Gaining a single collaborative workspace with Office 365
www.office.com/setup Blogs: Today’s post was written by Office 365 customer Kate Tikoian, Director of IT, LEVICK
When challenges arise, LEVICK can make the difference that leads to a positive outcome. LEVICK is a leading strategic communications firm driving communications in the highest-profile global matters for companies and countries. From our offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City, we deploy uniquely qualified teams, armed with the instincts, influence, and experience needed to win battles in an increasingly complex and challenging world.
Our teams rely on quick and effective communications. Over time, we found that we needed a single workspace where we could go for information, files, and intra-office communication that would be easily accessible both in and out of the office. With about 10 percent of our staff using Macs and more staff working remotely, moving to the cloud became necessary.
When I thought about moving to a new solution, I did consider Google, but I chose Microsoft Office 365 because I trust Microsoft products. I have almost always chosen and will continue to choose Microsoft because I can consistently count on a familiar feature set and interface. I also chose Office 365 for its nearly seamless interoperability with our existing technologies and applications.
Our technical partner, New Signature, helped us with design and integration for the move to Office 365. We used Microsoft SharePoint Online for the centralized document management we needed. For the SharePoint sites, New Signature chose the templates and features that would best meet our business needs. We are now creating a document management system that allows for versioning control and precise access control. We have been able to use team sites to provide easy access to the most up-to-date versions of important documents. It’s exciting to be able to have multiple users editing the same document simultaneously.
Already we are seeing new staff mobility and productivity. We’ve been able to access documents on any device-on iPhones and iPads, in addition to Mac desktops and laptops. More than 10 percent of our staff work on Macs provided by the company. File sharing had always been a challenge. Being able to access and collaborate on documents from the same site with the same interface makes it easy for our employees, no matter what device they use. It’s also easy for IT to train them without having to prepare multiple trainings for multiple devices or platforms.
Today’s workforce is more inclined to work for companies that allow them to work on their device and platform of choice. Moving to Office 365 will help us both gain and retain top talent by allowing us to be flexible in the platforms and devices we offer to staff.
Moving to the cloud will save us thousands of dollars in hardware and backups. By fully transitioning to Office 365, we will save at least [US]$15,000 in hardware costs, $5,800 in backup costs, and over $12,000 in licensing and software costs. We now have the kind of model where we’re able to reliably predict our costs. That’s where we like to be.
As a communications firm, we thoroughly understand the value of effective communication and streamlined collaboration. With Office 365, we look forward to providing our staff and clients with innovative ways to connect and collaborate.
Related Information:
Original Post: https://blogs.office.com/2013/06/05/gaining-a-single-collaborative-workspace-with-office-365/
