An Introduction to Microsoft Office 365

a ramsac guide
What is Microsoft Office 365?

Microsoft Office 365 was first released in 2011. Since then the product range has grown quite
significantly, and it is now the defacto way of purchasing and licensing Microsoft’s Office
applications.

In simple terms, Office 365 replaces the way we used to buy applications from Microsoft.
Rather than buying a license outright and attaching that to a specific machine, we now
license the user on a ‘cost per month’ basis which means the licensed user can access
Microsoft applications on all of their devices (including mobiles and Apple devices) and it
means you pay for what you use – if you increase or decrease your user base, your monthly
billing changes accordingly.

So much more than ‘Office’

Perhaps the biggest change however, is that this is not ‘Office’ as we know it! For so many
years, Microsoft Office has meant Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Office 365 is much
more than that, with an ever-increasing portfolio of applications
that enable you to collaborate more, work with
increasing levels of security, work more flexibly
(think, ‘any device, anytime, anywhere’) and
reduce your reliance on always being
attached to a server.

In this short white paper, we

layout the core benefits, and
address some of the questions
you might have if you’re
considering migrating to
Office 365 for the first time.
 Core benefits of Office 365

Any device, any time, any where

We live in a world where ‘work’ is no across all of your devices. So it’s easy to
longer a place that you go, it’s what you work on a document in the office, pick up
do. Employees yearn for flexibility and reviewing it on your mobile whilst on the
there’s a huge amount of data to back train ride to your next meeting, and finish
up what a positive impact it has on a firm editing it on your home PC when you
when you stop thinking of work as always arrive home at the end of the day.
having to happen at the same desk in the
same office! Documents are available via any internet
enabled device meaning that it is not only
Office 365 allows you to store your data in possible, but actually very simple, to
the cloud, and to install the applications enable a truly mobile workforce.

Simple monthly budgeting

With Office 365 you pay for what you employ seasonal workers for a short
want, for as long as you want. You can mix period, you can increase or decrease your
different license types, providing simple subscription accordingly. And don’t
email only access to contractors, full office forget, you license the user, not the
suite for employees, and add things like machine, so one license allows you to
Audio Conferencing and Mobile Device work on all of your devices, or you can
Management to more mobile staff. It’s access web based versions of each
up to you to define who gets what, and if product if you’re working on a temporary
your user numbers change, or you machine.

Single, simple login

Because all of the commonly used access the data you need, from any
applications and document storage are internet enabled device, with one user
all accessible with your Microsoft Office password. No more VPNs to connect to
365 account, it’s simple and easy to your shared data!

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 Less email, more collaboration

In our social lives, we have become less still a good tool, but it’s not collaborative, it
and less reliant on email. Communication doesn’t promote debate or conversation.
between groups of friends more often than Microsoft have addressed this changing
not, now happens using group chats on communication style, with collaborative
platforms such as WhatsApp, Messenger or tools such as ‘Teams’ which allows groups
FaceTime. But when it comes to work, we of people to work together, sharing
still default to email. Email is far from being documents in real time (think multiple
dead, but we never meet a customer that people editing documents at the same
doesn’t feel that they could benefit from time) as well as video-based calls, screen
having less of it! As a means of passing a sharing, project planning tools and more,
message from one person to another, it’s all in one window.

Security as standard

With all of this data in the cloud, and the can choose to remotely wipe company
option to access it on a plethora of data if a user loses a device, or leaves
devices, security has never been more your organisation. You can also enable
important. By enabling the right Office individuals to apply policies to specific
365 features, you can set up full enterprise emails, for example preventing an email
class, mobile device management, from being read outside your organisation,
meaning you can control not only who or reducing the right to forward or print
accesses your data, but on what device, an email. And to really lock things down,
built to a level of security that you define two-factor authentication adds another
(think specified versions of operating layer of protection, forcing users to enter a
system, patched and up to date, with code sent to their mobile device as well as
antivirus installed and with enforced their traditional password.
device pin codes or passwords) and you

No more product updates

With Office 365 you will always have team members with different versions of
access to the latest product version, so no Office installed.
more version upgrade projects, or having

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 Cloud storage - with simple and secure ways of sharing

Whether it’s personal file storage using documents or folders with, either internally
OneDrive (a more corporate version of or with external contacts. At the click of
DropBox) or organisation wide storage a mouse you can decide who can see
using SharePoint, it’s now easy to store what, who can edit and whether you want
documents in the cloud. You can have the access to be for a limited amount of time.
documents that you rely on synchronised And because this is all cloud based, there
off line so you can work on them even is built in resilience and flexibility, with the
when you’re not connected to the option to restore previous versions or
internet, and these tools also give you the recover lost documents all built in.
option to decide who you want to share

Continuity built in

Because all of the data and applications So when the snow comes, or if the office is
are cloud based, using highly resilient, flooded, staff can just work from wherever
multi site replicated data centres, you are they can get online.
no longer tied to your office location.

Easier compliance

In Office 365, all data resides within the to insecure emails which makes
organisation’s account, access to which compliance with regulations such as GDPR
can be centrally controlled. By providing so much easier. Add to that, the ability to
your employees with the right tools for the control the editing and deletion rights of
job, there is no longer a need for them to users and you end up with much greater
be saving documents outside of your control and better data governance.
systems, or even attaching sensitive data

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 The Office 365 products
There are dozens of options in Office 365, and it can seem overwhelming. Here’s a very quick
summary of some of the most popular features

User applications

Office Suite
All the products you’re used to,
including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and
Outlook

OneNote
A digital notebook, that allows you to ditch the
paper and create organised notebooks which
can be shared with others to create collaborative
customer or meeting notes.

Teams
Teams is 365’s biggest game changer. It allows
you to create shared work spaces with groups
of people, inside and outside your organisation
that you need to collaborate with. Run high
quality remote meetings & video conference
calls, share WhatsApp style chats,
collaborate on shared Word and Excel
documents and combine all of the key
applications your team needs, all into one
window.

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 OneDrive
1TB of cloud based storage per user as stand-
ard (additional storage can be
purchased as needed) – replaces ‘home’
network drives or worse, users saving
documents on their desktops! Provides
access to documents from any device with
the ability to easily share folders or files with
others, including those outside your
organisation.

Planner
A great tool for task and project management.

Find Time
A great tool for meeting organisers – set up
meeting polls and easily administer
responses to ensure minimal email tennis in
trying to co-ordinate multiple people’s diaries

Windows Power Automate

A tool that allows you to automate repetitive
tasks with easy workflow automation

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 Organisation wide tools

SharePoint
A cloud based service, hosted by
Microsoft, that business can use to store, share and
access information from any device as long as you
have an internet connection.
Think of this as a replacement to your traditional
file server.

PowerBI
A business analytics solution that connects to
multiple data sources and allows you to
visualise your data and share insights across the
business.

Azure AD
Microsoft’s cloud-based identity
management service (central user account
management in the cloud) that replaces the
traditional Active Directory server, allowing
for thorough user account manaagment and
control.

Enterprise Mobility Suite

A suite of tools that integrate with Office 365 to provide extra
control over your company’s data. Think mobile device
control, the ability to send secure emails and the ability to
control who can edit, access and delete what.

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 Managing your migration
A successful Office 365 deployment is highly dependent on thorough planning. It’s vital that
you understand how it will fit into your organisation from all angles. For every business, it’s wise
to seek impartial, expert advice before beginning a migration, to help you achieve business
continuity during the deployment process and realising the value of Office 365 into the future.

Once in use, the system is relatively simple for end users to navigate but getting data
migrated properly and ensuring that data security is properly set up requires experienced
planning.

In our experience, it is also important to factor in a programme of end user training to ensure
that you really maximise on your IT investment.

Finally as with all things IT, regular proactive management and monitoring is always the key to
long term, smooth running, secure technology.

Find out more

ramsac is a Microsoft Gold Cloud Specialist, we
have migrated many firms to the Office 365 platform.

We can help with all aspects of planning, migrating

and working within Office 365 to ensure a positive
experience for your organisation.

To find our more or book an initial consultation:

Call: 01483 412 040

Email: info@ramsac.com

Visit: www.ramsac.com

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ramsac Limited

www.ramsac.com
01483 412 040