Skip to main content
TrustRadius
Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365
Formerly Office 365

Overview

What is Microsoft 365?

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is a Microsoft Cloud subscription service that includes Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access). The software can be installed across multiple devices and ensures that users always have the most…

Read more

Learn from top reviewers

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing

Business Basic

$5.00

Cloud
Per User Per Month

Individual

$5.84

Cloud
*Per Month

Business - Apps

$8.25

Cloud
Per User Per Month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Return to navigation

Product Details

What is Microsoft 365?

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is more than just Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. It provides business-class email, online storage, and teamwork solutions that users can access from anywhere.

The vendor says key benefits include:
  • Bring teams and resources together with solutions like Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business that make working together more productive and enjoyable regardless of where participants are located.
  • Easily implement security and privacy controls to help protect business data and devices against malicious threats and help you meet your compliance obligations.
  • Automatic updates ensure your employees will always have the latest features and security updates.

Microsoft 365 Video

When you need to write a document, crunch numbers on a spreadsheet, or work up a presentation - office suite software is your solution. Apache OpenOffice offers free word processing, spreadsheet, or any other office needs and here we compare it to Microsoft Office 365 and it's Word, Excel, and more.

Microsoft 365 Competitors

Microsoft 365 Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is a Microsoft Cloud subscription service that includes Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access). The software can be installed across multiple devices and ensures that users always have the most up-to-date version of the included Office applications.

Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are common alternatives for Microsoft 365.

Reviewers rate Usability highest, with a score of 9.

The most common users of Microsoft 365 are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(6894)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Ease of Accessibility: Users value the convenience of accessing Microsoft Office applications from any location, enabling effortless document editing and collaboration.

Seamless Tool Integration: Reviewers appreciate the smooth integration among various Microsoft Office tools like OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams, boosting productivity by simplifying file sharing and collaborative work processes.

Cloud-Based Storage Benefit: Some users see great value in the cloud-based storage feature of Microsoft 365 for easy file access and secure backups.

User-Friendly: The user-friendly interface aids in efficient navigation and utilization of the diverse tools.

Updates: Continuous updates and enhancements in Microsoft Office applications offer users new features and improved functionality for a better overall experience.

Complex User Interface: Users have found navigating Microsoft 365's interface challenging due to its cluttered design, hindering seamless application transitions.

Email Notification Delays: Some users express frustration over sporadic delays in receiving email notifications, impacting their reliance on timely updates.

Installation Length: Users encounter prolonged download and installation times for Microsoft Office 365, delaying immediate access to the software.

Challenges with Shared Files: Collaboration hurdles arise from shared file issues in Teams like sync errors and potential data loss reported by some users.

Software Freezing Problems: Certain users face software freezing glitches necessitating frequent restarts to restore normal functionality.

Lack of Intuitiveness in Contextual Menus: The lack of intuitive contextual menus within Microsoft Office 365 hampers workflow efficiency for a subset of users.

Reviews

(1-21 of 21)

Microsoft Office 365 - A complete solution to your organization

Rating: 9 out of 10
July 11, 2023
AR
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
10 years of experience
We are using Microsoft 365 which includes Exchange Online for mailboxes, SharePoint Online for collaborations, Teams for messaging, etc. There are 2000 users in all and we use E5 license for all the users who use company laptops. We also use Security and compliance feature in Office 365 to keep our data safe. Exchange Online archiving is enabled for all users. All the mailboxes are on legal hold so that data would be available even if user tries to delete it intentionally or has left the organization. Sharing of files and documents from OneDrive and Sharepoint is not allowed externally. Only internal employees can share within themselves. In case users wants to share it externally we add the external users as guest through Azure portal and then allow them to share it via Teams after getting the Non Disclosure Document betwen the parties.
  • Management of mailboxes is done very well in Exchange Online in Microsoft 365.
  • Security and compliance feature has many application which help to keep your organization secure and compliant.
  • Teams and SharePoint is wonderful tool for collaboration.
I have been working on this product for more than 10 years now. This product has evolved and made tremendous improvements during this period. This product is a complete package and suitable for almost every environment. It will work in simple, medium, large and complex environments. Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Teams and OneDrive will fulfill your business requirements. There are features like Data classification, labelling, records management, Ediscovery, Legal hold, ATP, DLP, Defender which are must in every organization.


The only thing I am a little not confident about this product is its reliability on protection. It is not as efficient as anybody would want. Even if you apply stringent of restrictions it can still be broken and Spam or other malicious activity can enter.

M365 Product Review

Rating: 6 out of 10
November 01, 2022
GM
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
10 years of experience
We utilize M365 across our entire organization in a hybrid environment. We chose M365 initially for the licensing structure and cost efficiencies associated with desktop and mobile Office applications. Through the evolution of M365, we now appreciate one portal to administer our Office, and other Microsoft app, deployments. We also enjoy the reporting features as well.
  • Email
  • Deployment
  • Licensing
  • Cost
  • Administration
I would recommend M365 for small to medium-sized businesses that need, or want, the value for licensing multiple devices, per account, with Office applications and other Microsoft services. However, that said, there should be someone in the business that can administrate the M365 account for all staff, preferably either internal IT or an outsourced MSP. I would suggest utilizing video and file-sharing services such as Zoom until at such time Microsoft Teams application and services are more stable and afford more integration with other vendors.

A new and promising future with Microsoft 365!

Rating: 9 out of 10
January 24, 2022
AR
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
2 years of experience
Previously in our company we used a POP3 mail service based on Web Hosting, due to the growth of our company and the need to centralize services and facilitate communication between our workers, we decided to migrate our email to Microsoft 365. This has been the first step of many, since our medium-term goal is to migrate our infrastructure to the cloud and thus use more and more services such as OneDrive and SharePoint as well as their different Apps to manage our business. One of them, which has made communication much easier for us and has completely changed us, has been Microsoft Teams.
  • Email Managment with Exchange technology
  • Centralize very useful business apps
  • Microsoft Teams
  • OneDrive share technology
I think that most of the scenarios are recommended for the use of Microsoft 365 as long as the company that wants to incorporate it is not a very small company, I think that from 50 workers it can already be interesting for management, organization and development. of the company's activities. However, if a company has less than 50 workers, the cost, development and implementation of Microsoft 365 may not be as interesting or at least not take advantage of all its features.

Microsoft 365, your all around collaboration tool

Rating: 8 out of 10
November 09, 2021
JD
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
6 years of experience
Microsoft 365 is used by our whole organization. This includes the following suite of apps: Word Excel Powerpoint Onenote Teams Onedrive All of our marketing material and presentation material is created using Powerpoint with a custom-made template. Although we use Slack for our internal communication, many customers we interface with use Teams, so with having Teams it allows us to communicate with them. We use the Onedrive or Sharepoint to share documents and material via the cloud and utilize the restricted access features of onedrive and Sharepoint. For documents that require to be exported to document control management tools, we start them in a Microsoft Word format then convert to PDF. Any time sheets are required, it will either be done via Excel or Google Sheets.
  • Syncing via the cloud.
  • Collaborative editing and creating of documents.
  • Clear communications via Teams.
Microsoft 365 is a very integrated suite of applications and works well across both Mac OS and Windows OS. I think it can be considered the gold standard for creating documents, presentations, and taking notes. Where it lacks is the way it integrates all of its applications in the collaboration space. For example, when editing specific documents via the web app or in Teams, the ribbon does not have all the features compared to the actual desktop applications. I definitely like how the collaboration space is always constantly improved and is more efficient. It's a much smoother experience when all party members are editing via a web app compared to when some are using the desktop app. Sometimes the desktop app versions do not sync or connect properly. Otherwise, in general, I would recommend Microsoft 365 as a good set of collaboration tools.

This is the gold standard for a reason, and it's affordable; why would you choose anything else?

Rating: 9 out of 10
November 04, 2021
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
15 years of experience
MS Office 365 is simply the gold standard for office productivity. As a team we routinely use nearly all the different software packages to perform daily functions such as word processing, spreadsheet activities and presentation development. The ease of use and integration between all users, both internally and externally, is second to none.
  • Word processing, spreadsheets and presentation development
  • Integration with email / Outlook and simple mail merge functions
  • OneDrive integration and sharing of files
Again, MS Office 365 is just the gold standard. Nearly everyone is familiar with it, nearly everyone knows how to use it, and nearly everyone has compatible software that makes things really, really easy to share without issue. We don't use some of the tools such as Access and OneNote, but for word processing, spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, there's just no match.

One package software for whole organizational documentation, reporting and analysis needs

Rating: 8 out of 10
August 23, 2021
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
7 years of experience
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is used across the whole organization. It solves following business problems:
  • Makes the data more visual by creating charts, diagrams.
  • It is used to retrieve data from 3rd party tools and helps the users to make analysis on the data.
  • You can write reports based on the data.
  • You can document the processes and process flows.
  • You can create custom templates for your internal and external communications.
In conclusion, this product is a great help for organizational operations and daily tasks.
  • It enables the users to retrieve data from external sources
  • It enables the users to analyze and visualize the data
  • It enables the users to communicate with each other and work together in one task.
  • It enables the users to create reports
  • It enables the custom templates for reports, visualizations, presentations
  • It optimizes the license fees by providing a better user management
Best fitting scenarios are as following:

  • When you want to manage the documentation in your organization.
  • When you look for a reporting and analysis tool with a lot of free training
  • When you look for one solution for all the organizational reporting, data analysis, communication and presentation needs.
The worst fitting scenarios are as following:
  • When you are looking for a free or open-source software to use
  • When you are using mixed operating systems like Mac and Windows at the same time in your organization.

The next version of Office, a no-brainer if you are already using Microsoft products

Rating: 10 out of 10
August 17, 2021
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
7 years of experience
Using this as the primary suite for the business: e-mail, communication (Teams), word processing, spreadsheets, collaboration. You name it. No package in the market comes close to it in terms of the variety of solutions it offers and all of this at a price that just makes sense with different bundles to suit your needs.
  • Integration with other Microsoft systems
  • Great feature set
  • Pricing
If you, like the majority of businesses, are already invested in Microsoft products, the move to Microsoft 365 just makes a lot of sense. It's seamless to deploy and ensures you are using the latest product with all the benefits plus the security that it provides and allows you to grow as your needs grow with different packages that cover from the basics to all the advanced features.

Microsoft 365 does it all!

Rating: 8 out of 10
June 28, 2021
PL
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
3 years of experience
We use Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) not only to store email but also to store other office documents on OneDrive as well as set up team meetings. It really saves us from spending dollars on having to manage network servers.
  • Emails are stored in the cloud and can be synchronized on a desktop client
  • Documents can be worked on in the cloud or downloaded onto the desktop for editing
  • Teams can be created to allow for on-line meetings & document collaboration
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) works well with small and large firms. It's a very simple process to add and assign more seats as staff needs arise. All the management tools are cloud based. There's no need for an on-premises server to manage any Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) subscriptions.

Best productivity suite on the market

Rating: 10 out of 10
June 20, 2021
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
10 years of experience
It is being used both at the department level and across the whole organization. Since it is subscription based, all licensing is managed in the cloud. With Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), users have the option of running the software in the cloud and also installing the apps locally to workstations, laptops, and mobile devices. It addresses the business problem of having a robust, all-in-one productivity suite that is compatible across multiple platforms and operating systems.
  • It is compatible with multiple computer platforms and/or operating systems. This is essential especially in organizations where everyone is not on the same platform.
  • File sharing/collaboration features of the software are stellar. This is another essential need of productivity software like Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365).
  • Another big strength is that most organizations/businesses use Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), and it seems more organizations are buying into this. This is good, especially as organizations work with each other and have the need to collaborate.
It is well suited for most organizations/businesses across the board that want a mostly easy-to-use productivity suite that is both secure and has most features/programs that the majority of users will use on a daily basis.

It is less appropriate for organizations/businesses where costs are a major concern, since this will require ongoing licensing costs, since it is subscription-based software.

The feature set is well worth the price

Rating: 10 out of 10
May 13, 2021
TR
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
5 years of experience
Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is the trusted office suite used by our small, family-owned business. It is, in my opinion, the industry standard for SOHO documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases. With Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), I am able to purchase and install the necessary software on a number of computers within our organization. I primarily use Word and Excel on a daily basis. My brother does more presentations to clients and uses PowerPoint and Access Databases daily. I have tried other free options, including Google Docs and Open Office, but keep coming back to the reliability and compatibility of Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365).
  • Word for Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) gives a consistent user experience with all of the features you've come to expect from document software.
  • The online Microsoft account gives me a quick and easy way to manage and renew my Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) account. The current and available number of shares is clearly displayed and incredibly easy to manage. I feel that this feature is one of the best things about Microsoft 365 when trying to deploy to multiple computers without breaking the bank.
  • I love the fact that Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) allows me to automatically save to the cloud. Between Google Drive and Dropbox, I used to feel like I wasted hours each week transferring documents for others in my company to view (we are located across four different locations). With Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) and OneDrive, my files are automatically saved to the cloud and I don't have to worry about them.
  • I run Microsoft Windows 10 on my laptop and Android on my phone. Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) and my Microsoft account make logging into my computer and accounts quick and secure. With the Microsoft Authenticator app for Android, I am able to verify my login attempts using my fingerprint and two-factor authentication. An added bonus is the ability to add other third-party apps to the MS Authenticator app so that all of my login verification happens in one spot.
I feel that the price of Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) makes it a perfect fit for small businesses that require reliable document, spreadsheet, presentation, and database software for the casual user. The fact that it can be shared to five users even allows it to be used at home where the cost may not have been worthwhile in the past. Using other free programs may be fine, but my experience shows that Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is well worth the price for true compatibility with other businesses and organizations.

The Swiss Army Knife of Office Productivity Suites

Rating: 9 out of 10
April 29, 2021
[Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365)] is central to all our business processes, starting with email (Outlook), shared calendars, to-do lists, communicating (Teams), creating documents (Word), training (Stream), appointments (Booking), and more. Teams is great for integrating virtual assistants including messaging, file sharing, and video calling. Booking allows clients to setup their own appointments complete with automated reminders and meeting links.
  • Booking might be my favorite to save time with phone tag, reminders, meeting setup.
  • Stream is really cool in that it transcribes the audio in video recordings for text search.
  • Also like all the granular control of sharing in order to protect privacy and security.
I think [Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365)] is a particularly good value to small businesses as pricing is per user yet gives access to many high-end features. It would also be well suited for companies with remote users as it's all in the cloud. While all the capability and options can be confusing, at least you don't need to dedicate staff to run a server and they do offer support if needed.

Affordable world-class solution of office productivity and data security for Windows users

Rating: 9 out of 10
April 22, 2021
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
3 years of experience
In 2019, we replaced our on-premise email servers, SharePoint servers, and file servers with Microsoft 365 [(formerly Office 365)].
We also started to use Teams, Streams, and Microsoft eDiscovery.
Everyone uses Microsoft 365 [(formerly Office 365)] in my company.
  • Intune that manages the endpoint data security cheaply
  • Build-in eDiscovery that manages user data's legal hold and search
  • Many tools such as Forms, Flow, and Power Platform for automation
Microsoft 365 [(formerly Office 365)] is great for small businesses that do not have enough IT resources but want to have world-class IT services.
Of course, this is still a Microsoft 365 [(formerly Office 365)]. Apple and Linux users will have challenges utilizing all the features in Microsoft 365.

Long-term Microsoft user- both small biz and corporate

Rating: 8 out of 10
April 14, 2021
MG
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
3 years of experience
We use Microsoft 365 across the entire organization. We have been a long term user of Microsoft products. In the past, we have purchased the CD version when a new computer was acquired. A few years ago, when we were transitioning equipment, we chose to use the cloud version. We felt that the cloud version was a good choice because we were continually updated with the most current version of the different software applications. We did not have to worry about our software be coming out of date. Also, we appreciated that Microsoft was adding new capabilities to help with teaming and collaboration.
  • Exchange email service works well.
  • Good to have access to traditional office applications.
  • Back up in the cloud.
For people who are traditional Microsoft users, Microsoft 365 allows you to maintain access to the applications that you have always used in an format where they are kept up to date. One of the risks of purchasing the package as a one time item is that it goes out of date. With Microsoft 365 you no longer have to worry about your applications going out to date.

New applications are rolled out sometimes with clear guidance as to how to use them. While the newer applications or enhancement to solutions like SKYPE or Teams are available, you are never quite sure how much access users outside of your well defined group will have. So, it's sometimes a default to use a third party solution like Zoom, even though you may have concerns.

Office 365 helps managed service provider standardize clients and run our own business

Rating: 10 out of 10
November 16, 2019
We use Office 365 extensively, both internally and as a managed service provider, and recommend it wholeheartedly to our clients. The breadth of services and tools that Microsoft includes in this product is staggering. We recommend it because of a few of the following reasons:
  1. Business-class email.
  2. Standardizes office licensing for all users.
  3. Teams collaboration.
  4. Sharepoint document management and sharing are great.
The overall integration between all of the products, both local and cloud-based, has improved so much in the last 3-4 years, to the point where it feels a bit like magic.
  • Great email provider.
  • Business-class collaboration.
  • Standardizing office licensing.
  • Document Sharing.
As an MSP, we have standardized on Office 365 for all our clients, and have not found a situation where it does not fit in at some level. I know you can use other providers, but for us and our clients, it makes a huge amount of sense because of all the benefits it includes.

Microsoft Office 365 Review

Rating: 8 out of 10
October 01, 2019
CH
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
2 years of experience
I use a few different apps within Microsoft Office 365, including OneNote, OneDrive, Word, Powerpoint, and Excel. The Office suite provides many applications and tasks that can be tackled, including writing documents, budgeting, storing files, etc.
  • Office does a pretty good job of organizing your files from various applications. I can access these from my hard drive, even though everything can be backed up to the cloud as well.
  • Office gives me lots of options for preparing documents or files. I can type up a word doc, or create a financial spreadsheet for a project, or create a quick presentation.
  • OneNote is a great notetaking tool. With a little finagling, you can also figure out how to exchange these notes and share them with other parties.
This is a great suite if you are familiar with the 365 ecosystems, or if money isn't a question. For others, it's nice to not have to pay a fee, and still be able to use the same types of applications.

The trial is free!

Rating: 10 out of 10
September 13, 2019
LS
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
7 years of experience
We are using 365 across the whole organization. It eliminates the need for internal backups and most VPN uses. We started with Exchange to replace Lotus Notes email. Everyone is using Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive. We are currently migrating our old file-share based Intranet to SharePoint. This allows departments to manage their own content. We are also rolling out mobile forms to our shops; this replaces capturing data on paper and then data-entering it. So, better data management is also a driving factor.
  • Data Management - replace spreadsheets with lists gives users a data-forward view. Metadata on documents too.
  • Email - Exchange/Outlook is simply the best email product available.
  • Data can be shared with external users, and setting permissions is fairly intuitive.
  • Metadata and Search are relatively easy to configure and great for users.
  • Communication - Having our (particularly) multi-person conversations in Teams Chat is better than by email.
  • Single source of truth - documents/data are stored in SharePoint, Teams, or OneDrive rather than in emails. Everyone always has the latest file, and no one has to search their email for it.
Office 365 is suited for most business needs. Excellent collaboration tools. Particularly good if you want to get away from most backups. It is not well suited for hosting an external web site. It may not meet all compliance regulations for some industries. It is not well suited for lists that will grow over 30,000 records. It cannot replace a relational database.

Microsoft Office 365 - a feature-rich offering for large scale organizations

Rating: 8 out of 10
July 16, 2018
Verified User
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
5 years of experience
Microsoft Office 365 is used by our entire organization, giving a single, standardized format for creating, printing, and sharing documents and information. In our business, we need to create a wide range of documents - from simple data analysis and number crunching to business proposals. These are also sharing both internally across groups, and externally with clients, partners, and other vendors.
  • Microsoft Office 365 includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, allowing you to create documents in a number of different formats, and even include data from one program in another - such as graphs from Excel in PowerPoint presentations.
  • Microsoft Office 365 also makes sharing of documents much easier, with its support for cloud-based sharing of documents. You can upload your document to the cloud, and simply share a link with other users where they can view and edit documents. This is a vast improvement on the old method of having to send actual documents, and manually keep track of changes and versions.
  • As well as the sharing features, Microsoft Office 365 includes excellent features for multiple users to collaborate on a single document, such as tracking updates and comments by users and versioning.
  • Microsoft Office 365 supports output to PDF as well as printing, allowing digital as well as hard-copies of presentations or handouts to be shared with meeting attendees.
Microsoft Office 365 is perfect for larger organizations that need a comprehensive set of tools they can distribute to employees, both fulfilling all their functional needs and providing a single, unified software platform to support.
For smaller organizations or individuals, it may be a little bit of overkill - you'll probably find yourself not using all the features and getting the full benefit of the price you are paying.

Lungs are to breathing as Microsoft Office is to ...

Rating: 10 out of 10
May 21, 2018
DD
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
5 years of experience
My usage of Microsoft 365 is from a consultant perspective. I typically use two and sometimes three different desktop computer, laptop and/or tablets within one week depending on whether I am in a coffee shop networking, on a client's site or at my home office. The Microsoft cloud and my suite of Microsoft 365 products are accessible anytime and allow me to share my work with clients and peers as needed.
  • Synchronization of cloud and on-device storage makes working offline a breeze
  • Office products Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Outlook work seamlessly with Microsoft apps such as One Drive
  • Upgrades and updates are automatic and can be scheduled or accepted. Big time saver versus one-time purchase such as Office 2016
Collaboration with clients and peers. My clients need to import data from different sources and often requiring a transformation of the data (such as parsing or concatenating) prior to importing. Excel is quite useful as a common tool for me and clients to make that handoff of XLS and CSV files, completing the transformation prior to importing.

Office 365 Review

Rating: 10 out of 10
April 07, 2017
Verified User
Vetted Review
Microsoft 365
4 years of experience
My whole organization uses Office 365 - Office suite, Email, Skype for Business, Power BI and many more apps. We also make use of the PSTN calling plans available from Microsoft which allows us to use Skype for Business as our inbound/outbound calling system.
  • Licensing is easy; you pay by the month for active users.
  • Costs are easy to anticipate and are an operational rather than a capital expense.
  • Office in the cloud offers continual upgrades.
  • Each Office 365 user can access Office 2013 on up to five devices, including smartphones.
  • Ability to easily bundle/integrate other third party services with Office 365.

Office 365 gives users the ability to work from anywhere as long as they have an internet connection. Because it’s cloud-based, you can access your email, files and Office programs (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) from any location and any device.

Office 365 - Skype for Business instant messaging is an efficient way to connect with one or more contacts in real time and on a moment’s notice. You are able to integrate Microsoft's PSTN calling plans with Skype for Business to give you a fully functional phone system for business. We use it to communicate in our office so I can vouch for its effectiveness.

Document collaboration is a critical element to working effectively as a team. Office 365 co-authoring allows multiple people to make edits to a document at the same time. This avoids ‘Person A’ making changes to a document and then emailing it to ‘Person B’ for their input.

Nearly Perfect, Constantly Improving (for better or worse)

Rating: 10 out of 10
March 24, 2017
MJ
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
6 years of experience
We moved all faculty and staff to Office 365 as our main email communication/collaboration platform several years ago. We had previously been using Novell Groupwise as our email platform. This past year, we moved our students from the Google Gmail environment in to Office 365 for their email as well. We adopted Office 365 primarily as an email platform, but it is also being used as a singular point of communication/collaboration for calendar and collaboration through Office 365 Groups and OneDrive for Business.
  • Communication - Outlook is an excellent email platform, and Outlook on the Web is almost as full-featured as the desktop client version
  • File Storage - OneDrive is the best cloud storage service I have used and makes everything feel seemless and integrated between computers. When logging in to a workstation with Active Directory, all my files appear in the "Recent Documents" list even if I've never logged on to that particular workstation in the past
  • Cloud-based Software - the online versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are very full-featured, though not as fully featured as the desktop versions, basic edits are simple to do quickly and everything is saved instantly to OneDrive.
  • Evergreen Environment - Office 365 is constantly updating and changing, providing new services, apps, and improvements
Office 365 is perfect for bigger or smaller businesses that can afford the subscription. Looking specifically at education, Office 365 is perfect for higher education as we're working as a business unit and many students will graduate and end up working at organizations using Office. Microsoft also offers security meeting our FERPA and HIPPA and PCI needs, where Google is a bit murky on some of it's data security language. I would see Google Appe/Google for Business being an excellent option for small business, elementary and secondary education. For larger organizations and higher education, Office 365 is the ideal.

Office 365 an integral part of our start up company's solutions.

Rating: 9 out of 10
January 25, 2017
MP
Vetted Review
Verified User
Microsoft 365
4 years of experience
Office 365 is being used both desktop and cloud for our email and Microsoft Office needs. In the office of course as you always have the latest edition of the software, and in the field it's fabulous as my field guys phones and tablets are set up for them to edit items, use the email apps and accept/review Word, Excel and PowerPoint for job issues and uses.
  • The admin panel is very easy to navigate. Can see/edit people, subscription status, set up accounts etc. with ease. I do this for all the field employees and work as the defacto IT guy, and it makes my life very easy to set up and new users, and lock out people being dismissed quickly and easily. (sad that has to happen at times!)
  • The updated program status and simplicity works well for our field operations. These guys arent 'techie' types, they are construction workers. They're all grasping how to use the system very well.
  • It's stable, it's rare we have any issues that aren't..'um restart your device' as a response. Dependable and works as required.
Well suited for keeping the mobile field up and running, and keeping costs to a minimum for our small office peer to peer. Since we don't have a real server here, this has been ideal to be up and running fast, grows as you need easily and gives the admin full and easy control to keep things working. It's cost effective for cash flow, and we haven't had any issues with it. Couldn't recommend it more highly to start ups especially with field workers needing to stay in communication and receive job plans and updates via Word or Excel.
Return to navigation