Keeping Promises With Office 365
Every business today needs seamless integration between devices and locations. Just a few years ago, the traditional onsite Server/PC infrastructure did the job for day-to-day business operations, but not any more.
The problems are twofold:
First – people don’t just work in the office anymore. In today’s multi-tasking world there’s often a need to take work home, check on customer records while at a client’s premises, or access documents en-route to a meeting or conference. Having data locked up inside in-house servers, accessible only from the office computer, slows business down.
Second – customers and clients expect service beyond the traditional 9 – 5 of office hours. Most are pretty tolerant of physical business doors being closed overnight. After all, even the most demanding customers know you have to sleep sometime. But that doesn’t stop them wanting to place an order at midnight, or wanting to leave a message regarding an urgent issue.
Falling down on either point can have a negative impact:
- Lost customers when they go elsewhere for greater efficiency.
- Shrinking profits when sales presentations are lost through missing documents.
- Failing customer confidence when needed facts and figures can’t be accessed in the field.
Business in the 21st Century
We recently had the pleasure of working with Greenwood Barton, a long-established accountancy practice in West Yorkshire. They cover everything a business could need on the finance side, from business plans and funding advice right through to audits, end of year accounts, and payroll.
With a forward thinking, client-focused philosophy, Greenwood Barton offer out-of-hour services to entrepreneurs and evening or weekend appointments to fit in with client’s needs. They promise to be there when their clients need them, which is right in line with customer’s business expectations.
To live up to those promises, their IT structure has to be robust, smart, efficient, and reliable. Information has to be accessible at any time, from anywhere.
Office 365 – Always Up to Date
Time catches up with everything, and at Greenwood Barton the writing was on the wall for their traditional PC/Server infrastructure.
We moved them over to Office 365, putting the power of cloud computing and a whole new world of communication at their fingertips. On of the great benefits of Office 365 is the assurance of always up to date software.
Taking advantage of mobile communication opportunities depends on having mobile devices, of course. Greenwood Barton added in the purchase of Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3, the powerful tablet that thinks it’s a laptop. During those out of hours appointments or meetings at a client’s preferred location, they now have their entire database at their fingertips.
The combination of mobile devices with office-based computing is one of the most empowering actions a business can take. Clients are mobile (because everyone is these days), and have no qualms about switching allegiance if the companies they deal with can’t, or don’t, keep up.
The move to Office 365 was completed without fuss or loss of business productivity. We’d like to say thanks to Greenwood Barton, it was a pleasure working with you and we appreciate your 5 stars rating on Microsoft Pinpoint.
For more information on Office 365 please visit Office 365