New businesses may have an advantage over older, established ones when it comes to choosing business cloud services. Start-ups have a clean slate to work with, and can choose software and hardware to support their business processes from day one without worrying about future upgrades.

Established businesses, on the other hand, have an IT history, and may run systems that don’t include current cloud technology. Integrating the cloud and changing how your IT works can feel risky. You don’t want to cause disruption to daily business, but the challenge goes deeper. Common concerns include how to choose the right services that will make business smoother and more efficient. It doesn’t matter how current and modern your IT infrastructure is if it doesn’t do the job you need it to do.

Changing things can sometimes feel like a step too far. And yet, failing to stay current brings far greater challenges. Consider how fast we’ve all adopted contactless payments. It now seems quite antiquated to have to enter a pin at the checkout for small purchases. No business wants to appear behind the times to its customers.

Cloud computing is here to stay, opening doors to business processes that are impossible without it.

So where should you start, when you’re considering the switch to business cloud services?

Review Your Business Needs

Just about every business runs some form of Microsoft Office, so you likely already have a foundation to build on. Office 365 is the subscription that replaces the ‘software in a box’ everyone bought previously.

Along with a Microsoft Office 365 comes everything you need including:

• Cloud storage via OneDrive.
• Collaboration tools like SharePoint.
• Communication tools such as Skype.
• User licences.
• Access from multiple devices.
• The latest versions of all the programmes.
• Enhanced security.

There are various subscription models that serve different enterprise needs, and for those new to this way of doing business, it can seem overwhelming.

“Because there are many different Office 365 subscription models to choose from, we advise our customers to choose business cloud services according to their needs,” says Eitex MD, Dean Spencer. “The strength of an Office 365 subscription is that it’s scalable. You don’t have to know today what you’ll need next year, you can update and upgrade as you grow or as your business changes. This can represent huge cost savings because you only buy what you will actually use.”

Some Considerations when Moving to Office 365

Take a personal view of your business and make decisions based on:

• The type of tasks performed by employees. Do they all work from an office or do they also need access to company data from mobile devices?
• Would you prefer to store all business documents in the cloud, or retain some on local servers? You can run a hybrid system.
• How many users will you have?
• Do teams of people work together on projects, and would they benefit from enhanced collaboration capabilities?
• Will you use Microsoft for your email needs?

Learning More about Office 365

We can help you assess what you need and reach logical decisions regarding the best subscription level for your individual business. We offer 365 Taster Days to do just that.

Dean Spencer comments, “Business owners or their IT teams go away from our taster sessions with a much stronger understanding of the benefits Office 365 will give their company. We often find confusion over where to start and how to carry on, and it’s great when it all comes together and people realise the potential.”

If you know you need to move your IT forward, but you’re on the fence or struggling to understand how to integrate business cloud services into your existing IT structure, our 365 Taster Days are for you. The next one is in January, and there’s still time to book your place.