In just a few months, our concept of the business environment and very nature of work have completely changed. We can all now work from different places: home, desk or meeting room. The challenge is to stay within easy reach of each other, of the organisation and its resources, its data, and the tools and processes in place.
A new work structure
A Microsoft survey has shown that after experiencing a more flexible arrangement, more than 70% of employees want to keep the option of working from home. Managers cannot ignore this. It is up to them to rethink working arrangements, taking their staff’s wishes into account. Aware of the issue, 66% of managers are now looking to reconfigure office spaces to facilitate hybrid working. One of the key issues, in this regard, is for each person to be able to complete their work wherever they are, as part of a team.
Better integration of tools
With its Microsoft 365 Cloud suite, Microsoft has been trying to facilitate the integration of businesses’ different IT resources. Beyond desktop tools, which can now be accessed from anywhere, the Microsoft environment gives easier access to documents and data through hosting solutions such as OneDrive and collaborative platforms such as Sharepoint. Alongside these, Teams facilitates group work and communications, even when team members may be far apart.
Connect staff, facilitate work, improve productivity
By developing a suite that can be accessed from the Cloud, Microsoft is not just helping employees to connect, work together and achieve more. It is offering them powerful tools to increase productivity and efficiency, mainly through smart features and the possibility of automating workflows. The other factor in the Microsoft 365 platform’s success lies in the security features that it integrates, giving users complete peace of mind.
Tools for all
These advanced tools are now available to all businesses, regardless of size. POST gives access to the Microsoft suite through three packages. The first one, Microsoft 365 Business Basic, lets users access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Exchange, 1 TB of hosting per user through OneDrive, and Sharepoint online. The second, slightly more expensive, offer gives access to these solutions online and through desktop applications. It is now the most popular package with businesses. The Business Premium package includes advanced security options.
These allow for the configuration of higher level security procedures, such as the need to change passwords regularly or use strong authentication methods. They also offer additional threat-detection and remote terminal management tools. In addition to the Microsoft 365 Business packages, POST offers the Microsoft 365 Enterprise range to meet the increasingly stringent security and teamworking needs of large firms.
The support of a local partner
Although these solutions are directly accessible from the Cloud, POST – as a Microsoft gold partner – helps businesses to launch and integrate the various tools, providing expertise and advice. By subscribing to Microsoft 365 through our teams, our customers get a single point of contact, nearby, who can help them manage services, install a holder (somewhere for data to be stored), configure solutions and track licences. We also help with incident management and technical problems.
Unify communications
As an operator and integrator, POST supplements the Microsoft package with a range of additional solutions. For example, CloudVoice can be used to switch between and manage all of the company’s telecoms through Teams. The company’s outgoing calls to a mobile number or landline, and incoming communications, are routed to the Microsoft solution as part of a tools unification approach.
Remember backups
The backup solutions that POST can offer are also important. While Microsoft secures the system environment on which its solutions are based, responsibility for data protection is shared. Microsoft is not responsible for human error or a systems configuration problem, which may lead to the loss of certain documents or data. In addition to existing security solutions, it is important to have a backup solution to restore data in the event of a problem.
