Office365

Our mission is simple, Happy Customers. We actually spend a lot of time thinking about this- “what ways can we continue to produce and/or increase the happiness of our clients?” We are also always thinking about how to minimize the risks out there for customers and improve the IT support we provide.  

We understand that technology can be, and often is, frustrating. Our customers rarely call us to say “hi, everything is going good and I don’t need you today!”  While that would be neat, they are typically calling because they are frustrated with technology and asking for our help. So, because we intimately understand this AND we want their happiness to increase we are ALWAYS looking for ways to implement technology that increases the happiness factor by helping customers work smarter, be more efficient, click fewer times, minimize crashes or downtime, and increase the ability to access the information you need anywhere, anytime and on any device.  

For almost thirty years now, businesses have been using traditional file servers as the de-facto method for storing, retrieving and sharing files in an office. Unfortunately, file servers and the methods for accessing them on the go, hasn’t evolved much, if at all, in that same 30 years. You typically still have to have some type of a VPN, or otherwise cumbersome and flawed sync technology, or maybe use Microsoft’s remote desktop services, or Citrix or some type of computer remote control software. All of these create challenges, waste time and generally don’t make people happy. We want to change that, and our friends at Microsoft have finally evolved the Office365 offering to provide a reliable, fast and easy means of ditching the file server while improving speed, functionality and access to your data.   

Imagine a world where you don’t have to login into Citrix or access a VPN client to connect to a server, and then wait because it’s so slow to access the files you want? Imagine a world where you turn on your laptop, or your mobile device, and your files are just available – in the cloud, all the time without having to synchronize them to your device? Imagine if they were safe, reliable and fast. And imagine if you could still browse to them the old fashioned way that you are used to, through the good old Windows Explorer (not the browser but the file window) but it was even faster and friendlier! Those days are finally upon us thanks to Microsoft SharePoint, OneDrive and Microsoft Teams.  

There are a lot of options to pick from in this space but the combined power of what comes natively with Microsoft’s Office 365’s suite of products such as SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams wins the day. 

One of the great challenges we see and hear from clients is that it’s really no longer just about the file storage, it’s about the ability to: 

• Access your stuff whenever, wherever and however you want it securely, reliably and fast. 
• Communicate and collaborate with your team members, partners, clients and more around the files you need and produce and wherever they are and whatever device they use. 
• Keep up with all the various revisions of the files so that you can see the history of changes and revert if you need to. 
• And to knowing that they are backed up, safe, secure from hackers and reliable. 

We are quickly moving organizations beyond traditional file servers, and even file storage systems like DropBox, to true collaboration and productivity systems. These systems are making a significant impact on employees’ productivity, consequently increasing happiness and improving the businesses, bottom line. It’s the term we hear over and over, the “Digital Transformation” and the Internet of Things! Microsoft has done a good job of continually innovating and tweaking their products, and simultaneously embracing a truly open and mobile world. In fact, we would argue that the mobile apps for Microsoft products are sometimes better and easier to use than the versions you install on your computers.  

So, what are the products and how do you use them to “kill the fileserver”? Office365 Business Premium comes with a set of tools that allows you to eliminate file servers, provide easy and fast access to files, create a collaboration environment and feel confident about the security and reliability of the system. The basic tools we use, and implement for our clients that makes them more successful are: 

• Traditional Office, which is typically Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• SharePoint for Web File Sharing for Groups, Companies and Teams. 
• OneDrive for individual file storage and file sharing services. 
• Microsoft Teams for Team Collaboration and Sharing. 

You’re probably wondering- what now? You’ve got me excited, now tell me more! We’d love to, but the best way to learn about this shift is to experience it first hand. If you’re a customer and you want to increase your “happiness factor”, work faster, be more efficient, remove the barriers that get in your way and improve, the bottom line then get in touch with your Client Account Manager to learn more. If you're not a customer and want to experience all of those same benefits, schedule a meeting to discuss how we are helping businesses go further faster and win.