Cloud Integration Services

Office 365 is Microsoft's expanding line of client productivity applications and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Office 365 applications and Azure services are offered in a selection of bundles, or subscription plans, intended for markets ranging from individual and households to global corporations.

Most Office 365 apps can be deployed on multiple computers including PCs, Apple Macs, tablets, and smartphones. These multi-device applications include Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook. PC-only applications include Access for database management and Publish for desktop publishing. To accommodate users with multiple devices, many bundles allow you to run Office applications on several devices. As an example, Office 365 Business and ProPlus packages allow every included app to be run on up to five devices.

Progent offers quick and easy remote access to consultants with expert knowledge of Microsoft, Mac, Apple iOS, and Android software. Progent can help you to understand the numerous subscription plans available with Office 365 and configure your information network with Office 365 in a way that delivers the highest possible competitive value. Progent has experience supporting multi-vendor networks that include Windows, Apple macOS or OS X, and Linux based products. Progent can also help you to create and maintain hybrid networks that transparently combine local and cloud infrastructure.

Microsoft Office 365 Applications and Cloud Services
Microsoft Office 365 plans are available for a broad selection of markets including businesses of all sizes, education, state and local government, and home. Some packages, like Office 365 Business Essentials, includes no applications but only Azure-based services. Others, like Office 365 Business, includes applications but only the OneDrive cloud service. The high-end Office 365 Enterprise E5 plan includes seven apps and seven cloud services. Progent can assist you to pick an Office 365 bundle that's right for your business, assist you to migrate from older versions of Microsoft Office applications, and show you how to centralize the management of Office 365 and other system resources to create a cost-effective, secure and productive IT environment.

Major Office 365 Apps
The most obvious distinction between Office 365 apps and their related Microsoft Office releases is that Office 365 applications are rented rather than perpetually licensed. Also, traditionally licensed Office apps are allowed to be installed on only one device and are not patched automatically or replaced for free when a major new edition comes out. As an example, moving from Office Word 2013 to Word 2016 requires you to purchase a new copy of Word. Incremental updates to Microsoft Office titles are made available to Office 365 subscribers sooner than to users of perpetually licensed editions. Also, Office suites bought with a permanent license do not include the Azure-based services that are bundled with Office 365.

Client applications available with various Office 365 packages include:

Office 365 Word introduces the ability to edit and review Office files across Windows, Android, Apple Mac, and iOS computers while maintaining a consistent look and user experience. Users can also co-author Office documents, find out which team members are editing various shared projects, and observe updates made by team members in real time. Just as with Office 365 Excel and PowerPoint, you can instantly share from within your documents. In addition, you can review who has rights to view or edit a given document and who is currently working on it. For documents you own, you can easily change edit rights. Learn about Progent's Microsoft Office 365 Word consulting expertise.

Office 365 Excel now allows you to employ the industry-standard Exponential Smoothing algorithm to build forecasts for projecting future trends using historical data. New linked data types that access online sources include Stock and Geography. Stock retrieves the latest stock price, price change, and other equities information. Geography allows you to select a country and retrieve current online demographic or economic information like population or gas costs. As in the case of Office 365 Word and PowerPoint, Office 365 Excel also supports Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) images. These can be turned, colored, and resized instantaneously without any loss in quality. Learn about Progent's Microsoft Office 365 Excel consulting services.

Office 365 PowerPoint lets you work with 3D objects and includes an expanded selection of animation effects such as swinging and rotating. Like Office Excel and Office Word, Office 365 PowerPoint allows you to transform sketches into uniform shapes for flow charts, diagrams, and other objects. Office 365 PowerPoint for Mac includes the ability to embed and format video from within PowerPoint. PowerPoint's Media Browser provides easy access to a broad selection of media sources like iPhoto albums, iTunes playlists, and iMovie libraries as well as shapes, Clip Art, and other graphical content.

Office 365 Outlook offers important enhancements to previous versions of the Outlook email and calendar app by introducing useful features such as audio cues, automatic downloading of OneDrive attachments, display responses to a meeting request for people other than meeting organizers, streamlined email sorting, plus easier group creation and shared calendars. Also, Office 365 Outlook users can hear their messages read aloud as the portions being read are highlighted. Microsoft's Office intelligent services, when enabled, also allows Office 365 Outlook clients to dictate messages. Office 365 Outlook for Mac now supports push email, online archiving, the ability to suggest an alternative meeting schedule in response to a meeting invitation, and multiple calendar display. Full Screen Mode allows multiple open messages and enables subscribers to run two Outlook instances in split-screen view. Find out about Progent's Office 365 Outlook and Outlook on the web consulting and training expertise.

Office 365 OneNote for Windows 10 is incorporated in the majority of Office 365 bundles, pre-installed in Windows 10, and offered for download as a free mobile application. The older OneNote 2016 version, which has some functions not initially provided in OneNote for Windows 10 likes Record Video, continues to be available for free but is no longer being updated with new features. OneNote for Windows 10 sports a new configurable interface consistent for Windows 10, Mac, iOS, Google Android, and Web. Other features available only on OneNote for Windows 10 include improved ink-to-text, an alert center that shows modifications in your open and recent notebooks, automatic transformation of drawings into standardized shapes, and a digital ruler to create straight lines and measure distance.

Office 365 Access, available only for PCs, allows you to utilize Visual Basic for Applications and a rich library of templates to streamline business processes and create modern-looking forms and reports. Office 365 Access includes the connector library to extract data from a broad range of leading business applications and data sources for generating quality reports from within the time-tested Access interface. Support for storing Access data in both Microsoft SQL Server as well as Azure SQL provides an enterprise-class database plus SQL syntax for Access applications deployed either on premises or in the Microsoft Azure cloud. Office Access 365 now includes an updated Linked Table Manager, allows you to add new forms and reports, and enables you to link or import data from Saleforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Find out about Progent's Microsoft Office 365 Access development and training expertise.

Office 365 Publisher, offered exclusively on PCs, is a popular entry-level desktop publishing system that leverages the familiar Office environment to deliver an intuitive program for creating and sharing professional-looking documents such as fliers and white papers that require precise object placement. Because publications can be stored in the cloud, you can distribute a document as easily as sending a link. Publisher's wide use and ease of use allow you to meet deadlines for time-sensitive jobs without needing depend on the availability of a desktop publishing guru for making last-minute changes.

Office 365 Cloud Services
Office 365 cloud services allow organizations to leverage Microsoft's vast cloud resources to host business-critical servers such as Exchange and Skype for Business. This provides enterprise-class levels of availability and protection while reducing the significant upfront costs and management effort required for setting up and supporting robust on-premises computer facilities. For cases that require some systems to be located on-premises for compliance, throughput, or other issues, most Office 365 virtual server products can be implemented with hybrid network models that transparently support local and cloud resources.

Office 365 Exchange Online provides email hosting and supports mailbox capacity ranging from 50 GB to unlimited. Important features include custom domain addresses (name@​your­company​.com), shared calendars and address books, a web version of Outlook, one-click archiving, and simple-to-create collaboration groups. The web-accessible Exchange admin center lets you control email settings for your organization and gives you complete control over crucial areas including permissions, cybersecurity, mail flow, creating mailboxes and defining limits, team work, contact lists, Unified Messaging, monitoring and reporting, and backup. Find out about Progent's Microsoft Office 365 Exchange Online integration and administration expertise.

Office 365 OneDrive is Microsoft's popular file sync and sharing platform. Office 365 subscription plans usually include 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage, allowing you to save, retrieve, and share data across Microsoft Windows, Mac, or iOS and Android devices. By automatically synchronizing your files to your desktop, OneDrive allows you to modify documents even when you are offline. OneDrive simplifies sharing and co-editing, keeping track all file updates to prevent versioning problems. You can begin a co-authoring project on any device and move smoothly to another device at your convenience. For advanced collaboration, an array of tools permit you to notate and highlight documents. Advanced search tools help you to find files quickly, and tracking tools provide insights like the number of people who accessed or shared a file.

Office 365 Skype for Business offers cloud-hosted IP voice, video, and conferencing. Online Plan 1 offers instant messaging, presence, peer-to-peer VoIP, and HD video, plus federation and directory search. Online Plan 2 adds scheduled and ad hoc conferencing with audio and video calling as well as screen and application sharing on Apple iOS and Google Android smartphones and tablets, PCs, and Mac computers. For hybrid networks that combine an on-premises Skype for Business Server with Skype for Business Online services, you can deploy a seamless environment via a Split Domain deployment. Learn about Progent's Office 365 Skype for Business planning and integration consulting.

Office 365 SharePoint Online combines information management with internal web publishing to allow businesses to broadcast and share content and to facilitate collaboration. SharePoint's admin center now includes interactive usage analysis, Message Center posts, and a Service Health dashboard intended to streamline administrative tasks. In addition, you are able to link up-to-date SharePoint team sites to Office 365 Groups, expanding your existing SharePoint sites with shared conversations, calendar, and Planner. Innovative capabilities to support cloud coexistence now include hybrid taxonomy and auditing plus an updated client-side development model for building SharePoint solutions locally, in hybrid implementations, and in Office 365. Find out about Progent's Office 365 SharePoint Online integration and development services.

Microsoft Office Teams is the future of Skype for Business, offering a single hub for conversations, contacts, and information with persistent threaded chat, file sharing, plus integrated voice and video conferencing. Microsoft has built the cloud environment supporting Teams to deliver quicker meeting join speeds than Skype for Business and to allow integration with Cognitive Services like text-to-voice, translation, speech recognition, and machine learning. Progent's consultants can help you to test Microsoft Office 365 Teams to assess the benefits of utilizing this new collaboration technology.

Office 365 Yammer is a social network platform intended to be used within an enterprise and restricted to users who have a verified corporate email address. Postings can be files, web links, videos, PowerPoint presentations, and SharePoint content. The Discovery connection makes it easy to locate information relevant to your job or concerns as indicated based on groups you belong to, conversations you follow, and people you communicate with. You can locate discussions, files, interest groups, participants, and other items related to a specific colleague. Group Insights inform you how events like publishing, reading, and liking are trending over time. Notifications alert you about pertinent activity such as new postings in your groups, comments in your conversations, and new participants.

Office 365 Power BI is a stack of cloud services integrated with Microsoft Office 365 that enables you to create sharable dashboards and on-demand management reports that offer up-to-date consolidated views into vital facets of your business. Office 365 Power BI dashboards can aggregate data from a broad array of local and outside repositories like Excel, on-premises SQL Server Analysis Service, Azure, or popular databases such as QuickBooks, Google Analytics and Salesforce. Dashboards and reports created by Power BI can be refreshed continually via data streaming. You can save and distribute your dashboards in the cloud using OneDrive. Native Power BI mobile applications are offered for Windows devices plus Apple iOS and Google Android smartphones and tablets. Find out about Progent's Office 365 Power BI Online development expertise.

How Progent Can Assist Your Business with Office 365 Solutions
For organizations who need quick remote guidance from a top-tier Office 365 integration consultant, Progent offers a comprehensive sele3ction of services including system architecture design, configuration, troubleshooting, software development, management, and training. Progent's Microsoft-certified support consultants, Cisco-certified infrastructure experts, macOS and OS X integration support professionals, iPhone and iPad experts and Android integration experts can assist you to enhance your information network with Microsoft Office 365 applications and services.

ProSight Remote Management and Monitoring (RMM) Services
Progent provides a selection of low-cost, flat-rate managed services intended to enable small and medium-size businesses to utilize the same best-of-breed IT solutions deployed by many of the world's leading enterprises. Progent's ProSight portfolio of network monitoring and management services covers all key aspects of modern networking including email protection, behavioral-based threat defense, automated backup and disaster recovery, network infrastructure management, virtual server hosting, and network asset documentation management. Learn more about Progent's remote management and monitoring (RMM) services.

Get in Touch with Progent for Office 365 Integration and Support
If you are trying to find an Office 365 consultant, call Progent at 800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.

Cloud Integration Solutions from Progent
The options available for public cloud services are expanding continually, making it difficult for information system managers to determine the optimum cloud strategy for their business. Progent has in-depth experience helping businesses ranging from startups to large enterprises to plan, implement, and maintain hybrid environments that combine various cloud services from major public cloud providers. Progent's cloud integration experts can help you to assess the comparative advantages and shortcomings of different public cloud offerings and can help you build a cloud-based or hybrid network that provides maximum business value.

Public cloud products and services supported by Progent include:

Progent's Microsoft Azure cloud planning and integration consultants can assist you with any phase of Microsoft Azure migration such as requirements analysis, readiness evaluation, solution design, pilot testing, deployment, centralized administration, performance tuning, license controls, disaster recovery preparedness, security planning, and regulatory compliance validation. Progent can help your IT staff to configure and troubleshoot firewall appliances and VPN tunnels so that your users can safely access to Azure services, and Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can help you set up key Microsoft platforms to work in Azure including Microsoft Windows Server, Exchange, SQL and Skype for Business. Progent can also help your organization to create a hybrid ecosystem that seamlessly combines on-premises datacenters with Azure-based services.

Microsoft supports transparent hybrid environments that combine Office 365 Exchange Online and on-premises Exchange. This permits you to have certain mailboxes hosted at your on-premises datacenter or private cloud and other mailboxes hosted by Office 365. Progent's Microsoft-certified Exchange consultants can help your organization with any facet of planning, implementing and debugging your hybrid Office 365 network. Progent's Exchange specialists can provide occasional support to help you through challenging technical problems and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to ensure your hybrid Office 365 solution is completed on schedule and on budget. For more information about Progent's online consulting expertise for integrating Office 365 and on-premises Exchange environments, see Exchange Online integration solutions with on-premises Exchange.

Progent's Amazon AWS cloud integration experts offer cost-effective online support to help companies to integrate Amazon AWS cloud services such as Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for virtual machine hosting, Amazon S3 for scalable low-latency storage, and Glacier for value-priced archival storage. Progent can assist you with every phase of Amazon AWS integration including needs analysis, preparedness evaluation, architectural design, pilot testing, deployment, administration, performance optimization, software license management, disaster recovery mechanisms, and security and compliance. Progent offers advanced expertise with firewall configuration and VPN connections and can show you how to deploy all-cloud or hybrid ecosystems that efficiently incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services. Progent offers as-needed consulting or Progent can provide comprehensive project management outsourcing services to help you migrate efficiently to the Amazon AWS cloud platform.

Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) is a library of APIs that enables Amazon sellers to streamline their business processes by automating crucial sales activities such as listings, orders, payments, inbound and outbound fulfillment, and finances. By tapping into Amazon's vast online ecosystem and automating their sales processes, vendors can expand their market, reduce their cost of sales, accelerate reaction time to customers, and add to their profits. Progent's Amazon Marketplace Web Service developers can collaborate with your development staff and provide application programming, workflow integration, project management support, and mentoring so you can shorten development time and costs and speed up your return on investment.

Progent's Google Cloud Platform planning and integration experts can provide cost-effective online and onsite support to assist organizations of any size to migrate any part of their critical network resources to Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This can save management hassle and hardware costs and enable the use of Google's cutting edge AI and machine learning technology. Progent can help you with every aspect of Google Cloud Platform integration including needs analysis, preparedness assessment, system design, testing, deployment, administration, performance tuning, software license management, disaster recovery solutions, and security.