Microsoft enhances SMEs’ performance with Business Productivity Solutions

By Ade Ajayi

Although Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play in several industries and sectors in Nigeria, these enterprises face similar challenges. Microsoft understands this and have Business Productivity solutions that empowers SMEs to effectively address these challenges – simply put, Microsoft enables SMEs to do more and achieve more. At Microsoft, we know that technology can make the difference in driving your company ahead – setting you apart from your competitors – whatever size they may be. As an SME, you are looking for better ways to grow your business efficiently, do business anywhere, safeguard your business and connect with your customers at any time. The following are ways Microsoft Business Productivity solution, Office 365 enables SMEs to address these challenges and compete effectively in this market.

Grow Efficiently – Technology can be a major differentiator for your business because you can use technology to reduce costs and be a real enabler of your business growth. But the challenge is “how do you get there?” It can seem daunting when you look across your IT—from servers to the cloud, PCs to mobile devices—to know where you should start, and how you can transition from what you have now to your new vision. This is where Microsoft, combined with and our ecosystem of partners, provide something different—offering a unique approach for making the benefits of modern technology a reality for SMBs. For example, with Office 365, you will not need to invest in server infrastructure or need to hire expensive IT resources to manage your IT environment. Everything you need from email to websites to collaboration tools will be managed by Microsoft, allowing you to be more nimble and agile so you can focus on growing your business.

Safeguard your business – With Office 365, Microsoft keeps your data protected and helps you be prepared for the unexpected, so you know your business never misses a beat. Microsoft offers small and midsize organizations enterprise-level security, with the high level of data protection and datacenter security required by the largest organizations.

Do business anywhere – The workplace is changing, with more work being done remotely and across geographies. Employees need to easily connect and work together wherever they are – whether at the office, at home, or on the road. SMEs want to get the benefits of a mobile, productive team that can work together wherever they are. With Office 365, you can quickly and easily equip new and existing employees with the apps and services they need. No lengthy deployment process. Just check the boxes for the specific applications required, and your people are ready to go with the latest software they need to do their jobs. For example, you can access and edit your latest files wherever you go, on any device. With Microsoft, you also know you’ll get the same rich experience whether you’re online or offline.

 Connect with customers – Office 365 enables SMEs get the competitive advantage by understanding your customers and making meaningful connections to build long-term relationships. With SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business, you can easily share documents – from invoices to orders for new materials with customers and partners. Office 365 makes it easy to collaborate with partners and customers. You have a rich, familiar set of tools that make it easy to create compelling, polished sales materials that make

an impact, whether you are connecting online or visiting in person. Using your familiar Office tools online, you can work together with your team to build, review and edit materials from anywhere, including sales proposals, brochures, presentations, and more. Since it is in the cloud, your latest documents are always online for your team members to access from wherever they are.

With Office 365, your employees get their familiar, best of breed Office experience from applications and email hosted in the cloud, so you can avoid the high capital expense of associated infrastructure, shifting the cost to more predictable operating expense where you pay only for what you use. Because everything is fully managed and updated in the cloud, you know your employees always have the latest software. This means your IT doesn’t have to focus on continually buying and updating software, and your employees never have to lose productivity to the downtime associated with updates.

So what products are included in Office 365? –  Office 365 includes the full Office applications – Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Publisher, unlimited storage with OneDrive for Business to access, edit and share your documents across your Windows PC, Mac, iPad, Windows tablet and smartphone. It also includes core cloud services for running your business – business class email and calendaring through Exchange Online, video conferencing and instant messaging through Lync Online, internal and external sites and tools for designing and publishing a great-looking website through SharePoint Online, social enterprise through Yammer and much more.

Visit the Office 365 site, www.Office365.com today to try this product for free for one month. For further enquiries on Office 365 send an email to dialogue@microsoft.com .