(and you have not moved to Windows 10 and Office 365!)
In this article I am going to show why Office 365 is exactly what you need and that you are not alone. All small businesses can benefit from Office 365.
I know, I know if it ain’t broke don’t fix it! Well listen carefully ITS BROKE! Being a small business consultant provides me an opportunity to see the inside of many small businesses. I will tell you flat out just about every single one of them is some definition of controlled chaos (which is usually why I am there). Everyone is running on different hardware all bought at different times all running different versions of everything and they just don’t play nice with each other.
DON’T BE EMBARRASSED MOST SMALL BUSINESSES ARE DOING IT WRONG
I get how you got there. Every time your business grew you hired another person, added a new computer, etc. Years later your office is full of all kinds of different machines running different versions of Windows, probably two or three versions of Office and every anti-virus under the sun.
Sure, it would be nice to buy all the upgrades and get everyone running the same thing but that will cost thousands and take months to migrate everyone’s files and email. Its practically impossible to see any return on that investment. Plus, you’re not in business to be technology experts so you do the best you can and get things working good enough. At the time it was probably the right decision seeing your goal when you first start-up is to just stay in business! Office 365 has changed all this.
But at some point you grow to where you can’t get out of your own way. Not too long ago owners had to have to make a major decision to invest an uncomfortable amount of capital to get their business to the next level. Often putting up thousands to rebuild their entire platform, hire a full time IT staff and budget even more for on going maintenance and upkeep was the standard. Most always these projects never stayed on budget nor on-time. But for the small business that is the old way. Now it all can be done quickly and cheaply.
GET YOUR HEAD INTO THE CLOUDS (WITH OFFICE 365)
The new way is a complete redo. No more server hardware, no more backups, no more buying new versions of software, no more running out of disk space, no more headaches! With modernized desktops and devices everything moves to a secured centralized space on the internet so everything just simply integrates and removes all the pain points the “old way” created.
The best part is you no longer have to pay huge software fees up front. All the software you need to run a business is billed monthly just like Netflix! With Business 365 you can get Windows 10 (W10) and Office 365 (O365) which includes email for ~$20 mo per user and never ever have to upgrade or buy new software again. If you are already running W10 then you are looking a $5 to $12 per. You can have your entire office running the latest and greatest for probably less than a car payment!
IF YOU ARE NOT A HOSTING COMPANY AND STILL WASTE MONEY ON SERVERS YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG
But wait there is more! All your file storage is online so no more running out of hard-drive space or even worse putting your entire company on a $100 USB drive (that’s going to fail). You can get rid of your email server so no more hardware, failing hard-drives or backups! Outside of a few network devices all your infrastructure becomes instantly redundant and highly available with a few clicks of a mouse. All of this with just an Office 365 account.
Modernizing your entire office will not take months or weeks but days. With built-in syncing services all your existing company files automatically get backed up to the cloud. Your apps stay updated with the latest features and all your user management-admin tools are centralized making managing your technology as simple as possible.
ITS SO SIMPLE TO GET ON MICROSOFT OFFICE 365 YOU CAN BE UP AND RUNNING IN JUST DAYS
Today there is no reason your desktop shouldn’t be as reliable as your office phone. We never wonder if there will be a dial tone when we go to make a call. It is just there. It works so well we take for granted the thousands of people and the billions of dollars of infrastructure it takes to make sure its there. Well Microsoft is the thousands of people and billions of infrastructure making your PC just work. Microsoft’s new strategy of “Integrated for Simplicity” means everything will just work.
EVERYONE BECOMES A HIGH PERFORMER WITH OFFICE 365
Think about this. How much work could your office put out if everything just worked? If your staff never lost files and had to redo them? What if you could share any file anywhere in the world just by typing in someone’s email address? How about if you didn’t have to dig through email after email trying to find the latest version of a spreadsheet? What if your sales team had everything they needed with a few swipes of their thumb? What high value tasks could your IT person be doing if they didn’t have to deal with server maintenance and backups?
YOUR BUSINESS IS AVAILABLE AROUND THE CLOCK AND AROUND THE WORLD
Now that your business is on the cloud you can securely access everything from any computer online with a browser. As a business owner myself I know how hard it is to go on vacation…OK, stop laughing I know you never go on vacation. But let’s say you are away and your office calls freaking out because you forgot to give them the quote to close a huge deal. Just pull out your phone, login to your cloud and share the file. You can do it while walking to your connecting flight or enjoying your umbrella drink.
YOU HAVE TO BE CRAZY NOT TO BE DOING THIS
There are so many upsides to getting your business up on this modern desktop I could write for hours, but I know you don’t have hours and I know if you have read this far you get it. However, if you are they type that craves details check out the links down below.
In closing, I know the skeptics will think I am writing this because I am getting kickbacks from Microsoft but I don’t get a penny. The reality is I wrote this article because I just left a client site and they could not stop talking how “everything just works” and how happy they are that they can just focus on the business instead of putting out fires all the time. It’s days like this that reminded me why I love what I do. Nothing better than making IT painless.
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