What are the benefits of Office 365?

Many of the benefits of Office 365 are provided by productivity tools that may not be fully utilised by users of the software.  Most of us simply do what we’ve always done, and don’t spend time investigating what’s available in new versions of our software.

So here’s a brief overview of what can be achieved with Office 365, to encourage you to invest the time and and resources to take advantage of this powerful software.

• You can create, share and edit your files from all your devices with Office 365 online applications.  This includes your Mac, PC, phone and tablet.
• Office 365 takes care of your IT.  As long as you have internet connectivity, your cloud services are always accessible and version updates happen automatically.
• Office 365 syncs emails, calendars and contact information across your devices.  So it’s up to date whenever you need it.
• Shared calendars let you see when others in your team are available for meetings or calls, and scheduling is easy.
• There is an admin centre with guides to assist you to set up users easily, to start quickly using the services in Office 365, and to manage all your services in the one place.
• There is built in security for your data, and compliance and privacy controls help keep your files safe.
• Microsoft provides a guarantee of 99.9% uptime, so your files are always accessible.
• And if you lose one of your devices, such as your phone or laptop, Office 365 will allow you to wipe your data from it remotely, to prevent unauthorised access to your information.

Access your Office 365 files everywhere

One of the major benefits of Office 365 is that you can access all your Office applications, plus other productivity services, over the internet.  For business users, these include services such as:

• Skype – for Business web conferencing
• Exchange – Online hosted email for business users
• OneDrive – Secure online file storage
• Microsoft Teams – for team chats, calls, meetings and more
• Yammer – for collaboration across a company
• SharePoint – to share and manage content, information and applications

Office 365 plans usually include the desktop version of Office applications, which can be installed across multiple computers and devices.  This is handy for workers on the go, who have a desktop computer in their office, but would also like to access their documents on a laptop, tablet or phone.

Applications are available for both Mac and PC users, and version updates happen automatically via your online subscription.  Desktop applications include:

• Excel
• Word
• PowerPoint
• Outlook
• OneNote
• Publisher (for PC only)
• Access (for PC only)

There are also Office 365 plans that are online only, which can be a good choice for some business teams.

What is Microsoft Office 2016?

Office 2016 is available as either part of the Office 365 suite, or as a one-time purchase for users who simply want a copy of the software installed on their Mac or PC.  The stand alone version of Office 2016 is available via the Office Home or Student 2016 versions.

With the one-time Office 2016 purchase, the applications are not automatically updated.  If you want the latest version you will have to purchase the product again when the new version is released.  Microsoft Office 2016 also does not come with any of the cloud-based services which are part of Office 365.

Can you use Office 365 when you are not connected to the Internet?

Most Office 365 plans include the desktop version of Office.  This means you can work offline on an Excel spreadsheet or Word template, and know that next time you connect to the internet all your documents will automatically sync, and be kept up to date.

To find out more about the services included in each of the business plans, you can visit the Microsoft Australia website here.

Time to upgrade?  Here are some more benefits of Office 365?

• Office 365 takes care of your IT for you.  This means as long as you have internet connectivity, your cloud services are always accessible and version updates happen automatically.
• There is an admin centre with guides to assist you to set up users easily, to start quickly using the services in Office 365, and to manage all your services in the one place.
• You’re able to take your office anywhere, working on any device.  With Office 365 online applications you can create, share and edit your files from your PC, Mac, phone or tablet.
• There is built in security for your data, and compliance and privacy controls help keep your files safe.
• Microsoft provides a guarantee of 99.9% uptime, so your files are always accessible.
• Office 365 syncs emails, calendars and contact information across your devices for you.  So it’s all up to date whenever you need to access it.  Shared calendars let you see when others in your team are available for meetings or calls, and scheduling is easy.
• If you lose one of your devices, such as your phone or laptop, Office 365 will allow you to wipe your data from it remotely, to prevent unauthorised access to your information.

What is OneDrive?

OneDrive is one of the services provided by Office 365, giving you online storage for your Office files.

• It allows each user to store up to 1 Terabyte of data.
• OneDrive gives you access to your files from any device, wherever you are.
• Automatically sync your files to your desktop, so you can work with your files offline if needed.
• You can preview any files stored in OneDrive directly from your browser. You can even stream HD video on demand from your browser – without having to download it.
• OneDrive lets you share files with others, and tracks the history of all activity on files so all users can see what has happened on the file.
• And if your company is using SharePoint, OneDrive will allow you to collaborate on files with teams; and manage and share files and folders within team sites or intranet sites, or across the organisation.

So, are you are considering an upgrade to the Office 365 version?  Or do you already have it but are not using all the features available?

CTO offers onsite, customised training courses around Australia in Microsoft Office 365.  Training is also available for all your favourite Office applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Click here to view the Office 365 courses available from Corporate Training Options.

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About Corporate Training Options

Corporate Training Options is an Australian Professional Development Training Company, incorporated in 1992.

Our customised Professional Development courses are available Australia-wide, for business executives and corporate teams, and provide a cost-effective way of ensuring you and your staff are presenting your best image to the world.

CTO Professional Development Training courses are customised to meet your requirements, and your training is provided on-site, on dates which suit you.

For more information on the range of Corporate Training Courses available, please visit the CTO website here

Rosy King

Corporate Training Options

Professional Training  –  Exceptional Results

E: training@cto.com.au

W: cto.noesis.chat/