3 Ways Microsoft Is Helping Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Thrive
Small and medium-sized businesses are often stuck in the middle when it comes to investing in software for their teams.
What solutions are out there for SMBs?
On the one hand, they need quality solutions to get their work done and enhance productivity. However, they also don’t want to waste money on unnecessary features geared towards larger corporations.
In recent years, Microsoft has made a lot of progress in their SME offerings. We’re taking a closer look at three of these products today.
Microsoft 365.
Microsoft 365 is a cost-effective option for SMBs that need a collaborative, secure workspace for their team.
Combining Windows 10, Office 365 and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility and Security, the suite of tools can be accessed from both your desktop and mobile devices.
Remember, don’t confuse it with its close cousin Office 365. The latter is a subscription-based bundle, giving you access to Microsoft’s most popular productivity apps.
Additionally, Microsoft 365 comes in two flavours – Business and Enterprise. At just £20 per user per month, it’s a great solution for established small businesses needing a more secure, collaborative digital working environment.
You can check out the difference between the two over at Microsoft.
Office 365.
For smaller operations, Office 365 is a great, affordable alternative to Microsoft 365.
The pay-monthly version is favoured by freelancers and startups thanks to its scalability and handy features.
As we mentioned previously, with Office 365 you benefit from the main Office apps, plus email and a range of different business services, depending on which package you sign up for.
The cheapest license is £3.80 per user per month and gets you OneDrive, email, SharePoint, Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams. Meanwhile, the £7.90 per user per month includes cloud file storage and sharing, and the Office apps but email isn’t included.
Business Premium sets you back £9.40 per user per month. This gives you access to all of the applications, email, Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint.
Microsoft Teams.
Recently, the tech giant announced their free version of the popular collaboration and chat programme, Microsoft Teams. Now, businesses with up to 300 members of staff can enjoy a shared workspace that enables you to send unlimited messages to people inside and outside of your organisation.
What’s more, Teams is integrated into Office Online, allowing you to create documents and content together. In the meantime, you can also sync other business apps, such as Adobe, Evernote and Trello.
Teams comes with many of the Microsoft 365 or Office 365 packages – full details of which can be discovered on the Microsoft website.