In 2023, businesses should be looking at business solutions that connect their operations more seamlessly, and make their work easier.
The last few years have been defined by the COVID-19 pandemic to such a high degree, that even the landscape of business has transformed. Most notably, it has highlighted the need for businesses to become more technologically cohesive. The need for business tech solutions has become increasingly pronounced. When we discussed this matter with TechQuarters, an IT support provider London-based companies have been relying on since the very start of the pandemic, they pointed to comprehensive business solutions like Microsoft 365 as being one of the most useful changes a business can make in 2023.
What Does Microsoft 365 Offer Businesses?
Microsoft 365 is a well-known business solution which offers a range of apps and services as part of the package. The products included in M365 is designed to give businesses all the tools and resources they need for daily business operations. According to TechQuarters, who provide Outsourced IT Support London businesses use, Microsoft 365 Business Standard is the most popular plan among small to medium-sized business – here are all the services included in said plan:
- Outlook
- OneDrive
- Word
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- SharePoint
- Microsoft Teams
- Exchange
- Publisher (PC only)
- Access (PC only)
From internal and external communications, to cloud storage, content creation and more, Microsoft 365 offers all the basic functionality that businesses around the world rely on daily. But what are some of the key benefits of using Microsoft 365 over other solutions?
Benefits of Microsoft 365 for Businesses
1. Cloud Storage
In 2023, cloud storage really should be a prerequisite for businesses. This is especially true for any organisation that wishes to allow remote or hybrid working – because cloud storage ensures that employees can safely and securely access their files from anywhere. Furthermore, cloud storage is the most efficient method of file sharing, because teams can avoid duplicate files being created across the organisation.
2. Unified Communication
With Microsoft 365, all the main forms of communication that businesses use are covered. Firstly, you have Microsoft Outlook, which is widely considered to be the best business emailing client on the market. You also have Microsoft Teams, which offers 3 forms of communication: Instant Messaging, Videoconferencing, and Cloud Telephony. Between these two apps (which also happen to have many useful integrations), a business can unify all their communication channels within a single software ecosystem.
3. Predictable IT Spend
One of the best benefits of using a unified business solution like Microsoft 365 is that it can make a business’ IT spend much more predictable. We asked TechQuarters about this, as they haveexperience providing IT support Law Firms and similar businesses rely on, and as a Microsoft Solutions Partner, they have provided many of the same businesses with M365 packages. According to them, M365 makes many of the common IT management processes much easier, owing to the fact that it is cloud based, and therefore IT admins can access the tools they need from anywhere, at any time.
4. Automated Updates
Speaking of easier management for IT admins, the process of managing software updates and installations can be completely automated with Microsoft 365. As M365 is technically a software as a service (SaaS) solution, all of the products (besides Microsoft Publisher and Access) are available as web apps, so users don’t even need to install the software on their device; this also means that the web apps are updated by Microsoft themselves automatically. However, if users need the products installed on their device, the process is incredibly easier. Furthermore, updates to desktop apps can be automated by IT admins from the Microsoft 365 admin giveme5 centre.