Microsoft Office 365 Deployment – 5 Exclusive Benefits for New Customers

Today, the market is filled with plenty of advanced computer applications and services and without a doubt, Office 365 is the best among the business productivity tools. This application and functionality not only offers freedom to access and work on important files rather assists the users to create comparison among the files. Throughout the world, thousands of enterprises are experiencing the improved benefits of Office 365 and we are here to explain the most important advantages for the potential customers, who are ready to deploy the Office 365 in their business to lead the crowd.

1. FastTrack onboarding center: To encourage and help the new customers, Microsoft is ready to offer support them by configuring Office 365 package, including SharePoint, Exchange, Lync, Yammer and Office 365 Pro Plus. Since the experts come from the Microsoft office, the Office 365 installation and deployment is faster. This promotional offer can be availed only if you buy a minimum of 150 licenses.
2. Organizing assistance: Besides helping the fresh customers to prepare their infrastructure and to integrate the provisioning services and identity management, it offers amazing user experience with trial sessions and easy step-by-step documentation process, so that the users are accustomed to the new Office 365 scenario.
3. Adoption offer: Microsoft offers Adoption offer to the customers who buy Office 365 license between 2014 September to 2015 June. This offer helps to reimburse a legitimate partner, chosen by the customer, to conduct the adoption activities of Office 365. This offer is valid for the customers, who buy at least 150 SKUs, within the given time.
4. Email migration:Email Migration is a part of Adoption offer, mentioned before. Either Microsoft or a legitimate partner of Microsoft performs email migration. They can remotely migrate the new mailboxes from Gmail, Exchange server, IBM Domino and other IMAP environment.
5. Additional benefits:To make Office 365 succeed in the customer’s environment, Microsoft supplies plenty of utilities and resources, which include readymade templates and proven methods specified by plenty of companies and experts, who adapt to Office 365 in the successful way. The users can also contact the dedicated communities to get their queries cleared.

Everything You Need to Know About Office 365 Technical Support

With customer satisfaction becoming one of the most critical aspects of modern business, providing quality customer support has become essential for all types of businesses. The need of good customer support becomes all the more important for IT solutions and services because regardless of how good your services or solutions are, customers are bound to face minor/major problems  with them and you need to ensure quick addressing of such issues to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction. This the reason Microsoft offers many types of technical support services for its business productivity advancing suite, Office 365.

There are 4 major ways in which Microsoft offers technical assistance for Office 365:

1. Online help: Microsoft has an exclusive website, Support.office.com for Office 365 Online help that has answers to most of the common issues of the users like setup or installation issues with Office 365, training sessions, how to check the Office 365 bill details, and much more. This website is accessible to all and anyone can easily find the solution to such minor issues by following the instructions on this website.
2. Help from Community Forums: Microsoft has active community forums where users can discuss their hassles and get them resolved by the Microsoft experts active in the forums. Such community forums are a quick of finding solutions as there is a high probability that the issues being faced by the user have already been discussed in the community forum, and in case the user cannot find relevant answers, he/she can always post a new question.
3. Online Help request: For faster resolution of problems, Microsoft allows the admins to submit online requests for help, which the Office 365 admin center addresses at priority. The Office 365 admin center either finds a solution to the problem or connects the Admin to an expert via email or phone. It is worth noting that this facility is not available to everyone; instead only Admins can submit help requests to the Office 365 admin center.
4. 24 X 7 Technical Support Helpdesk: Last but not the least, Microsoft also offers telephone-based customer support services. This facility is also exclusive only to the Admins and they need to provide their account details when speaking to the technical support executive. The dialing number of the Office 365 technical support helpdesk can vary from country to country. It is worth noting that 24 X 7 telephone-based Office 365 tech support service for admins is provided only in English.

The above discussed Office 365 tech support services are the ones provided to Office 365 users directly from the users. In case you have purchased Office 365 services from a Microsoft VAR (Value Added Reseller), it may provide its own Office 365 technical support services as well.

Office 365 Data Migration: Orchestrated for Seamless Migration!

Office 365 provides business organizations with a cloud based service which helps their workforce in better collaboration, management and security. The migration to Office 365 must be done in a way that it has minimum impact on the end users and comes with minimum risks involved. While user productivity during the transition has to be maintained, it is imperative to plan the migration for a fast and seamless transition to the cloud.

Planning the migration also involves understanding how the new environment will be managed in an automated and centralized way --- with automated administrative tasks and improved reporting and auditing resources in a secure environment.

Office 365 is Flexible

Whether you are migrating from on-premises or any other cloud-based technology, moving to Office 365 cloud brings in significant features and benefits:

                                        
You can easily migrate the contents of your on-premise mailboxes and public folders to the cloud. All items including public folders are migrated from Exchange Server to Exchange Online without any adverse impact on users.

Switching from Google Apps for Business to Office 365 allows you to migrate your users to the cloud. Google mail, calendars, notes, tasks or journals and contacts of all users from your enterprise can be migrated to Microsoft Online services quite simply.

Scheduled Migration of Data to Office 365

Administrators migrate mailboxes of users either during weekends or overnight. The migration can be scheduled and mailboxes can also be migrated on priority basis by setting up a migration order. This can be used to push more significant data first.

What's more! Users can use their mailboxes while the data is copied to Office 365 and the email too is rendered unaffected. So, users can have access to their old mailboxes even during migration of their mail items to Office 365. 

Migrate applications and infrastructure to the cloud

                                                                 

Secure migration of Data to Office 365

As far as safety of user data is concerned, it is absolutely secure and you can even vouch for detailed status reports for each migrated item. Also, it does not cost you much time or lead to productivity hitches. The entire transition is seamless and affordable from source to destination servers with your users experiencing zero downtime during the entire event!

From Mailbox migration and configuration to software on boarding and deployment, you experience fast and scalable migration across platforms. Public folders, documents, archives --- all can be migrated simply even keeping file hierarchies in order. Email clients can be configured from a single point of control.

Enhanced Data Security on the Cloud

Your emails are kept encrypted until opened by the recipient. Office 365 data are highly protected from any unauthorized access. Such seamless staged migration can be managed from on-premise, hosted Exchange or Google Apps.

You just need to access the e-mail environment and start migration regardless of the source protocol, manage and configure users, eliminate too much of planning and upgrade work and enjoy secure and organized data migration. Enjoy easy deployment and management with virtually no productivity loss for end users and benefit from reduced project costs --- ensure a high-quality migration experience!

Office 365 Hybrid Deployment: Enjoy the Best of Both Worlds!

With a Hybrid environment, you get the option of continuing to use Exchange mail like an on-premise user and remote workers will be able to access Office 365 web interface. However, with a hybrid deployment, the domains will remain the same for both instances!

IT professionals may want to configure a hybrid environment in order to understand and make sure how Office 365 would be useful for their organization. It is an intermediate step to move altogether to an Exchange Online organization. Hybrid environment/Hybrid configuration describes relationship between Exchange On-Premise infrastructure and Exchange Online infrastructure on the cloud!

Today, more organizations are embracing Microsoft's cloud offerings. This is because it is cost-effective, gives you freedom to access important business data from anywhere and enhances collaboration.

Hybrid Deployments: Why are they Needed

Business organizations using Exchange, SharePoint and Lync with on-premise deployment need to keep a part of this environment running when getting their services migrated to the cloud. This is to check on compatibility issues with existing applications or it may be a viable business decision to keep certain functions on-premises.

In a hybrid environment, you actually mix on-premise Exchange Mail with Office 365 use. If you do not intend to move all mailboxes to the cloud, you can decide to maintain Exchange servers. Business goals have to be taken into consideration and specific needs of your enterprise too need to be understood for the same.

Also, you need to have some prerequisites in place, for instance, there may be need to upgrade the on-premise environment before going hybrid. You also have to select the right plan, for example, one that supports Azure Active Directory synchronization.

How to Decide between Hybrid or Totally on the Cloud

In a Hybrid environment, the on-premise Exchange Server installation co-exists with Exchange Online meant primarily for SMB's (Small and Medium Businesses) and which comes with the Office 365 cloud offering.

A staged Exchange migration is meant for large business enterprises that decide to migrate mailboxes to the cloud overtime, that is, maintain some mail boxes on-premises while migrate the others to the cloud by means of directory synchronization! However, such organizations later move all Exchange mailboxes to the cloud. With older versions of Exchange, IMAP e-mail migration or III-Party solution would be needed. 

Benefits of Office 365 Hybrid Migration

Advantages of Hybrid Exchange Deployment:

• Important business data can be hosted on-premise while users could be relocated on inexpensive cloud servers (for legal jurisdiction of data).
• Exchange Online Archiving (EOA) services can be utilized with a Hybrid environment resulting in 99.9% uptime, 24x7 support and easy access to e-mail archives by users from their Inbox.
• Hybrid deployment is an intermediate step taken by enterprises before decommissioning an on-premise Exchange in order to totally switch over to Exchange Online.
• It also aids in 'off boarding', that is, moving back mailboxes to on-premises from Exchange Online!
• Migrations in and out of the cloud are transparent to the end-user.

Let your enterprise enjoy a seamless interaction between on-premises and cloud mailboxes. Time to work together as a seamless business organization with Office 365 Hybrid Deployment!

Office 365 for Business --- Office Powered by the Cloud!

Business growth depends upon changing with times, increasing work efficiency and catering to your customers in the best possible way. Technological developments have altered the way businesses are run today --- extended collaboration, fast and informed decisions and working on the go! Office 365 for Business is a step forward in improving and updating your business.

How Does Office 365 for Business Aid your Enterprise

With Office 365 for Business, you plan well for business success. Let us see how it is useful for your business ---

1. Simplified File Storage and Collaboration:

• Your files can be stored online and you will be able to co-author, edit or share them with your colleagues --- in real time and even while on the move!
• Get advantage of Single sign-on and synchronization with Active Directory.
• IT expertise not required.

2.  Your Anywhere Office:

• The very familiar tools such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook will be on hand whenever and where ever you require them.
• You derive the Office experience working on PC, Tablet, iPad or any other mobile device.
• While you share documents, you also have the control over who can see and edit every file stored. You can even manage (add or remove) users whenever needed.
• Access e-mail, contacts, team sites, calendars or even attend meetings --- all from your mobile device!
• Tools in Excel are replete with auto-complete data and even recognize your pattern which makes formatting information in Excel quite simple.
• Use pen, keyboard or touch screen --- Your business ideas are important!

Benefits of Office 365 for Business

3. Constantly Up-to-date Tools: 

• You will derive the benefit of the latest version of Office applications. For instance, OneDrive for Business stores files online which are constantly up-to-date and in sync.
• You will be able to design customized marketing materials as per your specific brand and customer requirements.
• Create Word documents by easily including content from PDFs.
• Create/Edit files on Word, PowerPoint, Excel or OneNote using a web browser.

4. Tools for Teamwork:

• Make use of abundant space for your files which are stored online.
• Share business information, data and files with business personnel in/outside your enterprise and be in sync with your team!
• Enjoy flexibility to add users or even services according to your business growth.
• Increased ROI with less funds required for infrastructure management.
• HD video conferencing, online meetings (with audio and video) are just one click away!
• Organize plans and projects for faster business decisions.

 5. Reliability:  

• All services are available to you with 99.9% uptime and yes, financially backed Service Level Agreement (SLA).
• Your data is under your control, but absolutely safeguarded. Your privacy is protected too.
• Updates are included in the subscription and new features are continuously rolled out from time to time.
• 24/7 web and phone support for crucial issues.                        

It is time to enhance your impact in the business world, well equipped with the latest technological tools and streamlined collaboration. Expand your reach to your customers -- they are the backbones of your business. With Office 365 for Business, business is certainly better!

New Outlook Updates for iOS and Android Devices

In its relentless endeavor of making Office 365 applications available across various devices and platforms, Microsoft has recently released new Outlook updates for iOS and Android devices. In this post, we will discuss such updates in detail.

1. PIN lock: This new feature allows the users to ensure that Outlook is not accessed by any unauthorized person. PIN lock does this by enforcing password using Exchange ActiveSync so that whenever someone tries to sync mail with his/her device, Outlook will require him/her to enter a password and proceed with the sync request only if the validation holds true at the device level. The feature is available on both iOS and Android devices, but the manner in which it functions on both the platform differs slightly due to the difference in controls provided by Apple and Google.
2. IMAP support: With the new IMAP support, Outlook now has the ability to sync emails from the email providers like AOL.com and Comcast.com. Moreover, Outlook tries best to offer a push-like behavior with IMAP accounts by using IDLE wherever it is possible. However, if IDLE is not supported by a particular IMAP server, Outlook will sync emails automatically after every few seconds.
3. Custom swipe gestures for Android devices: This feature was first introduced for iOS devices, and has now been made available on Android devices as well. It makes rapid email triage a one touch experience for Android users. By using this feature, you can take actions like delete, move, flag, archive, mark as read/unread, schedule, and much more with a simple swipe on the screen. Also, unlike other email apps, Outlook also allows the users to customize their own swipe gestures as per their unique habits.
4. Toggle conversation view for iOS devices: By default, Outlook automatically organizes the user's email into conversations in such a way that all the messages with the same subject line are grouped together. However, many users don't find this very comfortable as messages from different senders can have the same subject line and grouping them together causes unnecessary difficulty in finding them. For such users, Outlook now offers a new toggle conversation feature that allows turning off the default grouping of emails and organizing them as threads instead. Currently, this feature is available only for iOS devices and is expected to be made available for the Android users in the near future.
5. Quicker remote wipe: Outlook has improved its admin-led remote wipe feature, which is now a lot quicker in execution. The new remote wipe is also an app-level wipe and not a device wipe like its earlier version. This wipe quickly deletes and resets the Outlook email, contact, calendar and file data not only from the device, but also from the Outlook’s cloud components. However, the wipe does not affect any other app or data on the device.

Office 365 Migration: Complete Suite for Productivity and Collaboration!

Office 365 enables you to work across devices --- from your office or even while you are on the move along with access from web and mobile handsets. The much familiar Microsoft Office desktop suite joins with cloud-based collaboration in a fast and consistent manner. With Office 365, you can access your business documents, e-mails, team sites, calendars, web conferencing and contacts.

Why is Office 365 Required

Office 365 is proving beneficial to all sizes of business enterprises today. Employees in a business organization are able to communicate better, be updated with the latest business updates, take faster decisions with the IT requirements managed well by a more focussed IT team! They are able to concentrate on significant business tasks. Services are managed by Microsoft which also takes care of security issues. What's more, you enjoy an uptime guarantee from Microsoft!

Microsoft Office 365
 

What Does Office 365 Include

Office 365 comprises of Exchange Online, Lync Online, SharePoint Online, Yammer and much familiar Word, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, Access, Power Point etc. Microsoft Office 365 makes use of these productivity tools and delivers all these collaboration services as a cloud-based subscription service.

Why is Office 365 Migration Required

Business enterprises take help from Migration service companies to make the most of this technology and get better returns. They avail of customized migration services and support for Office 365 as per business needs of their organization. Migration services require relevant and proven experience and expertise in the field for proper planning, Infrastructure integration (such as Single Sign-On and Directory synchronization), Data Migration, integration with mobile handsets and other support.

What Does Office 365 Migration Include

Office 365 Migration services comprise of implementation of Microsoft Office 365 cloud technologies, alignment of Exchange Online for business profits and making optimal use of collaboration applications such as SharePoint Online, Lync Online, Yammer and Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) in Azure for services in the cloud and also for their on-premise system.

Benefits of  Microsoft Office 365 Migration Services 

Plan and Prepare Your Office 365 Migration

It is never one-size-fits-all in case of Office 365 Migration services! You have to take the aid of experienced Office 365 Migration service companies which will guide you through a successful migration. Planning for Office 365 Migration includes choosing the right Office 365 Plan, Pilot Projects, Trials of popular Office 365 Suites and deployment.

This is not all! The entire process of Office 365 Migration also involves Hybrid Cloud environments along with ADFS set up and Active Directory synchronization, Exchange Migration, G-mail and Lotus Notes migrations.

A comprehensive view of  the integration and pre-migration assessment has to be carried out which may include financial assessment and other technical details. A seamless transition to the cloud ensures faster ROI (Return on Investment) and is cost-effective too. 
 
The entire journey to Office 365 Migration is carried out to receive real business value through enhanced collaboration, automated workflow, centralized administration (for better reporting, automation) and security by connecting to the cloud. It has to be ensured that there is minimal effect on the end users during such a transition. For this, co-existence between your legacy platform and office 365 has to be constantly ensured for maintaining user productivity during the transition.

It is time to join the Office 365 bandwagon with a successful migration for reaping benefits of success, enhanced collaboration and increased profits in your business!