Microsoft Office 365 game changer for local businesses

Microsoft Sri Lanka launched their next generation software Office 365, a cutting edge technology advancement, at their Partner Conference 2012 held at Waters Edge, Battaramulla.  

Office 365 will be a revolutionary change in the way the modern corporates will operate in the future; enabled on a cloud platform it will support a host of their mature products to be accessed on a need to use basis.

Cloud computing allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster, with improved manageability and less maintenance, and enables IT to more rapidly adjust resources to meet fluctuating and unpredictable business demand.

“The use of Office 365 will help businesses become more efficient in the way they operate and also help reduce their Capex cost which will become a game changer for businesses and give them an edge over competition,” said Imran Viscassim, Director – Enterprise Partner Group at Microsoft Sri Lanka.

In one way, this new software will be a complete paradigm shift in the way IT will operate in a business environment and even shift existing loci on how the CEO and CIO will approach IT related decisions in their companies.

Cloud services with the availability of Office 365, brings together Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft Lync Online in an always-up-to-date service, which would enable businesses of all sizes to expand their customer bases and drive new revenue.   

Addressing the gathering of partners, Country Manager for Microsoft Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Sriyan de Silva Wijeyeratne said: “This launch is a significant achievement for Sri Lanka. Office 365 is not just another global product we are launching in Sri Lanka. This is a service, which is made specifically available for Sri Lanka, and I am proud to say that Sri Lanka is amongst a few selected countries in South East Asia to have this service available.

“With Office 365, businesses of all sizes, big and small, can now access enterprise-ready business solutions with a predictable monthly or annual subscription, effectively removing the need for significant upfront investments in IT infrastructure and maintenance. Office 365 will be a driving force that enables improved business productivity and collaboration while simultaneously boosting output. Today’s launch will level the playing field for local companies by giving them access to powerful IT capabilities.”

The Microsoft Cloud Services, which is well on track to becoming one of the fastest growing offers in the company’s history, with Office 365 will provide companies the opportunity to reach new customer segments, innovative ways to grow revenue and accelerate sales cycles.  One of the distinctive advantages customers have as opposed to other cloud-based offers in the market is the ability to work on a hybrid model where the services can be accessed either on premise or on the cloud, allowing them to use Cloud in their own terms.

Vilcassim said that customers across the globe are moving to Cloud in order to gain access to technology anytime, anywhere and on any device; and that brings in considerable saving of both cost and energy.  

“With the cloud, customers continue to enjoy great technology without the burden of managing it which is now entrusted to Microsoft. Customers pay only for the services they use without having the hassle of maintaining all their computing needs and resources themselves.  

They can also scale their IT capacity up or down almost instantaneously as circumstances dictate. Cloud is the next best thing for most companies and Office 365 based cloud services is the next big offer from Microsoft to serve the needs of the customer.  It aids these transformative changes and enables customers to improve their business productivity and bottom line.”

Office 365 provides people with the ability to have immediate access to information and connections they are used to – they can meet anyone, anywhere real time to share and collaborate on work.   The service is easy to configure and companies without a dedicated IT department can easily control the access to their IT system, whilst maintaining more agility in using IT applications such as email and calendaring capabilities on Exchange Online that grants remote access to email and contacts via their smartphones and PCs.  

With Office 365, people can stay on the “same page” using instant messaging and virtual meetings with people who are just down the hall or across the world.  They can work on files and documents at the same time and share ideas as easily as they can share calendars. Office 365 gives people new ways to work together with ease, on virtually any device, giving businesses the reliability, security and IT controls they need in the cloud, even without a dedicated IT staff.

Moving to the cloud with Office 365 does not require a business to change the way it works because familiar productivity tools from Microsoft Office applications are at the heart of Office 365. Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Outlook and other Office applications connect to Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Lync to deliver a world-class solution for communication and collaboration. What makes Office 365 a game-changer for businesses of all sizes is the availability of a wide range of service plans designed to meet the needs of any business, ranging from the largest to the smallest. Office 365 for enterprises has an array of choices, from simple email to comprehensive suites to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.  Customers can now get Microsoft Office Professional Plus on a pay-as-you-go basis with cloud-based versions of the industry’s leading business communications and collaborations services.  Each of these plans come with the advanced IT controls, security, 24x7 IT support and reliability that is synonymous with Microsoft.

Microsoft is building a strong partner ecosystem around Office 365, including systems integrators, software vendors, resellers, and other partners. With the announcement made today, the company is expanding that ecosystem as they partner in new ways with market leading service providers in Sri Lanka.  These companies will package Office 365 with their own services – from web hosting and broadband to finance solutions and mobile services – and bring those new services to small and midsize businesses locally. Office 365 partners in Sri Lanka represent some of the best-known, most-trusted IT service providers in the country.