Cloud Integration Consulting

Microsoft 365 (formerly branded Office 365) is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity applications and cloud-based services provided on a subscription basis. Microsoft 365 apps and Azure services are offered in a variety of product bundles, known as subscription plans, aimed at markets ranging from individual and households to major enterprises.

Most Microsoft 365 applications can be deployed on a variety of devices including PCs, Macs, tablets, and smartphones. These multi-device apps include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook. PC-only apps include Access and Microsoft Publisher. To accommodate customers with multiple computing devices, many bundles allow you to install Microsoft 365 apps on more than one device. As an example, Microsoft 365 Business and ProPlus packages permit each included app to be installed on up to five customer devices.

Progent offers quick and affordable remote access to consultants with expert knowledge of Microsoft, Mac, iOS, and Google Android software. Progent can help you to evaluate the many subscription plans available with Microsoft 365 and integrate your IT system with Microsoft 365 so it delivers the highest possible business advantage. Progent can help you manage cross-platform networks that incorporate Windows, Apple macOS or OS X, and Linux based products. Progent can also help you to create and maintain hybrid networks that seamlessly integrate on-premises and cloud-based resources.

Microsoft 365 Applications and Cloud-based Services
Microsoft 365 plans are designed to serve a broad range of users including businesses of all sizes, schools, government, and home. Some plans, like Microsoft 365 Business Essentials, has no apps but only Azure-based services. Others, such as Microsoft 365 Business, includes applications but provides only the OneDrive cloud service. The high-end Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5 plan includes seven apps and seven cloud services. Progent's consultants can assist you to select an Microsoft 365 package that's right for your situation, help you to move from legacy versions of Office applications, and help you simplify the management of Microsoft 365 and other network resources to create a cost-effective, secure and productive IT environment.

KeyMicrosoft 365 Applications
The most obvious distinction between Microsoft 365 apps and their corresponding Office editions is that Microsoft 365 applications are subscription based rather than perpetually licensed. Also, permanently licensed Microsoft Office apps are allowed to be run on only one device at a time and are not updated automatically or upgraded at no extra cost when a major edition is released. As an example, upgrading from Word 2013 to Word 2019 requires you to purchase a new license for Word. Minor releases of Microsoft Office applications are provided Microsoft 365 subscribers sooner than to owners of permanently licensed versions. Also, Office suites bought with a permanent license do not include any of the cloud services bundled with Microsoft 365.

Apps available with different Microsoft 365 packages include:

Microsoft 365 Word includes the ability to write and view Office documents across Windows, Android, Apple Mac, and iOS devices while maintaining a consistent look and feel. You can also co-author documents, see which team members are editing shared documents, and observe changes made by others in real time. As with Microsoft 365 Excel and Microsoft 365 PowerPoint, you can easily share without leaving your documents. Additionally, you can review who has rights to view or edit a given document and who is currently working on the document. For your own documents, you can easily change authoring permissions. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Word consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Excel permits you to use the standard Exponential Smoothing algorithm to create forecasts for projecting future trends based on past data. New linked data types that access current online sources include Stock and Geography. Stock retrieves the current stock price, price change, and other equities information. Geography enables you to select a region and extract current online demographic or economic data like population or gas price. As in the case of Microsoft 365 Word and Microsoft 365 PowerPoint, Microsoft 365 Excel also supports Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) images. These can be rotated, colored, and resized instantaneously without any loss in quality. Learn about Progent's Microsoft 365 Excel consulting services.

Microsoft 365 PowerPoint lets you work with 3D models and provides an expanded selection of animation functions such as jumping and turning. As with Office Excel and Word, Microsoft 365 PowerPoint allows you to convert drawings into standard shapes for charts, diagrams, and other objects. Microsoft 365 PowerPoint for Mac includes the capability to embed and edit video from within PowerPoint. PowerPoint's Media Browser utility provides convenient access to a wide selection of sources like iPhoto albums, iTunes playlists, and iMovie libraries plus standard shapes, Clip Art, and other graphics.

Microsoft 365 Outlook provides important enhancements to prior versions of the Outlook email and calendar application by introducing features such as the focused Inbox, transparent downloading of OneDrive attachments, display replies to a meeting invitation for people who are not conference organizers, simplified email organizing, plus easier group creation and calendar sharing. Additionally, Microsoft 365 Outlook users can have their messages read aloud as the portions being read are highlighted. Office intelligent services, when activated, also allows Microsoft 365 Outlook clients to dictate messages. Microsoft 365 Outlook for Mac now supports push email, online archiving, the ability to suggest an alternative meeting schedule in response to a meeting request, and multiple calendar display. Full Screen Mode allows multiple open emails and permits users to run two Outlook instances in split-screen. Learn about Progent's Microsoft 365 Outlook and Outlook on the web configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Microsoft 365 OneNote for Windows 10 is incorporated in the majority of Microsoft 365 bundles, installed by default in Windows 10, and available for download as a no-cost mobile app. The earlier OneNote 2016 release, which includes functions not at first available in OneNote for Windows 10 such as Record Video, is still available at no cost but is no longer being updated. OneNote for Windows 10 introduces a fresh customizable interface common across Windows 10, Mac, iOS, Android, and Web. Other features available only on OneNote for Windows 10 include improved ink-to-text, an alert center that shows changes in open and recently used notebooks, automatic conversion of freehand drawings into standardized shapes, and a digital ruler to draw straight lines and measure distance.

Microsoft 365 Access, offered only on Windows PCs, allows you to utilize Visual Basic for Applications and a rich library of templates to streamline business operations and create advanced forms and reports. Microsoft 365 Access comes with the connector library to integrate data from a wide range of leading business apps and data sources for generating quality reports from within the time-tested Access environment. The ability to store Access data in both Microsoft SQL Server as well as Azure SQL gives you a world-class database plus SQL syntax for Access apps hosted either locally or in the Microsoft Azure cloud. Microsoft Access 365 now comes with an enhanced Linked Table Manager, allows you to add new forms and reports, and permits you to link or extract data from Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Learn about Progent's Microsoft 365 Access consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Publisher, available exclusively on Windows PCs, is a popular user-friendly desktop publishing system that takes advantage of the familiar Office interface to deliver an intuitive program for developing and sharing modern-looking documents like mailers and newsletters that require exact image placement. Since publications can be saved to the cloud, you can distribute a document as easily as providing a link. Publisher's wide use and ease of use make it possible to hit deadlines for time-critical jobs without having to depend on instant access to a desktop publishing guru for implementing eleventh-hour edits.

Microsoft 365 Cloud Services
Microsoft 365 cloud services permit you to take advantage of Microsoft's extensive cloud infrastructure to host business-critical servers like Microsoft Exchange, Teams and Skype for Business. This provides high levels of availability and protection while saving the substantial investment costs and management effort associated with setting up and supporting self-sufficient on-premises computer facilities. For cases that require some systems to be located onsite for compliance, throughput, or other reasons, most Microsoft 365 virtual server platforms can be implemented with hybrid network models that transparently combine on-premises and cloud-hosted infrastructure.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers email hosting and allows user mailbox capacity ranging from 50 Gbytes to whatever you can afford. Important features include custom email domain addresses (name@​your­company​.com), shareable calendars and contact lists, the Outlook Web app, single-click archiving, and simple-to-create collaboration groups. The web-accessible Exchange admin center allows you to control email settings for your organization and provides full control over critical areas including permissions, cybersecurity, mail flow, making mailboxes and defining limits, collaboration, address books, Unified Messaging, monitoring and reporting, and backup. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and administration expertise.

Microsoft 365 OneDrive is Microsoft's popular file synchronization and share platform. Microsoft 365 packages typically include 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage, allowing you to store, access, and share files across Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac, or iOS and Android devices. By automatically synchronizing your files to your workstation, OneDrive lets you modify documents even when you are not connected to the Internet. OneDrive facilitates sharing and co-editing, keeping track all changes to prevent consistency issues. You can start a co-authoring project on any computer and switch smoothly to another device at any time. For enhanced collaboration, a variety of utilities allow you to annotate and highlight shared documents. Powerful discovery features help you to find files fast, and analysis tools provide useful information such as the number of people who accessed or shared a file.

Microsoft 365 Skype for Business Online offers cloud-based voice, HD video, and conferencing. Skype's Online Plan 1 includes instant messaging, presence, VoIP, and video calling, plus federation and directory search. Online Plan 2 includes scheduled and ad hoc conferencing with A/V calling plus screen and application sharing on Apple iOS and Google Android smartphones and tablets, Windows PCs, and Apple Mac computers. For hybrid networks that combine a local Skype for Business Server with Skype for Business Online services, you can create a seamless solution using a Split Domain deployment. Learn about Progent's Microsoft 365 Skype for Business solution design and configuration consulting.

Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online combines content management with intranet publishing to enable businesses to distribute and share knowledge and to facilitate teamwork. The SharePoint admin center has been enhanced with interactive usage analysis, Message Center updates, and a Service Health dashboard designed to streamline management. Also, you can link up-to-date team sites to Microsoft 365 Groups, expanding your existing SharePoint sites with group conversations, calendar, and Planner. Innovative capabilities to support cloud integration now include hybrid taxonomy and auditing as well as an enhanced client-side development architecture for creating SharePoint solutions on-premises, in hybrid implementations, and in Microsoft 365. Learn about Progent's Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online integration and development services.

Microsoft Teams is the successor of Skype for Business, offering a single portal for meetings, contacts, and content with persistent threaded chat, file sharing, plus built-in IP voice and video conferencing. Microsoft has designed the cloud infrastructure supporting Teams so it can deliver faster conference join times than Skype for Business and to allow integration with Cognitive Services like text-to-voice, translation, speech recognition, and AI. Progent can help you to test Microsoft 365 Teams to assess the benefits of utilizing this new collaboration platform. Find out more about Progent's Microsoft Teams solution design consulting.

Microsoft 365 Yammer is a social network platform designed to be used inside an enterprise and restricted to users with a verified corporate email address. Postings can be files, web links, videos, PowerPoint presentations, and SharePoint pages. The Discovery connection makes it easy to locate content that relates to your work or concerns as shown by the groups you belong to, discussions you follow, and people you communicate with. You can find conversations, files, groups, followers, and other items associated with a specific colleague. Group Insights inform you how activities such as publishing, reading, and liking are trending over time. Notifications alert you about pertinent events such as new postings in your groups, comments in your conversations, and new participants.

Microsoft 365 Power BI is a set of online services integrated with Microsoft 365 that allows businesses to build sharable dashboards and on-demand management reports that offer real-time consolidated views into key areas of your business. Microsoft 365 Power BI dashboards can aggregate data from multiple internal and outside sources like Microsoft Excel, on-premises SQL Server Analysis Service, Azure, or popular sources such as QuickBooks, Google Analytics and Salesforce. Dashboards and reports created by Power BI can be refreshed continually via data streaming. You can store and share your visualizations in the cloud with OneDrive. Native Power BI mobile apps are available for Windows devices plus iOS and Google Android smartphones. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Power BI Online integration consulting and training.

How Progent's Consultants Can Assist Your Business with Microsoft 365 Integration
For businesses looking for fast remote help from a high-level Microsoft 365 integration consultant, Progent can provide a comprehensive sele3ction of services such as solution architecture design, configuration, debugging, application development, administration, and education. Progent's Microsoft-certified support professionals, Cisco-certified network engineers, macOS and OS X integration support professionals, iPhone and iPad integration experts and Android smartphone integration experts can help you to integrate your network with Microsoft 365 products and services.

ProSight Remote Management and Monitoring (RMM) Services
Progent offers a family of budget-friendly, flat-rate services designed to allow small and mid-size businesses to utilize the same best-of-breed technology deployed by some of the industry's leading enterprises. Progent's ProSight portfolio of IT management outsourcing services covers all key facets of modern networking including email content filtering, behavioral-based threat defense, cloud-based backup/recovery, infrastructure management, VM cloud hosting, and network asset documentation management. Find out more about Progent's remote management and monitoring (RMM) services.

Get in Touch with 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.

Public Cloud Integration Solutions from Progent
The options offered for public cloud services are expanding continually, making it difficult for information system managers to determine the optimum cloud solution for their business. Progent has in-depth experience helping businesses of all sizes to plan, deploy, and maintain hybrid environments that integrate various cloud services from leading public clouds. Progent's cloud integration consultants can assist you to assess the relative advantages and shortcomings of different public cloud offerings and can show you how to build a cloud-based or hybrid network that provides maximum business value.

Public cloud products supported by Progent include:

Progent's Azure integration experts can help you with every aspect of Microsoft Azure integration such as needs analysis, prerequisites evaluation, system design, pilot testing, implementation, centralized administration, performance tuning, software license controls, disaster recovery strategies, security planning, and regulatory compliance validation. Progent can assist your IT staff to set up and troubleshoot firewall appliances and VPN connections so that your clients can safely access to Azure services, and Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can assist you integrate critical Microsoft platforms to work in the cloud including Windows Server, Exchange, SQL Server and SharePoint. Progent can also assist your organization to create a hybrid ecosystem that seamlessly combines physical datacenters with Azure-based resources.

Microsoft has made a strong effort to enable transparent hybrid environments that combine Microsoft 365 and local Exchange. This permits you to have certain mailboxes located on your corporate datacenter and other mailboxes resident on Microsoft 365. Progent's certified Exchange consulting team can help your organization with any facet of designing, implementing and debugging your hybrid Exchange solution. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide occasional expertise to help you resolve challenging technical issues and also offer extensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to ensure your hybrid Exchange solution is completed on schedule and on budget. To find out more about Progent's online consulting expertise for integrating Microsoft 365 Exchange and on-prem Exchange systems, refer to Exchange Online integration solutions with on-premises Exchange.

Progent's Amazon Web Services (AWS) integration consultants can provide affordable remote support to assist companies of any size to integrate Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud services such as Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for virtual machine hosting, Amazon S3 for scalable high-performance storage, and Amazon Glacier for low-cost long-term archiving. Progent can assist your IT team with every phase of Amazon AWS migration and troubleshooting including needs analysis, preparedness evaluation, architectural design, testing, deployment, centralized administration, performance optimization, software license management, backup/restore solutions, and security and compliance. Progent offers advanced expertise with firewall configuration and VPN access and can show you how to create cloud-centric or hybrid networking models that efficiently incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services. Progent offers as-needed consulting or Progent can provide 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 enables Amazon sellers to streamline their business processes by automating crucial sales functions including listings, orders, payments, inbound and outbound fulfillment, and reports. By leveraging Amazon's extensive online selling environment and automating their sales processes, vendors can broaden their market, lower their operating costs, accelerate reaction time to customers, and add to their bottom line. Progent's Amazon Marketplace Web Service developers can work 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) integration consultants can provide cost-effective remote and onsite support to help businesses of any size to move all or part of their critical network infrastructure to Google Cloud Platform services. This can save management hassle and hardware expense and allow the use of Google's state-of-the-art machine learning tools. Progent can assist your IT team with every phase of Google Cloud Platform integration including needs analysis, readiness evaluation, architectural design, pilot testing, configuration, administration, performance tuning, licensing management, disaster recovery solutions, and security.