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Microsoft products are globally recognised as business essentials. It’s hard to imagine how we ever operated without them.
There’s not a company in the world that hasn’t relied on Excel, Word or Outlook to keep day-to-day operations in order.
More recently, there have been a growing number of businesses that have benefitted from collaborative platforms like Microsoft Teams and OneDrive, bringing people together from all areas of the world, so business can continue as normal.
Microsoft 365 tools have enabled businesses across the globe to build a more modern workplace.
But for a brand that’s so close to all our hearts, not everyone is clued up on recent changes that will impact the way we all work with Microsoft…
Up until a couple of weeks ago, there were two main options available for businesses using Microsoft products.
Over 38 million people subscribe to Office 365, a hugely powerful cloud-based suite of tools including, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and OneDrive apps. These tools are designed to bring all aspects of business together, in an organised and seamless way.
Conditional to the plan you purchased, you would also receive subscriptions for other apps, such as SharePoint, Teams, Planner, Skype for Business and much more.
These subscriptions were charges monthly, on a per-user basis and varied largely on individual business needs.
Here’s where things used to get a bit more complex. Microsoft 365 offered a whole bundle of services, that encompassed the aforementioned Office 365, but extended to include Windows 10 Enterprise, Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS), and machine learning.
With Microsoft being notoriously flexible, this package also allowed for multiple payment plans and additional services and individual license purchasing, suiting a wide range of businesses we see today.
As you can see, before recently, there were plenty of differences between Microsoft 365 and Office 365. But as of 21st April 2020, the two came together under the one Microsoft 365 brand.
This evolution meant that Office 365 is now Microsoft 365, while maintaining the foundations of cloud-powered tools and content, but using new artificial intelligence (AI) to provide users with a fuller, more rounded experience of these products.
The Office 365 we all know and love is still in existence and rest assured pricing has not been modified, but we can expect to see new apps and upgrades that should further enhance the way we work with Microsoft tools.
Microsoft recently announced the following new names for the products we all use everyday in business, and they are as follows:
Office 365 for Enterprise will remain the same.
In addition to the new names, we can also expect the following new apps and developments, which we think will bring a lot of excitement:
We suspect that there will be many more surprises from the new Microsoft 365, that will make the way we create, share, connect, and collaborate with friends and family even richer.
As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we pride ourselves in our ability to integrate these intelligent cloud-based tools effortlessly into businesses of all types.
If you’d like to hear more, get in touch today to speak with one of our Microsoft Experts, who can identify how we can help your business harness technology.