I originally wrote this licensing blog post back in May of 2016 and it received a lot of traffic and has helped many people in their planning for Office 365 deployments. I thought it was time for a new post to address some of the biggest licensing changes. Back in 2016, I noted that you couldn’t go a week without hearing about a well-known business making the move to Office 365. Companies are still making the move, but the buzz we hear now is around Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Planner is an Office 365 App that enables a team to organize tasks around their projects and workflow. It’s powerful too. While it is popular on it's own, independent of other Office 365 applications, it works amazingly well with Microsoft Teams.

It’s a little bit of a chicken-and-egg situation... Office 365 is constantly changing, and the way we work is continuing to change as well.

A move to Office 365 presents new ways for users to work with tools that they are already familiar using. These new ways to work provide considerable benefits, but without basic training users often don’t discover the advantages of using the cloud and Office 365.

Office 365 training helps those new to Office 365 continue to work with familiar apps while incorporating the cloud benefits. The goal is to boost productivity while respecting the natural rhythm of their workflow.

Microsoft Teams is getting a lot of buzz these days. Rightfully so, it’s changing how business and users collaborate around their work content and provides modern ways for us to communicate around our projects at work. Teams has lots of great features that help to serve up content easily, like Tabs that can display Excel Spreadsheets, Word Docs or PDF’s. Channels provide a great way for us separate topics, and they provide additional landscape for adding Tabs that are specific to those topics.

Microsoft Office 365 is the most dominant office software in the world with over 120 million business users today. With many previous versions of the software released, some older versions which are still in place today, it’s safe to say that knowledge of Microsoft Office is an essential part of participating in the workplace.

Much of the business world today either grew up or came into adulthood using Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. As such, most of us have some exposure with these core flagship productivity tools, however, there remains a great deal of untapped potential with the transition to Office 365 and the cloud functionality it provides.

Microsoft 365 is one of the most widely used business technology platforms in the world. Office 365 presents an opportunity for businesses to create a modern workplace for employees and offers advanced networking and communications tools that empower employees to carry out their job duties seamlessly as part of the natural rhythm of their work. However, no system is immune to malicious cyberattacks and being the number one business platform creates a target for those looking to take advantage ofunsuspecting businesses and their users.

In this post, we highlight some of the most common security breaches on Microsoft 365 and we’ll share some tips for IT administrators and Managed Service Providers (MSP) and how they can best address these threats for their users and clients.

Microsoft Teams is a unified enterprise-level communications platform that offers fantastic utility to all types of organizations. Investing in Microsoft Teams provides consideration and the chance to replace aged business phone systems with a new modern integrated cloud-based communication tool. If you’re interested in ways to increase your company’s productivity, consolidating your communications structure, and enhancing internal strategizing companywide, consider the following reasons why your business may want to consider using the Microsoft Phone system with Microsoft Teams and Office 365.

Teams is Microsoft’s answer to group chat, based off the preexisting 365 environment, and is designed to replace Skype for Business. With an Office 365 Business Premium, Business Essentials, OR Enterprise (E1, E3, or E5) subscription, your organization can enable Groups and Teams.

Over the last several years I’ve had the opportunity to work with many companies that have moved to Office 365. The most common challenge they all face is user adoption related to Office 365 tools and features. Moving to Office 365 isn’t difficult. You can do it yourself or work with a partner like an MSP (Managed Service Provider) and leverage support from Microsoft as part of the FastTrack Program. Some end up using a mix. The hurdle is getting your staff to work differently and leverage the new tools available to them.

Businesses that have migrated to Office 365 are beginning to see and use an exciting new feature – Insights for MyAnalytics. MyAnalytics allows users to track the time employees spend on certain applications to enhance productivity and efficiency. Insights for MyAnalytics is a separate add-on that provides actionable insights for employees, which can help boost office productivity. Here’s what you need to know about this new update – and how it can help you grow your business.

Many businesses encounter challenges during Microsoft Office 365 adoption and migration, largely due to the complexity and power of the program. Office 365 is not just new software, it's a new way to work. Common obstacles include trouble converting via legacy solutions, low bandwidth, lack of support, poorly constructed pilots, and lack of a clear migration path. Here are some of the most common challenges to Office 365 migration and how to avoid them.

IT professionals and end-users often see technology from different perspectives. You’re likely to be more concerned with all the mechanics and logistics. Conversely, your clients and end-users are scratching their heads. This is a key consideration to include in your Office 365 migration planning. Including user adoption and training activities aids in bridging that chasm, and should be present throughout the migration process.

As Office 365 gains traction in the business community, it becomes even more necessary to shape a business methodology specifically for this program. The business plan should address potential challenges in adoption and training. Follow these tips to successfully craft your Office 365 business strategy.

I’d estimate that we use Microsoft Teams to handle around 90% of our internal communications and reserve email primarily for our formal communications with our clients and vendors. Recently I received an email with a couple of attachments from a vendor that I wanted to save to a Microsoft Team in order to share with my coworkers. Except the Team wasn't there...

Microsoft Teams on Office 365 is a collaborative workspace that facilitates a modern way of working. It is especially helpful for remote teams, although it offers great benefits to in-house employees as well. Microsoft Teams can help boost team productivity, increase collaboration across departments, and help your company complete tasks in a quick, efficient manner. When you connect third-party solutions to Microsoft Teams, you can drastically increase business efficiency, surpassing prior levels. Here are a few of the top advantages of Microsoft Office 365 Teams: