2015 is the right time for you to plan to upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Office, Office 365. I have not been a proponent of Office 365 until recent changes by Microsoft—including adding value and lowering prices. The value is higher by such an extent that it makes sense to move to Office 365 for almost every home user and most small-business users. Even larger organizations should be looking at Office 365, although the decision becomes a little less obvious the larger you are.
Office itself is not much of a reason to upgrade, as the apps themselves have a learning curve and don’t add a ton of value compared to Office 2013. In 2015, I expect Microsoft to continue to add more value into Office 365, as well as release additional features to make the upgrade more compelling.
In general, these are the basic reasons you should move to Office 365 in 2015:
1. Professionally hosted email
Microsoft Exchange has the best feature set for business class email, and if you have more than two users, you will love the calendar sharing. Exchange hosting is included in Office 365, and eliminates headaches associated with upgrades, space and other issues involved in hosting your own Exchange server. Users get 50 GB of storage included—which is more than enough for most people. Even for enterprises, the cost makes sense to move to Exchange in the cloud and reduce headaches.
2. One terabyte of cloud hosted files included
I’m a Dropbox user and fan mostly because it is easy and works everywhere. But one terabyte on Dropbox is $99 per year, so why not have Microsoft OneDrive and Office for $150 a year? Microsoft OneDrive works on all devices just like Dropbox, and works really well with Microsoft applications.
3. Skype
Skype is awesome for chatting and for video calls. It works on all devices—yes, Macs and iPads too. Expect even more from Skype in 2015.
4. Office anywhere
In case you haven’t heard, Office is now free on the iPad (download Office for iPad here), so you get it without Office 365. Office 365, however, gives you five licensed copies (for your use, not to share, although you can share with your wife/kids) to use on any of your devices. Plus, you can access Office applications in the cloud if you are using a hotel or friends computer without access. Using Office online also gives you collaboration features similar to what Google Docs provides. Google still does collaboration better, but the Office 365 option with OneDrive is more effective than emailing changes.
5. Online meetings
Beyond Skype, it includes a tool to host meetings. Think GoToMeetings or Webex. This alone can save you $250 a year.
6. Office features
I noted above there aren’t any significant features that make me want to upgrade, but they have added some features and improved others. Especially if you use a touch screen, you will like some of the new functionality after the learning curve. Whether you are buying Office 365 as a home user, SOHO or larger business, 2015 is the time to finally make the move. I believe Microsoft will make more changes to Office 365 and add even more value to the package in 2015, making it even more attractive.
You can get a free trial of Office 365 at https://products.office.com/en-US/.
I’m well aware of Google apps and OpenOffice. I use some Google apps and have tried Open Office. For the very casual user, those are fine solutions, but for anyone who is comfortable with Office or needs to use Office applications more than a few times a week, the productivity of Microsoft Office still can’t be beat.
Geiger CIO Dale Denham, MAS+ provides practical insights on how you can benefit from technology in no nonsense terms. Follow him on Twitter @GeigerCIO.
