Computer Network Support for Mid-size Companies

Microsoft 365 (formerly branded Office 365) is Microsoft's growing family of productivity applications and cloud services provided on a monthly or annual subscription basis. Microsoft 365 applications and Azure services are available in a variety of bundles, known as subscription plans, aimed at customers ranging from students and households to major enterprises.

Most Microsoft 365 titles can be installed on multiple devices such as PCs, Macs, tablets, and smartphones. Multi-device apps include versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook. PC-only apps include Microsoft Access for database management and Microsoft Publisher. To address customers with multiple computing devices, many bundles allow you to put Microsoft 365 applications on several devices. As an example, Microsoft 365 Business and ProPlus subscriptions permit every Office application to be run on as many as five devices.

Progent can provide fast and easy online access to consultants with expert knowledge of Microsoft, Mac, iOS, and Google Android products. Progent can assist you to evaluate the many subscription plans available with Microsoft 365 and configure your information network with Microsoft 365 in a way that delivers maximum strategic value. Progent can help you manage multi-vendor networks that incorporate Windows, Apple macOS or OS X, and Linux technology. Progent can also help you to deploy and manage hybrid networks that seamlessly combine on-premises and cloud infrastructure.

Microsoft 365 Apps and Cloud Services
Microsoft 365 subscription plans are designed to serve a broad range of users including businesses of all sizes, education, government, home and nonprofits. Some plans, such as Microsoft 365 Business Essentials, includes no apps but only Azure-based services. Other plans, like Microsoft 365 Business, offers applications but only the OneDrive cloud service. The top-of-the-line Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5 bundle includes seven applications and seven cloud services. Progent's consultants can help you to select an Microsoft 365 bundle that makes sense for your business, assist you to move from older versions of Microsoft Office apps, and help you streamline the management of Microsoft 365 and other network resources to build a cost-effective, protected and reliable IT ecosystem.

Key Microsoft 365 Applications
The obvious distinction between Microsoft 365 applications and their related Office editions is that Microsoft 365 applications are subscription based rather than sold. In addition, traditionally licensed Microsoft Office applications are supposed to be installed on only a single device at a time and are not updated automatically or upgraded for free when a major new edition is released. As an example, upgrading from Word 2013 to Word 2019 requires you to buy another license for Word. Incremental releases of Microsoft Office applications are provided Microsoft 365 subscribers sooner than to owners of perpetually licensed editions. Also, Office suites purchased with a perpetual license do not include any of the Azure-based services packaged with Microsoft 365.

Client applications offered with different Microsoft 365 packages include:

Microsoft 365 Word offers the ability to edit and review Office files across Microsoft Windows, Google Android, Apple Mac, and iOS computers while maintaining a common look and user experience. You can also co-author Office documents, see which colleagues are editing shared documents, and see updates made by team members in real time. Just as with Microsoft 365 Excel and PowerPoint, you can easily share from within your documents. Additionally, you can check who has permission to access a specific document and who is now working on it. For documents you own, you can quickly modify authoring rights. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Word consulting and training expertise.

Microsoft 365 Excel now allows subscribers to use the industry-standard Exponential Smoothing algorithm to create forecast charts for predicting trends using historical data. New linked data types that access online databases include Stock and Geography. Stock retrieves the current stock price, change in price, and other stock market data. Geography enables you to designate a country and extract current online demographic or economic data like population or gas costs. As with Microsoft 365 Word and PowerPoint, Microsoft 365 Excel also can handle Scalable Vector Graphics files. These can be rotated, colored, and scaled instantaneously without any loss in image quality. Learn about Progent's Microsoft 365 Excel consulting and training services.

Microsoft 365 PowerPoint lets you work with 3D models and provides an expanded selection of animation functions like jumping and turning. Like Microsoft Office Excel and Word, Microsoft 365 PowerPoint allows you to transform drawings into standard shapes for charts, diagrams, and various other objects. Microsoft 365 PowerPoint for Mac includes the capability to incorporate and format video from inside PowerPoint. PowerPoint's Media Browser provides convenient access to a wide selection of sources such as iPhoto galleries, iTunes playlists, and iMovie libraries as well as standard shapes, Clip Art, and other graphical content.

Microsoft 365 Outlook provides important improvements to prior releases of the Outlook email and calendar application by introducing features such as the focused Inbox, automatic downloading of OneDrive cloud attachments, display replies to a conference invitation for people other than conference organizers, simplified email sorting, plus more intuitive group creation and shared calendars. In addition, Microsoft 365 Outlook users can hear their messages read aloud while the segments being read are highlighted. Microsoft's Office intelligent services, when activated, also allows Microsoft 365 Outlook clients to dictate messages. Microsoft 365 Outlook for Mac includes push email, online archiving, the ability to propose a different meeting schedule in answer to a meeting request, and multiple calendar display. Full Screen Mode permits multiple open emails and enables subscribers to run two Outlook instances in split-screen view. Learn about Progent's Microsoft 365 Outlook and Outlook on the web consulting expertise.

Microsoft 365 OneNote for Windows 10 is included in most Microsoft 365 product bundles, installed by default in Windows 10, and available for download as a free mobile app. The earlier OneNote 2016 release, which has some functions not initially available in OneNote for Windows 10 such as Record Video, is still available at no cost but is no longer being updated with new features. OneNote for Windows 10 sports a new customizable look consistent across Windows 10, Apple Mac, iOS, Google Android, and Web. Other functionality offered only on OneNote for Windows 10 include improved ink-to-text capability, an alert center that indicates changes in your open and recently used notebooks, automatic conversion of freehand drawings into standardized shapes, and a virtual ruler to draw straight lines and measure distance.

Microsoft 365 Access, available exclusively on PCs, allows you to use VBA and an extensive set of templates to automate business operations and create advanced forms and management reports. Microsoft 365 Access comes with the connector library to integrate data from a wide range of popular business applications and data sources for generating aggregated reports from within the familiar Access environment. Support for storing Access data in both SQL Server and Microsoft Azure SQL provides a world-class database and SQL syntax for Access applications hosted either on premises or in the Microsoft Azure cloud. Microsoft Access 365 now comes with an improved Linked Table Manager, allows you to add new charts and management reports, and permits you to link or import data from Salesforce and Dynamics 365. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Access consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Publisher, available exclusively on Windows PCs, is a leading entry-level desktop publishing tool that takes advantage of the familiar Office interface to deliver an easy-to-use platform for creating and sharing professional-looking publications such as mailers and white papers that call for precise image placement control. Since publications can be saved to the cloud, you can distribute a document simply by providing a link. Publisher's popularity and ease of use allow you to meet deadlines on time-sensitive projects without having to rely on instant access to a desktop publishing professional for implementing eleventh-hour edits.

Microsoft 365 Cloud Services
Microsoft 365 cloud services enable organizations to leverage Microsoft's vast cloud resources to host business-critical servers such as Microsoft Exchange, Teams and Skype for Business. These services provide enterprise-class levels of reliability and protection while reducing the substantial upfront costs and management effort associated with setting up and supporting self-sufficient on-premises computer facilities. For situations that require some systems to be located onsite for compliance, throughput, or other reasons, the majority of Microsoft 365 server products can be deployed with hybrid network models that transparently combine on-premises and cloud-based resources.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers email hosting and supports user mailbox sizes ranging from 50 GB to unlimited. Important features include custom email domain addresses, shared calendars and address books, a web version of Outlook, single-click archiving, and simple-to-create collaboration groups. The web-accessible Exchange admin center lets you control email configurations for your company and gives you full control over crucial areas including user rights, cybersecurity, mail flow, making mailboxes and imposing limits, team work, contact lists, Voice mail, monitoring and reporting, and backup/recovery. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and management expertise.

Microsoft 365 OneDrive is Microsoft's popular file sync and share service. Microsoft 365 subscription plans typically come with 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage, enabling you to save, retrieve, and share data across Windows, Apple Mac, or iOS and Android devices. By transparently synchronizing your files to your workstation, OneDrive lets you revise documents even when you are not connected to the Internet. OneDrive facilitates sharing and co-editing, keeping track all file updates to help avoid versioning problems. You can initiate a co-authoring project on any device and move smoothly to a different computer at your convenience. For enhanced collaboration, a variety of tools allow you to annotate and highlight shared documents. Powerful search features help you to find files quickly, and analysis tools offer insights like the number of people who viewed or shared a file.

Microsoft 365 Skype for Business offers cloud-based voice, HD video, and conferencing. Skype's Online Plan 1 includes IM, real-time presence, VoIP, and HD video, plus federation and directory search. Online Plan 2 adds pre-scheduled and on-demand conferencing with A/V calling as well as screen and app sharing on iOS and Google Android devices, PCs, and Apple Mac computers. For hybrid environments that integrate an on-premises Skype for Business Server with Skype for Business Online services, you can create a cohesive environment via a Split Domain implementation. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Skype for Business Online planning and configuration expertise.

Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online integrates information management with internal web publishing to allow organizations to broadcast and share information and to promote collaboration. The SharePoint admin center now includes usage analysis, Message Center posts, and a Service Health dashboard intended to streamline administrative tasks. Also, you are able to link current SharePoint team sites to Microsoft 365 Groups, expanding SharePoint sites with group discussions, schedules, and project planning. Innovative capabilities to support cloud integration now include hybrid taxonomy and hybrid auditing as well as an updated development architecture for creating SharePoint solutions locally, in hybrid deployments, and in Microsoft 365. Learn about Progent's Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online configuration and development services.

Microsoft Teams is the successor of Skype for Business, providing a single portal for discussions, contact lists, and information with persistent chat, file sharing, plus built-in IP voice and video conferencing. Microsoft has enhanced the cloud infrastructure supporting Teams so it can provide faster meeting join speeds than Skype for Business and to enable integration with Cognitive Services like transcription, language translation, speech recognition, and machine learning. Progent's consultants can help you to try out Microsoft 365 Teams to evaluate the advantages of migrating to this innovative communication technology. Find out about Progent's Microsoft Teams solution design consulting.

Microsoft 365 Yammer is a social network product designed to be used within an organization and limited to clients who have a valid corporate email address. Postings can be files, web links, media, PowerPoint shows, and SharePoint content. The Discovery connection makes it easy to locate content relevant to your job or concerns as shown by the groups you have joined, discussions you participate in, and people you interact with. You can find discussions, files, interest groups, participants, and other items associated with a specific co-worker. Group Insights show you how events such as posting, reading, and liking are trending over time. Notifications alert you about relevant activity like updates in your groups, input to your conversations, and new followers.

Microsoft 365 Power BI is a set of cloud services integrated with Microsoft 365 that enables businesses to create sharable dashboards and on-demand management reports that offer real-time insights into vital areas of your business. Microsoft 365 Power BI dashboards can consolidate data from multiple internal and external repositories such as Excel, in-house SQL Server Analysis Service, the Azure cloud, or popular sources like QuickBooks, Google Analytics and Salesforce. Dashboards and reports developed on Power BI can be updated continually via data streaming. You can save and distribute your dashboards in the cloud using OneDrive. Power BI Online mobile applications are available for Windows computers as well as Apple iOS and Google Android smartphones and tablets. Learn about Progent's Microsoft 365 Power BI Online design and development consulting and training.

Basic Services for Microsoft 365 Migration
Progent offers the services of a Cloud Solutions Architect to assist your company to plan an efficient move to Microsoft 365 customized for your environment. Before presenting this migration plan, Progent's cloud expert will carry out a series of investigative tasks that include running tools such as IdFix, the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer (ExBPA), and custom scripts for reviewing your AD, messaging, and Mobile Device Management arrangement. Critical information that cannot be discovered using these methods will be determined via interviews with your IT staff.

Activities managed by Progent in developing an optimal Microsoft 365 migration plan can include:

• Hold a Project Kickoff meeting with your IT staff to confirm project goals, services to be utilized, client and contractor responsibilities, timelines, etc.
• Develop a Risk and Issue Tracking document.
• Develop an Exchange Hybrid migration plan describing how new services and necessary changes to the environment will be made.
• Review the current Azure Active Directory Connect Identity Management configurations and identify any gaps.
• Identify and develop a plan for mail-enabled applications such as multifunction printers, monitoring systems, and other systems that currently submit SMTP messages.
• Create end-user alerts to be sent out by your Help Desk.
• Identify existing Exchange mailbox sizes and item counts to help strategy for email migrations.
• Examine your network bandwidth reports to verify there is adequate bandwidth and nominal latency to accommodate Microsoft 365.
• Review your existing Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution to ensure it will operate with the Microsoft 365 service offering and capabilities.
• Run Microsoft's IdFix utility to surface possible AD problems and detect duplicate email (SMTP) addresses and user principal names (UPNs), invalid characters and formatting for object attributes, and UPNs with non-routable domains.
• Conduct an Architecture Review meeting with your IT staff to determine issues that might prevent a successful migration.
• Develop a way to permit email to be sent to Dynamic Distribution Groups.
• Compile a list of ports and IP ranges for firewall rules.
• Work with you to find any mailboxes that have been granted elevated rights to another mailbox.
• Develop an implementation plan that defines the tasks associated with your migration to Microsoft 365.

Progent's ProSight family of Remote Management and Monitoring (RMM) Services
Progent offers a family of budget-friendly, flat-rate services designed to enable small and medium-size businesses to benefit from the same advanced IT solutions used by some of the industry's leading corporations. The ProSight portfolio of outsourced network management services addresses all critical areas of information technology such as email content filtering, threat defense based on machine leaning, cloud-based backup/recovery, infrastructure monitoring and management, VM cloud hosting, and IT asset documentation management. Find out more about Progent's remote management and monitoring services.

Contact Progent for Microsoft 365 Integration and Support
If you are trying to find a Microsoft 365 consultant, call Progent at 800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.

Cloud Integration Services from Progent
The choices offered for public cloud products and services are expanding continually, making it difficult for information system managers to determine the best cloud strategy for their organization. Progent has in-depth experience helping companies ranging from startups to large enterprises to design, deploy, and maintain hybrid networks that combine multiple cloud services from major public clouds. Progent's cloud integration experts can help you to evaluate the relative benefits and shortcomings of different public cloud offerings and can show you how to create a cloud-based or hybrid ecosystem that provides maximum business value.

Public cloud products and services supported by Progent include:

Progent's Azure cloud planning and integration consultants can help you with every stage of Microsoft Azure integration including requirements analysis, readiness assessment, system design, pilot testing, deployment, automated management, performance tuning, software license management, disaster recovery preparedness, security policy enforcement, and regulatory compliance validation. Progent can help your IT staff to configure and debug firewall appliances and VPN tunnels so your clients can safely connect to Azure-based resources, and Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can assist you set up key Microsoft platforms to work in the cloud including Microsoft Windows Server, Exchange, SQL Server and SharePoint. Progent can also help you to create a hybrid ecosystem that seamlessly integrates physical datacenters with Azure resources.

Microsoft supports transparent hybrid ecosystems that combine Microsoft 365 and local Exchange deployments. This permits you to have specific mailboxes hosted at your corporate datacenter or private cloud and other mailboxes resident on Microsoft 365. Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can help you with any phase of planning, integrating and troubleshooting your hybrid Microsoft 365/Exchange network. Progent's Exchange specialists can deliver as-needed expertise to help you resolve challenging technical problems and also offer extensive project management outsourcing to make sure your hybrid Microsoft 365/Exchange solution is carried out on time and on budget. To learn more about Progent's online consulting services for integrating Microsoft 365 Exchange and on-prem Exchange environments, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration with on-prem Exchange.

Progent's Amazon AWS cloud planning and integration experts offer affordable online support to assist businesses of any size to integrate Amazon AWS cloud services such as Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for virtual server hosting, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for expandable high-performance storage, and Glacier for low-cost archival storage. Progent can assist your IT team with every aspect of Amazon AWS migration and troubleshooting including needs analysis, readiness evaluation, system design and review, pilot testing, configuration, administration, performance tuning, software license management, backup/restore solutions, and security strategies. Progent can provide advanced expertise with firewall configuration and VPN connections and can help you create cloud-centric or hybrid networking models that efficiently integrate Amazon AWS resources. Progent can provide occasional consulting or Progent can deliver project management outsourcing to help you move efficiently to the Amazon AWS cloud platform.

Amazon Marketplace Web Service is an integrated library of APIs that allows Amazon sellers to improve the efficiency of their operations by automating crucial sales activities such as listings, orders, shipments, fulfillment, and reports. By tapping into Amazon's vast online ecosystem and automating their sales processes, merchants can broaden their reach, reduce their operating costs, improve reaction time to customers, and increase their bottom line. Progent's Amazon Marketplace Web Service consultants can collaborate with your development team and provide programming, workflow integration, project management support, and mentoring to help you cut development time and costs and speed up your return on investment.

Progent's Google Cloud Platform (GCP) planning and integration consultants offer affordable remote and onsite consulting to help companies to move all or part of their core network infrastructure to Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This can save management hassle and equipment expense and enable access to Google's cutting edge machine learning tools. Progent can assist you with every phase of Google Cloud Platform migration and troubleshooting including requirements analysis, readiness assessment, system design and review, testing, configuration, administration, performance optimization, licensing management, backup/restore mechanisms, and security.