Office 365 is Microsoft's expanding family of client productivity software and cloud-based services available on a monthly or annual subscription basis. Microsoft Office 365 applications and Azure services are offered in a variety of packages, or subscription plans, targeted at markets ranging from individual and households to major enterprises.
The most popular Office 365 apps can be deployed on a variety of devices including Windows PCs, Apple Macs, iPads, and iPhones and Android smartphones. These multi-device apps include versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook. PC-only apps include Microsoft Access and Office Publisher. To address individuals who have multiple devices, many subscription plans permit you to install Office apps on several devices. For example, Office 365 Business and ProPlus subscription plans permit every Office application to be installed on as many as five devices.
Office 365 applications need Internet connectivity for downloading, activation, account management, and patching. Most subscription plans include a PC edition of Microsoft Office, which enables you to use applications offline, the same as with a traditional perpetual Office license. When you return, your cloud-hosted documents are automatically synchronized. Office 365 cloud services include Exchange Online hosted email, Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business messaging and online conferencing, and OneDrive cloud storage and collaboration. Office 365 cloud services need an active online connection.Progent can provide quick and easy online access to a support consultant with expertise in Microsoft, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can assist you to evaluate the many subscription plans offered with Office 365 and integrate your information system with Office 365 so it delivers maximum competitive advantage. Progent supports multi-vendor networks that incorporate Windows, macOS or OS X, and Linux based products. Progent can also assist you to create and maintain hybrid networks that transparently integrate on-premises and cloud resources.
Office 365 Apps and Cloud Services
Office 365 packages are designed for a wide range of markets including businesses of all sizes, schools, state and local government, home and nonprofits. Some plans, such as Office 365 Business Essentials, includes no apps but only cloud services. Others, such as Office 365 Business, offers apps but only the OneDrive cloud-based service. The top-of-the-line Office 365 Enterprise E5 subscription plan includes seven applications and seven cloud services. Progent can assist your organization to pick an Office 365 bundle that makes sense for your situation, help you to move from legacy versions of Microsoft Office apps, and show you how to centralize the management of Office 365 and other network resources to build an efficient, protected and productive IT ecosystem.
Key Office 365 Applications
The obvious difference between Office 365 applications and their corresponding Microsoft Office versions is that Office 365 applications are subscription based rather than perpetually licensed. Also, traditionally licensed Microsoft Office applications are allowed to be run on just a single PC or Mac and are not patched automatically or replaced at no extra cost when a major new version comes out. For example, upgrading from Office Word 2013 to Word 2016 requires you to buy another copy of Word. Minor releases of Office apps are made available to Office 365 users sooner than to owners of perpetually licensed editions. Also, Office suites purchased with a permanent license do not come with any of the Azure-based services packaged with Office 365.
Applications offered with different Office 365 packages include:
Office 365 Word includes the ability to edit and view Office files across Microsoft Windows, Google Android, Mac, and iOS computers while maintaining a consistent look and user experience. You can also co-author documents, find out which colleagues are working on various shared projects, and see updates made by others as they happen. Just as with Office 365 Excel and Office 365 PowerPoint, you can easily share from within your documents. Additionally, you can review who has permission to view or edit a specific document and who is currently working on it. For your own documents, you can quickly change edit rights. Find out about Progent's Office 365 Word consulting and training services.
Office 365 Excel permits subscribers to use the standard Exponential Smoothing (ETS) algorithm to create forecasts for projecting trends based on past data. New linked data types that are tied to current online databases in real time include Stock and Geography. Stock downloads the current stock price, price change, and other stock market data. Geography enables you to designate a country and retrieve current online demographic or economic data such as population or gas price. As with Office 365 Word and PowerPoint, Office 365 Excel also can handle Scalable Vector Graphics files. These images can be rotated, colored, and resized instantaneously with no loss in image quality. Find out about Progent's Microsoft Office 365 Excel consulting expertise.
Office 365 PowerPoint supports 3D objects and provides an enhanced selection of animation functions such as jumping and turning. Like Office Excel and Office Word, Office 365 PowerPoint allows you to transform drawings into standard shapes for flow charts, diagrams, and various other objects. Office 365 PowerPoint for Mac includes the capability to incorporate and format video from within PowerPoint. PowerPoint's Media Browser utility offers easy access to a broad selection of media sources like iPhoto albums, iTunes playlists, and iMovie collections as well as standard shapes, Clip Art, and other graphics.
Office 365 Outlook offers significant improvements to prior releases of the Outlook email and calendar application by introducing useful features like the focused Inbox, automatic downloading of OneDrive cloud attachments, display replies to a conference invitation for people other than meeting organizers, simplified email sorting, plus easier group creation and calendar sharing. Also, Office 365 Outlook users can hear their messages read aloud while the portions being read are visibly highlighted. Office intelligent services, when enabled, also allows Office 365 Outlook subscribers to dictate messages. Office 365 Outlook for Mac includes push email, online archiving, the ability to suggest an alternative meeting time in answer to a meeting request, and multiple calendar visibility. Full Screen Mode permits multiple open emails and permits subscribers to run two Outlook sessions in split-screen. Find out about Progent's Microsoft Office 365 Outlook and Outlook on the web consulting and training services.
Office 365 OneNote for Windows 10 is incorporated in the majority of Office 365 product bundles, installed by default in Windows 10, and available for download as a no-cost mobile application. The older OneNote 2016 release, which includes features not initially provided in OneNote for Windows 10 likes Record Video, is still available at no cost but is no longer being updated with new features. OneNote for Windows 10 introduces a new customizable look consistent across Windows 10, Mac, iOS, Android, and Web. Other functionality available exclusively on OneNote for Windows 10 include enhanced ink-to-text, a notification center that shows modifications in your open and recently used notebooks, automatic conversion of freehand drawings into standardized shapes, and a virtual ruler to create straight lines and measure distance.
Office 365 Access, available only for Windows PCs, enables 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 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 and Azure SQL provides an enterprise-class database and SQL syntax for Access applications hosted either locally or in the Azure cloud. Office Access 365 now includes an updated Linked Table Manager, lets you include a wealth of new charts and reports, and permits you to link or extract data from Saleforce and Dynamics 365. Learn about Progent's Office 365 Access development and troubleshooting services.
Office 365 Publisher, offered exclusively for Windows PCs, is a popular do-your-own desktop publishing tool that leverages the familiar Microsoft Office environment to deliver an easy-to-use platform for creating and sharing modern-looking documents like datasheets and white papers that call for precise image placement control. Because publications can be stored in the cloud, you can distribute a document simply by sending a link. Publisher's popularity and simplicity allow you to hit deadlines for time-sensitive projects without having to rely on instant access to a desktop publishing expert for implementing eleventh-hour edits.
Office 365 Cloud Services
Office 365 cloud services allow you to leverage Microsoft's vast cloud infrastructure to host business-critical servers like Exchange, Teams and Skype for Business. These services provide high levels of reliability and security while reducing the significant investment costs and management effort associated with setting up and maintaining robust on-premises computer facilities. For situations that require some systems to be kept on-premises for regulatory compliance, throughput, or other reasons, the majority of Office 365 virtual server platforms can be deployed using hybrid architectures that transparently support local and cloud-hosted resources.
Office 365 Exchange Online offers email hosting and allows mailbox capacity ranging from 50 Gbytes to unlimited. Important features include custom email domain addresses (name@yourcompany.com), shared calendars and contact lists, a web version of Outlook, single-click archiving, and simple-to-create collaboration groups. The online Exchange admin center lets you manage email settings for your organization and gives you full control over crucial areas such as permissions, security and compliance, mail flow, making mailboxes and imposing limits, team work, contact lists, Voice mail, monitoring and reporting, and backup/recovery. Learn about Progent's Office 365 Exchange Online configuration and administration expertise.
Office 365 OneDrive is Microsoft's popular file synchronization and share service. Office 365 subscription plans usually come with 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage, enabling you to save, retrieve, and share data across Windows, Mac, or iOS and Android devices. By transparently synchronizing your files to your work station, OneDrive allows you to edit documents even when you are offline. OneDrive facilitates sharing and co-editing, tracking all file updates to avoid inconsistency issues. You can start a team project on any computer and move smoothly to another device at your convenience. For enhanced collaboration, an array of utilities permit you to notate and highlight documents. Advanced search features enable you to find files quickly, and tracking tools offer insights like the number of people who accessed or shared a file.
Office 365 Skype for Business offers cloud-based voice, HD video, and conferencing. Online Plan 1 includes IM, presence, VoIP, and video calling, plus Skype Connectivity. Online Plan 2 includes pre-scheduled and ad hoc conferencing with audio and video calling as well as screen and application sharing on iOS and 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 create a cohesive solution via a Split Domain implementation. Find out about Progent's Office 365 Skype for Business solution design and configuration expertise.
Office 365 SharePoint Online combines information management with internal web publishing to allow organizations to distribute and share information and to facilitate collaboration. The SharePoint admin center now includes usage reports, Message Center updates, and a Service Health dashboard designed to simplify management. In addition, you can now connect up-to-date SharePoint team sites to Microsoft Office 365 Groups, enhancing SharePoint sites with shared discussions, calendar, and Planner. Innovative capabilities to support cloud coexistence now include hybrid taxonomy and hybrid auditing as well as 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 expertise.
Office Teams is the future of Skype for Business, providing a single hub for discussions, contact lists, and information with persistent threaded chat, file sharing, plus built-in voice and video conferencing. Microsoft has enhanced the cloud environment that hosts Teams so it can deliver faster conference join speeds than Skype for Business and to allow integration with Microsoft Cognitive Services like transcription, translation, speech recognition, and AI. Progent can assist you to test Office 365 Teams to evaluate the advantages of utilizing this innovative collaboration technology. Find out about Progent's Microsoft Teams migration services.
Office 365 Yammer is a social network platform intended to be used within an organization and restricted to users with a valid corporate email address. Postings can be files, links, media, PowerPoint presentations, and SharePoint pages. The Discovery feed makes it easy to find information that relates to your job or interests as indicated by the groups you belong to, conversations you contribute to, and people you correspond with. You can find discussions, files, interest groups, followers, and other information associated with a given co-worker. Group Insights inform you how activities such as publishing, viewing, and liking are trending over time. Notifications inform you about relevant activity like updates in your groups, input to your discussions, and new followers.
Office 365 Power BI is a stack of cloud services integrated with Microsoft Office 365 that allows you to build and share dashboards and custom reports that provide real-time insights into vital facets of your business. Office 365 Power BI dashboards can consolidate data from a broad array of internal and outside sources such as 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 in real time via data streaming. You can save and share your visualizations in the cloud with Office 365 OneDrive. Power BI mobile apps are available for Windows devices plus Apple iOS and Google Android smartphones and tablets. Find out about Progent's Microsoft Office 365 Power BI Online integration expertise.
How Progent's Cloud Experts Can Help You with Office 365 Solutions
For organizations who need fast remote access to a top-tier Office 365 configuration consultant, Progent offers a comprehensive sele3ction of services including solution design, configuration, debugging, application development, management, and training. Progent's Microsoft-qualified integration professionals, Cisco-certified network experts, macOS and OS X technology experts, iOS technology experts and Android smartphone experts can help you to integrate your information system with Microsoft Office 365 products and services.
ProSight Remote Management and Monitoring Services
Progent offers a family of budget-friendly, flat-rate services intended to allow small and medium-size businesses to utilize the same best-of-breed IT solutions deployed by some of the world's leading corporations. Progent's ProSight portfolio of outsourced network management services addresses all key facets of information technology such as email protection, security and compliance, automated backup and disaster recovery, network infrastructure health monitoring, virtual server cloud hosting, and IT resources documentation management. Find out more about Progent's remote management and monitoring 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
Cloud Integration Solutions from Progent
The options available for public cloud products and services are increasing continually, making it difficult for information system managers to select the optimum cloud solution for their business. Progent has in-depth experience assisting businesses of all sizes to plan, implement, and manage hybrid networks that integrate multiple cloud services from leading public clouds. Progent's cloud integration consultants can help you to assess the relative advantages and pitfalls of different public cloud options and can help you create a cloud-based or hybrid ecosystem that delivers maximum business value.
Public cloud products and services supported by Progent include:
Progent's Azure cloud planning and integration experts can assist you with any aspect of Azure cloud migration including requirements analysis, readiness evaluation, system design, pilot testing, deployment, centralized administration, 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 firewalls and VPN connections so your clients can securely access to Azure-based services, and Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can assist you set up critical Microsoft platforms to work in Azure including Microsoft Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server and SharePoint. Progent can also assist you to create a hybrid ecosystem that transparently combines on-premises datacenters with Azure services.
Microsoft supports seamless hybrid networks that combine Office 365 and local Exchange. This allows you to have specific Exchange mailboxes hosted on your on-premises datacenter or private cloud and other mailboxes resident on Office 365. Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can help you with any phase of planning, integrating and troubleshooting your hybrid Office 365 solution. Progent's Exchange specialists can provide as-needed expertise to help you resolve stubborn technical issues and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to ensure your hybrid Office 365 initiative is carried out on schedule and within budget. For more information about Progent's consulting support for integrating Office 365 and on-premises Exchange systems, refer to Office 365 Exchange Online integration with on-premises Exchange.
Progent's Amazon Web Services (AWS) integration experts can provide cost-effective online consulting to assist businesses 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 low-latency storage, and Amazon Glacier for value-priced archival storage. Progent can help you with every phase of Amazon AWS migration and troubleshooting including needs analysis, preparedness assessment, system design, testing, configuration, centralized administration, performance tuning, licensing management, disaster recovery solutions, and security and compliance. Progent can provide advanced expertise with firewall configuration and VPN technology and can show you how to create all-cloud or hybrid ecosystems that seamlessly integrate Amazon AWS services. Progent can provide as-needed support or Progent can provide comprehensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to help you migrate efficiently to the Amazon AWS cloud.
Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) is a library of APIs that allows Amazon sellers to streamline their business processes by automating key sales activities such as listings, orders, payments, inbound and outbound fulfillment, and reports. By leveraging Amazon's extensive online ecosystem and automating their sales, vendors can broaden their reach, lower their operating costs, improve response time to customers, and increase their bottom line. Progent's Amazon Marketplace Web Service consultants can work with your development team and provide application programming, workflow integration, project management support, and mentoring so you can cut development time and get to market quickly.
Progent's Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration experts can provide cost-effective remote and onsite consulting to assist businesses to move all or part of their core network resources to Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This can save management hassle and hardware costs and allow the use of Google's state-of-the-art machine learning technology. Progent can assist you with every aspect of Google Cloud Platform integration including needs analysis, readiness assessment, system design, pilot testing, deployment, administration, performance optimization, licensing management, disaster recovery solutions, and security strategies.