Microsoft 365: The Answer to All Business IT Problems?
Microsoft 365 is a suite of products, available at three price points to suit every type of organisation. All three come with the same set of products: Office 365, Windows 10 and EndPoint Manager (formerly Intune). Together, these products represent the simplest way to migrate any business onto a modern IT platform.
The Modern IT platform:
- Work from anywhere, on any device
- Collaborate easily with co-workers and external partners/customers
- Secure by design, with tools to manage compliance
- Easy to deploy and manage
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
At the entry level, Microsoft 365 Business Premium is a great way for smaller companies to transition to the cloud, and move away from managing/hosting their own servers. The immediate benefits include:
- Upgrade machines from Windows 7 and 8 to 10 and get all users on the same secure platform as employees with new machines
- Manage software deployments from Intune, and stop manual deployments
- Ensuring every device is secure and compliant with company policies – including mobiles, tablets and personal devices that access company data
With a single client platform in-place, the next phase can begin – removing the reliance on legacy servers:
- Synchronize identities with the cloud (Azure AD)
- Migrate email from on-premise Exchange server – or Small Business Server – to the cloud
- Do the same with file shares into SharePoint/OneDrive
Now there’s less need for servers on-site, and employees can work anywhere. The final step is to remove the servers entirely, which might mean finding cloud based alternatives to the applications they run, or migrating those applications themselves into Azure.
Microsoft 365 Enterprise
The enterprise versions (E3 and E5) of Microsoft 365 are primarily aimed at larger companies (business is limited to 300 users), but would also suit:
- Companies who operate in highly regulated industries, such as finance, healthcare, defence: where security and regulatory compliance and priorities.
- Companies with a complex IT infrastructure, that require a mix of on-premise and cloud infrastructure (hybrid)
The enterprise versions include:
- additional security features, such as credential guard and device guard.
- tools for integrating with and managing on-premise servers, making the transition to the cloud easier and hybrid solutions more practical, including server licences.
- more reporting and compliance tools.
Services for Microsoft 365
Fuse offer a full range of services for Microsoft 365:
- A strategic evaluation of the current situation, where the business wants to be, and how to get there with the least risk and highest return on investment.
- Deployment services to manage the installation and configuration of Microsoft 365 components
- Migration to Azure AD, SharePoint Online and Exchange Online
- Transition of Applications to cloud-based alternatives, including database and server migration.
- Ongoing support as a managed service, on a per-user/per month basis.
For further details, please contact us to arrange a demonstration. We also welcome enquiries from existing Office 365 customers, who can be upgraded to Microsoft 365 with no interruption to services.
About the author
Fuse is a Microsoft Partner, based in Northampton. We help organisations of all sizes to maximise IT efficiencies through the use of Microsoft cloud computing solutions.
