will have there, how disruptive it will be? What services does Microsoft 365 offer? And so on.
Migrating To Microsoft 365
Migrating to Microsoft 365 from an on-premise IT setting requires some due diligence. This cloud-based platform can help you provide your teams with regular product updates, an array of the latest tools and makes way for seamless routines and workflows. But, most of all, it lets you re-think communication and productivity in the workplace.
Although, for a good reason, reductions in cost are typically cited as the core driver when it comes to moving to Microsoft 365, various more arguments are facilitating this cloud-based service when considering taking the leap and embracing the platform entirely.
Moving to Microsoft 365 can save you money along with reasonable package options, cloud services, and increased employee efficiency and productivity.
Microsoft 365 is often touted as the next big thing; an innovative and revolutionary productivity suite for computing and operating systems. Here are several reasons why migration should be your next move:
Leverage Robust Cloud-Based Solutions
Since Microsoft 365 runs entirely in the cloud, moving to the platform minimizes challenges, risks, and, most importantly, costs for IT teams of local enterprises. Moreover, your IT managers are no longer required to devote resources and time to manage local email network drives or servers.
As an alternative, the employees can easily connect to Microsoft 365 for OneDrive file storage and Outlook email and get immediate access to all the applications they depend on, such as Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
As an efficient cloud vendor, Microsoft ensures good uptime and offers support to enterprise customers. This, in turn, takes the burden off your IT personnel.
Flexible Scaling
With Microsoft 365, you can scale your organization’s cloud subscription and usage status appropriately to align with the business growth.
You don’t need to purchase additional networking equipment or servers when you bring employees and new teams on board.
Instead, your IT managers will need to modify their Microsoft 365 subscription package to account for the company and end users’ needs as per the services they require.
New Application And Tools
Microsoft 365 features new applications and tools that are not available with early versions or other platforms of the Microsoft suite. For example, the OneDrive app allows for simple and fast file sharing and transfer between employees. Also, you can quickly move files right from a local PC and access them anywhere via the OneDrive interface.
The Microsoft 365 suite also comprises the latest Skype for Business version, enabling teams and companies to communicate and collaborate in real-time via video conferencing or instant messaging. Skype for business is also available as mobile apps, desktop apps, or in the Outlook interface.
Then there’s Yammer, a social networking service. It lets enterprises operate a communication network internally as a feature-rich tool, where teams can share news, updates, and interest items.
Support for Multiple Devices
Microsoft 365 facilitates cloud productivity on all advanced systems, such as Mac computers, Windows computers, and Android and iPhone mobile devices.
You can now allow your employees to leverage the device they prefer, even their personal device, and connect to critical corporate programs and tools without additional setup effort.
Speaking of convenience and accessibility, Microsoft guarantees 99.9% uptime along with round-the-clock phone and online support to all users.
Regular Updates And Easy Migration
Microsoft offerings include a broad range of support options for organizations looking to migrate their services from legacy environments into the Microsoft 365 cloud-based platform.
Once a company has deployed Microsoft 365 platform, all users get new features and updates on a rolling base. As a result, all your applications get upgrades and security patches simultaneously with minor interruptions to your everyday operations.
Reliable And Secure Data
Some organizations may be uncertain about migrating to Microsoft 365, which means switching their information location away from their own conveniences. However, Microsoft 365 features backup services and data protection to provide the IT managers with ease and peace of mind.
With all cloud data backed up on an everyday basis and duplicated globally, outages would not impact risk data loss or end-users. In addition, IT managers can easily control all security protocols of their Microsoft 365 applications. This means that your information remains private to the designated and authorized people.
Gain Transparency Over Costs
Microsoft 365 subscription packages make it simpler for you to be sure about your software expenses and enable you to budget according to your company goals without hidden charges. Moreover, another bright side to Microsoft 365 is that it seamlessly upgrades and manages the introduction of the latest functionalities.
As a result, you don’t have to fret over costly migration projects that are becoming a reality for the Microsoft ecosystem.
To realistically compute the cost savings from your Microsoft 365 migration, you need to have a decent understanding of the costs of your existing IT infrastructure on-premises.
By putting it into numbers and comparing the cost breakdown with the upcoming situation with Microsoft 365, you can gauge the gap in expenses. If you can’t give a detailed, comprehensive cost model, you can also resort to typical industry cost patterns to estimate future and momentary expenses.
Keeps Your Business Agile
Today, the workforce is spread across multiple locations with business associations spanning the globe. Occupying various locations, dealing with acquisitions and mergers, and moving to new territories have become enterprises’ new normal.
Usually, this can require you to either expand your existing on-premises IT infrastructure or construct other data centers to facilitate additional locations while accommodating new employees.
Going global indeed implicates significant challenges for a company’s IT department and increasingly calls for more straightforward and practical solutions.
That is where Microsoft 365 can be helpful.
Quickly scaling up your business requires change which becomes easy with your migration to the cloud. Depending on your specific needs, Microsoft 365 enables you to seamlessly adjust the licenses number you need for core communication, productivity and collaboration while ensuring smooth IT operations and business agility.
Improves Organisational Communication
Along with physical separation, employees in a similar company are isolated by departments and projects.
Unfortunately, this segregation often creates barriers among teams that can lead to communication silos. As a result, it further separates and limits collaboration, ultimately disrupting communication and collaboration across the entire organization. This can severely affect your business continuity and productivity.
There are various ways to communicate and collaborate with Microsoft 365. The Microsoft suite offers an incredible array of tools such as SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, Office Groups, Yammer, Office Video, Skype for Business, OneDrive for Business, and more. Use these to connect and communicate and cultivate a collaborative culture where employees can share files and ideas seamlessly between departments, teams, devices, and tools.
Boost Employee Productivity
Microsoft 365 isn’t just regarding getting things done quicker. Instead, it is to reinvent how you get those things done.
In a world of mobile, flexible workstyles, Microsoft 365 is a robust platform for productivity. It enables your employees to gain access to popular Office tools and applications on a range of smartphones and mobile devices regardless of wherever they are.
Whether you want to carry out tasks during a coffee catch-up with a co-worker, attend a client conference call, or commute to work – with Microsoft 365, all your work is simplified as you are no more confined to a physical office building.
Streamline IT Operations
Keeping an IT infrastructure (on-premises) up and running is a tricky proposition – with various layers of technical necessities, cross-product dependencies, and other moving parts – many things can go haywire.
Upgrading just one element in the practical infrastructure of a company might unleash a range of linked upgrades or provoke a flowing set of unfortunate blunders as inconsistencies among servers emerge.
Migrating to Microsoft 365 enables your business to streamline IT operations, accessibly outsourcing this responsibility to a third-party vendor while ensuring peace of mind.
Wrapping Up
The upward trend of companies moving away from the conventional legacy IT environments to Microsoft 365 is changing how businesses work. Hopefully, the reasons mentioned above for migrating to Microsoft 365 will make it easier for you to decide.
Microsoft 365 enables your business to simplify administrative processes and tasks so that everyone can be on the same page.
Liquid C2 can help your business migrate to Microsoft 365 seamlessly. We store your data in a cloud-based platform. However, it is a vital business activity, predominantly in this time of increasing regulations and compliance.
