Monday, April 22, 2013

Office 365.


There is a fine line between what we want to achieve and what we achieve. I may want to create something really extraordinary and that makes it my dream. But it also depends on how the people who might use what I created see my creation. Now there are two things in consideration - what I want to create and how it will impact the people. 

I am not much of a business person, but I really want to try my hands on it. I feel when I have the potential to do / create something, I should really do it. I am more of a technological person. I love technology. And the present status of the technology never fails to amaze me. There is so much, so many radical changes and so many conceptual theories. I am one of those guys who would like to bring life into those theories and showcase the world the new and advanced technology. I am more interested in creating a sleek mobile(s) and tablets. Though there has been a lot of development in this area, but I feel a lot more can be done. And my dream business would be the manufacturing of these latest gizmos. 

Now, I may be successful in developing the best gadget available. But then there is always its working, the customer satisfaction and the services that need to be provided in addition to the sleek mobile/tablet. This is the second phase of the business - providing solutions and services. When I took the trouble of developing something similar to a masterpiece, I want the best services in compliment to it. Providing solutions and services is not an easy process. There are always developments in the software and the customers have to be able to adapt as fast as the advancements. And there has be a perfect synchronization with all these entities. 

That's where Microsoft Office 365 comes into play. With its vast resources it makes it easy to make to execute any plan in a decisive manner. Let us go into a little detail about what this product has  to offer to my business. 




We all know about the products like the Microsoft Word, Excel and Presentation which we use on a daily basis for creating documents, presentations and maintain a record of all transaction using Excel. These three applications hold the basic documentation process. Microsoft Office 365 provides much more than that. One Note, Outlook, Access, Publisher and the best of all SkyDrive. Sky Drives helps us to use the cloud to store the data , documents and what not , images and videos as well. 



One Note : Sometimes it is not always possible to carry out a laptop everywhere and the required documents along with you in a flash drive, may be. A tablet may come in handy and now coming to the documents, what easier way is there than accessing them over the internet using the cloud storage, Sky Drive. One Note helps in editting the documents virtually from anywhere. Isn't that amazing? We may have to update some fine details in the last moment in our presentations / documents and we can do this easily with One Note. 


Outlook : Outlook is a powerful tool which enables us to keep track of all the emails and the calender tools. Since it uses cloud storage. We can update the calender details like the  appointments, meetings, etc from anywhere, may it be a desktop, laptop, tablet or even a Mobile. All the updates will be done automatically and one can view virtually from anywhere. And Outlook provides the fastest and most reliable powerful-email service. This just brings everyone a bit closer to work. And what more? Office 365 provides a 25 GB of storage for each user.



Access : This is the best available application to organize and report on the most important information. This application also provides easy-to-use database tools which enables us to do our work much faster and more efficiently. 



Publisher : For any business venture either it is into manufacturing or into providing solutions or both, there is always a need to publicize about the product and the services that it provides. That's where Publisher comes into play. It is an effective application which helps in creating professional-quality newsletters and brochures. The newsletters confide in them the new updates on the products and the services and the way of effectively using the products that are already bought. The brochures showcase the services that the products have to provide and not just that, it contains a lot of information which makes it easy for a person to know anything and everything about the services/products which he is likely to use or already using. 

On the Web

Office 365 not only provides tools and applications for documentation, presentations and emails, but a lot more. For any business venture to showcase their products there is a grave need of a platform to do the same on the web. The Microsoft Office 365 provides a easier way to create a website using the simple tools and the applications mentioned above and showcase the products and services on a global platform. We can design and maintain our own public website with no additional hosting fees. And we can use our own domain name to promote our brand. 

Apart from these services from Office 365 there are a few more which revolutionize the present days Business. These are a few products offered by Microsoft Office 365 like Lync Online and SharePoint for a Business enterprise. 






Lync provides a platform for web conferencing between developers, experts and clients. Lync Online connects people everywhere, on devices running Windows 8 and other operating systems, as part of their everyday productivity experience. Lync provides a consistent, single client experience for presence, instant messaging, voice, video and a great meeting experience. Lync enables instant messaging (IM) and voice calling with the hundreds of millions of people around the world who use Skype. One can get real-time presence information—including photos, availability status, and location—and enhanced instant messaging (IM) to connect efficiently and effectively. We can make voice calls through your computer to other Lync or Skype users in your organization or in other organizations that use Lync or Skype. One can enhance online presentations with screen-sharing and virtual whiteboards. Not only this, it also lets customers participate in your Lync conference calls even if they are not Office 365 or Lync Online customers.


Organizations/Businesses can purchase Lync Online as a standalone service from Microsoft Office 365 or as part of an Office 365 for enterprises suite that includes Lync Online, Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Office Professional Plus, and Microsoft Office Web Apps. 

Businesses that subscribe to Lync Online retain control over the collaboration services they offer to users, but they do not have the operational burden of on-premises server software. Lync is hosted on multi-tenant servers that support multiple customers simultaneously. These servers are housed in Microsoft data centers and are accessible to users on a wide range of devices from inside a corporate network or over the Internet.

Why Lync?

This could be an interesting question. My business would require rigorous changes and a need to keep updated with the latest deveopments in the software or in providing the services. It is not always easy to email the details. To make the effective communication web-conferencing plays a vital role in implementing the same. The best part of this feature offered by Lync Online is that nearly 250 participants can be invited in a single web conference session. Believe me, that is a lot of ideas from people spread across the world and at the same time. One Note can be used to make important notes during the conversations and this ensures that the productivity is faster and easier. One click screen sharing and real-time note taking  using One Note make web conference meetings more effective and productive. 


SharePoint Online delivers the powerful features of SharePoint without the associated overhead of managing the infrastructure on your own. Flexible management options ensure that we still retain the control we need to meet the compliance requirements of our business. 

A business enterprise can use SharePoint to upload / update the data and then maintain it efficiently on the SharePoint repository. Through cloud storage, the data can also be made available across different devices like tablets, mobile phones, laptops and desktops. This increases the productivity and the efficiency of the Business. 

Cross device availability : SharePoint is available on various devices and on various platforms. 
Cross Device Availability

SkyDrive : 


SkyDrive is a cloud storage application and for a Business venture or even for a basic user this is a great way of sharing and storing data. Microsoft Skydrive is associated with other Office 365 products which enable to view the documents and presentation much faster and in a effective way. The best part is the one can even edit the documents anywhere virtually and then again save it on the cloud and access it from anywhere. 

Important Links : 


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This is a dream what might take a couple of years. But let me give a short sneak-peak on the present scenario. I use Windows 8 operating system. And I just love it. I am a blogger. And I frequently use One Note for jotting down the ideas that I get once in a while and write some posts as well. I use Sky Drive most of the times. I have the application in my iPod Touch and I can view the documents and presentations at my comfort with out having to carry around a laptop or a flash drive to assist me if I am in need of a document. And what more? I can even mail the documents and view on the office server where most of the sites are blocked by the company. I should equip myself with the Office 365 Home Premium. I just came across a few interesting things which I didn't knew before and I am sure they will be of great help to me. 

I presently work in a consultancy company and I am practically new to this venture. So, it provides services to various clients. It is quite difficult to manage data, when we are over on the other side of the world as with the client. The sharing of information takes a very long time and it gets a tedious process. Its' frustrating at times because we have deadlines to meet and we fail to achieve just because the sharing and the updating the information takes a lot of time. There are a lot of ways of making it work faster and easier. Office 365  could make this happen. Though, I am not sure whether my company would implement the best methods to manage data or not. But  I strongly feel a need to update the present resources so as to maximize the results and using the cloud storage is better than using the local servers. Believe me, using the local servers kills a lot of time just to open a file when it is on the client server. And then editing and saving the file is another  difficult part. I strongly feel Office 365 could be made to better use in such situations and companies like I work in. 
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This post is an entry for the contest  "Your Dream Business With Office 365" organized by 'IndiBlogger' in association with Microsoft Office 365. 


2 comments:

  1. Seeing a totally new face of yours in this post! :) A techie post! A good one..

    Until later,
    Keirthana :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why, Thank You! :D

      Just trying my options, you see. :P

      Delete

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