It’s a marathon, not a sprint! The journey from Exchange to Office 365 to Microsoft Teams + voice

It’s no secret that modern workplaces are evolving in new and exciting ways. We see examples in new mobile apps, the growing acceptance of remote working, and our appetite for online collaboration tools. Ideally, our modern workplaces are an environment where individuals are their most productive, and everyone communicates and collaborates seamlessly, regardless of where teams are working. The latest office productivity tools are working to meet these goals, and it’s for a good reason. A study by Mckinsey reveals the right online communication and collaboration tools can deliver a massive ROI! Some estimates include increasing productivity by 20 to 30%. (Source: Mckinsey)

Introducing the ‘cloud office’ 

So, organizations know they need to adapt to support new ways of working, but how? What applications and collaboration ecosystems are best? And, is it possible to align new solutions with tools users already know and love? The answer is a resounding, yes! One company standing out as a ‘cloud office’ powerhouse is Microsoft. The re-invention of Microsoft Office and Exchange to a subscription-based cloud service model is having a big impact on companies of all sizes. Since its introduction in 2011, companies are migrating to Exchange Online from on-premise versions of Exchange in astounding numbers. Today one out of every five corporate employees is using Office 365 cloud services, totaling some 180 million users. Many believe Microsoft Office 365 is taking over as the go-to office solution. Let’s dig deeper into how and why:

• Always-on, always-available ‘cloud office’ – Office 365 gives access to all the world-class Office Apps users are already familiar with – Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Sharepoint, and much more – from anywhere and from any device connected to the internet.
• Fewer management headaches – Because Office 365 Office apps are a cloud service, the software is always current and available, reducing upgrade stress and the management burden on internal IT.
• Mobile friendly – Do you have several remote workers or traveling employees? With Office 365, users always have access to office productivity tools when connected to the internet. Teams can view and edit documents, spreadsheets, email, and more across all their devices, with mobile apps for Windows PCs, macOS, iOS, and Android.
• Added business continuity – Office 365 helps organizations recover quickly after unexpected events, such as data corruption, or hardware or application failures. Companies also benefit from geographic diversity, ensuring if disaster strikes locally, email data and applications are still secure and available.

A hub for working together 

Integrated with Office 365, Microsoft Teams is also changing the dynamics of the modern office. Microsoft Teams is a unified communications (UC) platform that gets everyone to get on the same page with working. It includes group chat, online meetings, file sharing and storage, web conferencing, and voice capabilities. Teams enables organizations to make VoIP calls to other individuals running the Microsoft Teams app – using a Windows PC, Apple Mac/iPhone/iPad, or Google Android device. Microsoft Office 365, Teams, combined with voice calling provides the ultimate productivity hub – powering individuals to host audio, video, and web meetings, and chat with individuals inside or outside the organization. Why do you need Teams plus voice integration?

• Staying within the Office 365 ecosystem for better user experiences – Using Office 365 and Teams brings everything together – chat, collaboration apps, file and document sharing, and web meetings.
• Reliable voice calling – By expanding Teams to include crystal-clear voice calling, organizations can better support a modern office – for truly next-gen communication.
• Deep integration – Deep integration means users can view everything for the day or week, or schedule a meeting directly within Teams – the calendar automatically syncs with Outlook.

Staying the course

Mobility and remote working trends are pushing organizations to find new ways to connect and to support communication. And, as the technology landscape continues to shift in favor of mobile devices and cloud services, Microsoft is emerging as a true innovator supporting the needs of the digital enterprise. However, combining and deploying cloud, collaboration, and voice technologies is also complicated! For most companies, it’s a marathon, not a sprint! If you want to learn more about building your own modern enterprise by leveraging the Microsoft ecosystem, talk to CTG! We can help you navigate your journey from on-prem Exchange to Office 365 to Teams, plus add voice integration when the time is right! Improve your employees’ ability to communicate and collaborate fully, with complete technical guidance and managed migration support from CTG. Let’s do this!