Microsoft Office 365 for Business

Microsoft Office 365 is a subscription based model for Microsoft based applications and services, including but not limited to, Exchange Online, Downloadable applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, Access) for up to 5 devices, SharePoint Collaboration Team Sites, OneDrive Cloud Storage, Microsoft Teams Collaboration Services, Azure Active Directory, and so much more! It offers a collaborative platform with the most up-to-date features in one seamless, integrated experience.

Microsoft 365 is used for a variety of services, from email, cloud storage, to online collaboration, meetings, phone systems and main business line of applications. Most Businesses use Office 365 to work from anywhere, store files in the cloud, access their emails, chat, perform meetings online, and download their Microsoft Applications.  It allows businesses to work and collaborate from anywhere with a seamless user experience and advanced security configurations.

Office 365 has been rebranded as Microsoft 365.  There is no difference in the Small to Medium Sized Business plans.  The Enterprise plans have changed and do have additional features.

The services range from $4.00 per month for an email only account to $57.00 per month, depending on the plan you choose, add ons, and support services. See the Small Business Comparison chart here, or contact one of our sales consultants to help you find the right package to meet your needs.

No, you do not have to pay annually for most subscriptions.  However, there is a 20% increase in cost for a monthly paid subscription.  We recommend to only pay monthly if you plan to cancel or would be unable to repurpose the license.

You are only able to upgrade licenses within the Small to Medium Size packages or within the Enterprise packages.  You are unable to cancel or downgrade license.  You can only choose to not renew a license at it’s time of renewal if you want to cancel or downgrade.

Yes, Microsoft Teams services is part of most of the Microsoft 365 packages for Small Business and Enterprises. It is not included in standalone services, like Exchange Only or Microsoft 365 Apps for business/enterprise.   Teams is also available as a stand-alone service and additional add-ons are available for Phone Systems and Conference Calling.

Most Office 365 packages include email hosting, with the exception of some standalone services, like Apps for business/enterprise.  Plan 1 includes 50 GB mailboxes, where Plan 2 has a 100 GB mailbox.

In order to use OneDrive Office 365, you must first have the appropriate license tied to a user. Once that is the case, you download OneDrive and sign in. You can choose to sync your C:/Drive to it or start using it to safe your files to. The One Drive will appear in your File Explorer, similar to the way another drive would. And if you Sync any SharePoint Files/Lists/Directories, it will also appear in your File Explorer.

Yes, you can host your own emails in Microsoft 365.  In order to host your email @yourdomain with Office 365, you must have a tenant, licenses, and users. The first step to setting up your email is validating your domain with Microsoft, by following instructions and adding in DNS records. Prior to making the final cutover, you may consider migrating your outlook/email over to Office 365. Once you are ready, you change your MX records over and mail will begin flowing to your new Microsoft 365 acount. Don’t forget to update your SPF and other mail records you may use. For more information or help, please contact one of our Microsoft 365 Consultants.

The length of the migration all depends on how large your mailbox or Outlook file is and your Internet speed.  The files must first be exported from your outlook and then, everything must be uploaded into the cloud/Microsoft 365 Servers.  So, the larger the files the longer it can take.  Your Internet speed will also play a factor.  The faster your Internet Upload, the faster the migration can be.  It is all very dependent, however, we have ways of syncing emails and minimizing your productivity during a migration.

Yes, office 365 is a Cloud Based service.  All the data resides on the Microsoft Azure Platforms, with geographical redundant servers.  You may have a copy of things that run locally, but primarily all of the data lives in the cloud.

Office 365 runs off of the Azure Cloud, which is unique to Microsoft.  It is run across many servers and available to the public.  For some compliance requirements, Microsoft does offer private resources.

The office 365 Business Plans still exist, however they have renamed some, and others changed.  Microsoft has continued to add on to the platform constantly providing more services, enhanced security, and better visibility for administrators.