Microsoft is a company that needs no introduction. Its products are widely used all over the world. Popular services include Office 365 (or Microsoft 365), which has great functionality and features.

If you compare the number of Office 365 options and the cost of using it, you will quickly realize that Microsoft is giving you a really good deal. What’s more, you have different subscription options – for a month or a year, just for yourself, for the whole family or your company.

Below we take a closer look at the benefits of Office 365 from a business perspective. But we will also recall some of the complexities associated with this platform.

Office 365 is fit for Business

Microsoft Office 365 is great for digital business development. Here are a few reasons.

Everything you do at Microsoft is synced through the cloud. This means that you can access your data from any access point.

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Skype, OneNote and other services are available on any mobile gadgets, and Publisher and Assess are added to this on a PC.

Use Office 365 for your communication plan. For example, the Microsoft Teams app will give your employees everything they need to work effectively remotely (messenger and easy online file editing, whiteboards, online conferences, etc.).

For convenient work for the team, you should choose the “Family” or “Business” package. Office 365 Family can serve up to five different gadgets (PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android phones and tablets) simultaneously for up to six users. Office 365 for Business offers four subscription options with different options and service levels.

Possible issues

But you shouldn’t have any illusions. Office 365, like any other software, has features and disadvantages. This can negatively affect your work, so you better assess all the risks in advance and make a clear plan for moving to a new platform.

Study the technical requirements of Office 365 and consider whether all computers in your office will be able to work correctly with such software. It is better to update and repair your tablets, laptops or PCs and install Windows 10 on them. And make sure that you have a stable high-speed Internet connection in your office.

In addition, you should be aware that installing new software, data migration, team onboarding, and general Office 365 troubleshooting may take some time. Therefore, choose a quieter working period for this procedure. You should not install a new platform when you are preparing an urgent project for delivery and deadlines are running out.

Ownership Limits

Let’s imagine a situation where Office 365 crashes and you have technical problems. This can happen with any software. Moreover, this has probably happened more than once in your practice, right? What did you do in such cases?

Most likely, you tried to solve problems at the local level, asking for help from your specialists. In the case of Office 365, this will not be possible. Only Microsoft specialists have access to this software, and you should definitely contact the company’s support service. And you will have to wait for Microsoft employees to notice your problem and fix it. They can do it as quickly and efficiently as possible. But there is always a risk that the response to your appeal will be slower than you would like.

Also, you won’t have control over updates. On the one hand, updates are important for the correct operation and security of the software. On the other hand, they may have innovations that will not be very convenient for you. You will not be able to postpone such updates even for a while.

Performance Issues

The second problem is directly related to the first. If you cannot control the efficiency of workflows yourself, your productivity is at risk.

Why then are we even discussing Office 365 as a good software option for your business? Because Microsoft gives a 99.9% financially-backed uptime guarantee. Agree, this is a very good safety net.

You may have a new question. Why does the company not give a 100% guarantee? Because force majeure happens even in the most reliable companies, and experienced Microsoft specialists understand this.

However, they are ready to compensate for possible damage, that is, the performance risks for your business will be minimized.

Security Concerns

Hacker attacks are one of the most serious problems for any digital technology. Cybercriminals try to get into the system using all possible ways – through the mail, cloud storage, access by third parties, etc.

Office 365 offers its customers a wide range of working tools, and this is a definite plus of the software. But at the same time, it increases security risks.

For example, each Microsoft 365 user has 1 terabyte of cloud storage. Such large amounts of data can attract the attention of intruders.

Therefore, users should strictly follow the security rules and, in any suspicious situations, immediately contact the Microsoft Office 365 Security Center.

Compliance Boundaries

As we said above, wide functionality has both pluses and minuses. And here’s another example of the disadvantages of Office 365.

Microsoft services have different compliance categories, and this may be important for your business. Most of them are internationally certified, but some have different compliance categories or are only being audited.

If you choose Office 365 to work with any specific services, be sure to check how they meet the requirements.

This is the case when you have the opportunity to play it safely and anticipate and prevent technical difficulties in advance.

Customization Challenges

Now we will talk about individuality and non-standard approaches. If you use Office 365 for everyday tasks, you’ll be fine with its capabilities.

However, if you have a specific business and use some narrow-profile applications, you will need to integrate them.

Let’s clarify right away that Microsoft Office 365 is easily combined with dozens of third-party applications. However, there is still a risk of complications.

For example, your usual settings may go wrong after an Office 365 update occurs. And you already know that you cannot avoid such an update (or at least pause it).

Ongoing staff training

Well, let’s not pretend that technology is to blame. Alas, the human factor also works quite often.

For example, many users, when buying a good and multifunctional smartphone, often have no idea how many tasks it can solve and how to use this gadget to its full potential. Unfortunately, the same thing can happen with Microsoft Office 365.

Therefore, it is not enough for you to choose this service and customize it to suit your business needs. Training your employees should be the next mandatory step in the development of the company.

Conclusion

As you can see, most of the problems mentioned above have real and effective solutions.

Your job here is to plan for the transition to a new platform and find trusted professionals who are well-versed in Office 365 troubleshooting.

Set yourself up for the fact that you may need the help of experts at any stage – installing new software, transferring data, integrating third-party applications, training employees, regular maintenance, ensuring cybersecurity, etc.