Tag Archives: Microsoft 365

News

Tech News : Re-Branding Means Microsoft Office Becomes Microsoft 365

After 30 years of Microsoft Office, a major re-branding will see it being re-named as Microsoft 365 as part of Microsoft’s expansion of its productivity suite.

What, Who, And How? 

Microsoft has announced that starting in November, Office.com (the Office mobile app and the Office app for Windows) will all become part of the re-branded Microsoft 365 app. These changes will apply to everyone who uses the Office app for work, school, or personal use. Office 365 subscriptions were first re-branded as Microsoft 365 two years ago.

The tech giant has stressed that the re-branding will have no impact on existing users’ accounts, profiles, subscriptions, or files. There will also be no changes to existing Microsoft 365 subscription plans. The only noticeable change will be that the app will update automatically with a new icon and name.

Going, But Not Completely 

Microsoft has stressed, however, that Office is still not going away entirely because, as part of Microsoft 365, users will still have access to apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Microsoft will also continue to offer one-time purchases of those apps to consumers and businesses via Office 2021 and Office LTSC plans.

When? 

The first changes in the re-branding will begin rolling out for Office.com in November 2022, and changes will begin rolling out for the Office app on Windows and the Office mobile app in January 2023.

Microsoft 365 App 

The re-branding emphasises the moving of all the Microsoft apps into one mobile and desktop Microsoft 365 app, which the company says will be the “starting point” for accessing Microsoft’s tools, content, and suite of apps going forward. For example, the Microsoft 365 App will incorporate My Content, relevant content based on who users work with and what they work on work on, a new apps module, and the Create module (including templates). It will also be home to Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Loop, Clipchamp, and Stream.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Existing work, school, and personal users will notice the logo change of the re-branding to Microsoft 365 in the coming months although their actual accounts, profiles, subscriptions, or files won’t be otherwise affected. The re-branding marks the next step in Microsoft shifting things into one consolidated app with Office 365 for SMEs and Office 365 ProPlus under the brand. This should simplify management and cement its position as one productivity cloud that meets the needs of many groups in one place. In terms of name changes, Office 365 Business and Office 365 ProPlus will be branded as Microsoft 365, Office 365 Business Essentials will be Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Office 365 Business Premium will be Microsoft 365 Business Standard, and Microsoft 365 Business will become Microsoft 365 Business Premium.

News

Featured-Article : Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365

In this article, we take a brief look at the relative merits of Office 365 compared to Google Workspace and how Google’s recent introduction of features and greater integration have been aimed at challenging Microsoft 365’s dominant position.

Google Workspace 

Many of us are likely to have started with a Gmail account and witnessed how, what was G Suite, has expanded over the years into offering a range of cloud-based software services from a single sign-in, e.g. Gmail, Photos, Drive, Meet, Calendar, Sheets, and more. G Suite was rebranded to Workspace in October 2020, back when collaborative home working became a necessity for many. The name reflected the business focus and the idea that the apps are connected and more integrated with each other. Google, therefore, introduced new business-focused subscription options, i.e. ‘Business family,’ to tempt smaller businesses into trying its collaborative Google Workspace, and ‘Enterprise family’ for larger businesses. Although, at the time, Google’s communications focused asking existing G Suite legacy users to make the “transition,” it was also clearly setting up a service that would appeal to 365 users.

New Feature 

Google’s recent announcement of a new feature, allowing Workspace users to edit Microsoft Office files offline from within Google Workspace’s productivity suite /G Suite indicates a clear competitive move to try and lure Microsoft 365 users over to Workspace. Although Google announced in 2019 that Workspace users could edit Microsoft Office files in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, and edit Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in offline mode, the new feature rounds this off by enabling workspace users to work offline with Microsoft Office files on the desktop.

Google states that the features “brings the collaboration benefits of Google Workspace to Microsoft Office files”, and highlights how users can edit, comment, and collaborate on Office files using Docs, Sheets, and Slides offline, with any changes made to files while offline syncing to Drive once a connection is restored.

Some tech commentators see this latest feature as lowering the barriers to switching by potentially easing the transition between Microsoft and Google services. The feature may also directly appeal to business customers looking for an easier way to use key Microsoft 365 apps – e.g. Word, Excel and PowerPoint when working with clients and partners.

Gmail Change Too 

Google has also recently changed Gmail to work better with its Workplace plans and allows for the kind of faster, more integrated experience that may be expected for a platform that aims to challenge 365. The change to the left-hand side panel allows users to quickly navigate between Gmail, Chat, Spaces and Meet.

Is Workspace Really A Serious Threat To Microsoft 365? 

Microsoft still dominates the office software market, and a US-based OnePulse / TechRadar Pro survey from May showed that 58.2 per cent of businesses use Microsoft 365’s productivity suite, compared to only 15 per cent choosing Google Workspace. Also, Google’s figures in Q1 2022 showed revenue of $5 billion for its cloud services compared to Microsoft’s $15 billion for its productivity segment.

Why Does Microsoft Office 365 Still Appear To Be More Appealing?

There may be several reasons why, despite a raft of new features and improvements to Workspace, Microsoft 365 is still such a popular choice for businesses. These could include:

– The risk, perceived complications, and costs of switching from the market leading, fully integrated platform that businesses may have used for many years.

– Although Workspace may have been seen as a potentially cheaper option, prices for Microsoft for many people may be cheaper, e.g. Microsoft 365 Essentials compared to Google Workspace Basic and the perceived value of Microsoft’s bigger businesses packages may be higher despite slightly higher prices.

– The flexibility that a mixing of licences with Microsoft may provide.

– The familiarity and experience with Microsoft apps in the marketplace – e.g. Word, Excel, and Outlook, which can help with recruitment and productivity. Companies may be more likely to find employees with a good working knowledge of Microsoft 365 compared to Google Workspace products.

– The rise of remote and now hybrid working drove the growth of Teams and, therefore, a continued loyalty to Microsoft, whereas Google Hangouts has not proven to be as popular, with many opting for Zoom instead.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Google has really increased investment in Workspace and introduced a large number of work-focused features and integration of its many products, especially since 2020, as a way to present Workspace as a serious alternative to Microsoft 365. However, Microsoft has built up huge numbers of loyal users and remained the clear market leader in office computing over the years. With its cloud-based 365 and the growth of important collaborative elements such as Teams, it has continued its growth through the remote-working pandemic years and user figures show that it is still very much on top. Although there are plenty of comparable features between Workspace and 365, and integration within Workspace and its breadth of services have increased, the costs and risks of switching from 365 to Workspace may appear too much for many businesses. For newer businesses, the re-assurance of choosing the most popular platform with its widely used apps like Word, Outlook, and Excel may also seem like the safest option, and Google still has a very long way to go to challenge Microsoft’s dominant market position.

News

Security-Stop-Press : Microsoft 365 Loophole Could Allow Ransomware Attack

Proofpoint researchers have reported finding a way that attackers could use a Microsoft 365 loophole to launch ransomware attacks. The method involves using compromised SharePoint Online or OneDrive accounts to reduce the (user-configurable) setting for the number or saved versions in SharePoint Online or OneDrive. Attackers can then encrypt files in those drives so that they are unrecoverable, have no backups, and no decryption key. Attackers could then demand a ransom to restore/recover the original files. The protection advice includes making sure that detection of file configuration changes for Office 365 accounts is switched on, implementing cloud security and threat intelligence, and implementing data loss prevention technology.

News

Featured Article : Microsoft’s March Commercial Price Rises

With Microsoft poised to increase its first substantive commercial pricing increase for Microsoft 365 since the company launched Office 365 a decade ago, we take a look at the added benefits and value and the justification behind the price changes.

Six Months Ago

Microsoft made its official announcements about which prices it would change and by how much back in August 2021. The new prices for its commercial products come into effect on March 1, 2022 and range from increases of 9 per cent to 25 per cent depending on the product. However, as the company points out, some considerable value has been added to its services over the last 10 years that may more than justify the increases.

Value-Adding Innovation Over 10 Years

It would be hard to disagree that Microsoft 365 has dramatically improved its products over the last 10 years, mostly thanks to re-investment and keeping its products relevant to business needs. In fact, since the introduction of 365, the company has added no less than 1,400 features, and 24 apps to the suites! (Microsoft Teams, Power Apps, Power BI, Power Automate, Stream, Planner, Visio, OneDrive, Yammer, and Whiteboard).

Security

One extremely important challenge for businesses and organisations to tackle in today’s business environment is cyber security, both for business continuity and compliance. In fairness, Microsoft 365 has added plenty of security capabilities over the years to keep businesses ahead of prevailing threats. For example, data loss prevention (DLP) for email and documents, sensitivity labels, and message encryption help guard valuable company data and Content Search, as well as eDiscovery, and core Litigation Hold to help with compliance.

The Hybrid Working Security Challenge

Hybrid working has proven to be another big challenge to security for businesses and organisations around the world. On this point, Microsoft is keen to highlight how its “Built-in mobile device management (MDM) and other management tools like Microsoft Endpoint Manager help admins support remote and hybrid workforces.”

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI is a technology that’s transforming many areas of business automation. Microsoft has also added many AI elements to 365. For example, cloud-powered AI helps create maps, charts, and tables in Excel, as well as sorting and uncluttering Outlook. Plus, AI-powered real-time translation, captions, and transcription have now been added to improve collaboration and communication.

Competition

There are, of course, other cloud-based productivity suite options for businesses such as the more browser-centric Google Workspace, Zoho Workspace, and more. For most businesses it’s a case of finding the best fit with the installed base of hardware, using a familiar environment that fits the needs and workflow of the organisation. As the marketing people at Microsoft know all too well, in respect of the classic relationship within the often-cited ‘Porter’s 5 Forces’, the company has considerable supplier power but there’s always competitive rivalry and threats of substitution, and its price rise can’t just be based on its market power.

Teams

It would also be difficult not to note the important contribution that Microsoft Teams has made to many businesses during the pandemic lockdowns and restrictions. Although by no means the only collaborative working platform around (e.g. Zoom, Slack) Microsoft Teams (launched in 2017) proved to be the right solution at the right time for many, providing a practical way forward at the most uncertain time in living memory.

It is not surprising that with staff suddenly finding themselves working remotely and businesses having to undergo rapid digital transformations, with Teams already being part of Microsoft’s suite, it proved very popular. In fact, as far back as pre-pandemic December 2019, it was reported as having 20 million daily active users, and when the first lockdown hit in March 2020, Microsoft reported that Teams saw a massive 12 million user boost in one week!

Today, Teams has become the main communications platform for many businesses and organisations across the UK and Microsoft has put some considerable effort and investment into keeping it that way. For example, in 2020 over 300 new capabilities were added to Teams (Together mode, background effects, large gallery view, and more). Also, collaborative applications in Teams have been added to help with hybrid working e.g., Power Platform, Whiteboard, Lists, Planner, Shifts, Forms, and SharePoint, plus there are now many popular third-party apps that can integrate with Teams e.g., Adobe, Atlassian, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, and Workday.

Other Teams Boosts

Other ways that Microsoft has boosted the power and value of Teams are, for example, by introducing features like real-time collaboration in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint desktop apps, as well as adding and expanding OneDrive cloud storage and the Exchange Online mailboxes. Unlimited dial-in capabilities for Teams has also been introduced across Microsoft’s enterprise, business, frontline, and government suites.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Price increases are never great news for businesses but after such a long time with no substantive increases, it was to be expected. 10 years is a particularly long time in the tech world where many huge changes can take place and there’s no doubt that Microsoft has invested in (and improved) Office 365 to transform it into the Microsoft 365 of today. The use of the cloud and apps like Teams have proven vital over the lasts two years of remote and hybrid working and, as Microsoft points out, continuous innovation has been the way that it has tried to keep its products relevant, and this is the key justification behind its March commercial price rises. In a forthcoming article, we’ll take a look at the price rise figures and some of the opinions and reactions by tech commentators and in the marketplace.

News

Tech News : Microsoft Price Hikes

Microsoft has announced that from March 1st 2022, it will increase the prices of its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 subscription plans.

How Much?

Microsoft says that the price rises, which could be as much as 25 percent, will affect its commercial products in the following ways:

Microsoft 365 Business Basic, will rise from $5 to $6 per user (£3.63 to £4.36)

Microsoft 365 Business Premium will rise from $20 to $22 (£14.53 to £15.98)

Office 365 E1 will rise from $8 to $10 (£5.81 to £7.26)

Office 365 E3 will rise from $20 to $23 (£14.53 to £16.71)

Office 365 E5 will rise from $35 to $38 (£25.43 to £27.61)

Microsoft 365 E3 will rise from $32 to $36 (£23.25 to £26.15).

Microsoft points out that this will be “the first substantive pricing update since we launched Office 365 a decade ago”.

Why?

Microsoft says that the price rises reflect the increased value that it has delivered to its customers over the past 10 years. This includes its continuous re-investment in improving its products, the addition of 24 apps to its suites, the addition of 1,400 new features and capabilities. Also, four years ago, Microsoft launched 365 to bring together the best of Office, Windows, and Enterprise Mobility and Security (EMS) for its customers, and (the same year) it added Microsoft Teams as “the only integrated solution where you can meet, chat, call, collaborate, and automate business processes—right in the flow of work”.

The tech giant points to its innovative products and addition of value for customers in the three key areas communication and collaboration, security and compliance, and AI and automation as justification for next year’s price rise.

Something New Too

Microsoft is also using the introduction of its new unlimited dial-in for Microsoft Teams meetings across enterprise, business, frontline, and government suites as an extra justification for the price rises. Unlimited dial-in (available with subscription in over 70 countries and with interactive support in 44 languages and dialects) should eliminate difficulties in joining Teams meetings due to connectivity/patchy internet connection problems, thereby making it easier for users to join their Microsoft Teams meeting from virtually any device regardless of location.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This represents a considerable (and unwelcome) price hike for businesses in only 6 months-time, particularly for small businesses that have not been able to benefit from the bulk discounts that larger businesses have enjoyed over the years. With the Microsoft Office line being its biggest seller, bringing its revenue mostly from business customers who have used the products to help adapt to remote and hybrid working, Microsoft know that this price increase will now give a considerable boost to its revenue and profits and will allow it to expand its Office cloud business even more.