Is 2023 the year that you migrate to a unified business productivity solution? If you still need convincing, we’re here tell you why you should consider Microsoft 365 this year.
Here at TechQuarters, we have been a Microsoft 365 company ever since the SaaS solution was launched; and we have helped many satisfied customers migrate to the solution themselves. We’re predicting (and it’s a fairly safe prediction) that 2023 is going to be the biggest year for businesses modernizing their operations. It is widely agreed now that digital business solutions are great for supporting organisation’s work, and any company can achieve higher productivity levels, more seamless collaboration, and better security when they implement these kinds of solutions in the right way.
If you’ve ever considered adopting Microsoft 365 for your organisation, but not found a truly compelling reason to take the step, read on to see our five most compelling reasons to migrate.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium – Product Breakdown
We hope that at this point, most people reading this will know what Microsoft 365 is. Admittedly, though, Microsoft’s online services have gone though at least 3 different names over the years – for instance, Microsoft’s earlier Business Productivity Online Suite was the predecessor to Office 365; but the Office brand is being laid to rest entirely, in favour of Microsoft 365.
We will be looking specifically at Microsoft 365 Business Premium, which is the most expensive tier of the Microsoft 365 plan that is aimed at small- to medium-sized businesses. Here at TechQuarters, we primarily work with SMBs, and we like to describe Business Premium as a ‘business in a box’ solution, as it gives organisations the tools they need for the following cornerstones of business:
Communication
Given the last few years that we have all had, there is no need to explain why communication in business is so important. Microsoft 365 unifies communications in business thanks to two key products: Microsoft Teams – which covers chat, video conferencing, and internet telephony – and Microsoft Outlook – which covers the all-important email (enhanced by Microsoft Exchange Server). Additionally, Microsoft’s social media platform, Yammer, offers an additional form of internal communication.
Productivity
The body of functions that Microsoft 365 offer are relating to improving productivity for the user, and the organisation. Firstly, as we all know, it covers 90% of a business’ content creation needs, thanks to Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Productivity isn’t just about having the tools to complete specific tasks, it’s also about having the means to structure and organise one’s workload. This is where the apps like Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Planner come in, because they allow individuals and teams to breakdown workloads and organise their schedule more accurately. Another useful productivity app is Microsoft OneNote, a cloud-based, multi-media notebook.
File Storage / Sharing
In Microsoft 365, file storage and file sharing is enabled thanks to 2 products. Firstly, you have Microsoft SharePoint – a cloud-based platform that is ideal for shared file storage and, by extension, secure file sharing. For individual usage, however, users would be better off using Microsoft OneDrive, where they are allocated 1TB of personal storage in the Microsoft Cloud.
Security
What makes Business Premium particularly good value in comparison to its siblings (Business Standard and Business Basic), is the addition of a number of security products that add layers of protection to the already robust infrastructure beneath M365. The products included in the plan are as follows:
| Product | Description |
| Microsoft Intune | Provides streamlined endpoint management from the Microsoft Cloud. |
| Microsoft Defender | Pre- and post-breach defence, including advanced threat detection & protection. |
| Azure Information Protection | Streamlined policy management for protecting documents and emails. |
| Azure AD Premium P1 | A more advanced, feature-dense version of Active Directory. |
| Azure Virtual Desktop | Desktop as a Service (DaaS) keeps company resources isolated from BYOD devices. |
5 Reasons to Adopt Microsoft 365 in 2023
Microsoft 365 Business looks terrific on paper, but it’s true value comes from how businesses can apply it to their operates to generate value. So, let’s look at five ways that M365 can help you generate value in your organisation:
- Spend Time More Efficiently (and Spend Less Time Worrying)
The unsung hero in Microsoft 365 (the one that you rarely see listed) is Microsoft Graph. Microsoft’s API acts as a data gateway in Microsoft 365, that allows data and intelligence from all the services to be shared with one another. The result? Some of the most streamlined and efficient workflows available to businesses.
- Streamline Your Budget
There are many ways in which M365 can help you streamline your business’ budget. First and foremost, by consolidating the solutions you pay for into a single plan, billed monthly, you not only make savings, but make your budget easier to interpret. Furthermore, we at TechQuarters (and many of our customers) have used M365 to go entirely remote, thus eliminating costly travel and premises overheads.
- Introduce Mobility to Your Work
Like we just said, Microsoft 365 was the perfect companion for us when we decided to go entirely remote as an organisation. As a software as a service (SaaS) solution, M365 means one can access their documents, accounts and other data from anywhere, provided they have their company-protected device and an internet connection. Flexibility is becoming an absolute necessity in the landscape of modern business, and M365 has been helping business work more flexibility for years (so you know that it’s perfect for the job).
- Give Your Workers Data-Driven Insights
As we mentioned earlier, the data landscape of Microsoft 365 is very rich; and we all know that data is perhaps the most valuable resource in business nowadays. The data generated in M365 can be used to help employees improve their performance; such as with the MyAnalytics dashboard, that gives insights on focus, wellbeing, collaboration, and network.
- Integrate M365 with Your Existing Solutions
Are you already using products like MailChimp, Salesforce, or Slack? If you are, you’ll be pleased to hear that Microsoft 365 offers excellent third-party integration. It plays very well with many of the most popular and widely used business solution; in fact, Microsoft 365 supports over 600 different third-party app integrations.
