Small Business Operations

23 Reasons Small Businesses Love Microsoft Cloud

— May 24, 2017 comments off

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23 Reasons Small Businesses Love Microsoft Cloud

If you’re a small business owner looking to adopt the cloud, then Microsoft’s Cloud may be your best option.

Microsoft has invested a lot into serving small businesses with products and services that include:

  • SMB Zones in their brick and mortar stores;
  • Their Bot Framework for building small business bots; and
  • Bookings, a solution that enables customers to set-up, change, and cancel appointments.

In all this, there’s one area that really stands out: Microsoft Cloud. The software giant’s Cloud offerings have grown and matured over the past few years, giving small businesses a lot of reasons to love Microsoft Cloud.

Office365

Office365 is Microsoft Office in the Cloud. The full suite includes:

Applications:

  • Outlook
  • Word
  • Excel
  • PowerPoint
  • OneNote
  • Access (PC only)
  • Publisher (PC only)

Services:

  • Exchange
  • SharePoint
  • OneDrive for Business
  • Skype for Business
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Yammer

Why Small Businesses Love Office365

  1. You can use Office365 anywhere and anytime you have an internet connection.
  2. If you don’t have an internet connection, you can work offline and sync with the cloud when you do.
  3. You and your employees know Microsoft Office so Office365 will feel familiar and will be easy to pick up and use.
  4. The separate applications and services work seamlessly with each other, another fact that will help your small business get up and running quickly.
  5. 1 TB of storage per user gives you lots of space for your files.
  6. Built-in security plus compliance and privacy controls help keep your data safe.
  7. You’ll always have a 99.9% uptime financially backed guarantee.

Azure

Azure is Microsoft’s Cloud computing platform. Whether you need virtual machines, storage, backups, and more, Azure has your back.

Why Small Businesses Love Azure

  1. The platform supports many business needs including digital marketing, ecommerce, big data and analytics, and disaster recovery. You can create your applications or platforms by leveraging azure infrastructure.
  2. Azure is a flexible solution, enabling your small business to set up any number of hybrid configurations combining both on-premises and/or off-site.
  3. Azure can be integrated with your existing IT systems, enabling you to extend their lifetime.
  4. You’ll be able to reduce your total cost of ownership (TCO), enabling you to save big on your IT budget.
  5. You only pay for what you use which means there are no upfront costs or termination charges.
  6. 99%+ uptime for all Azure integrated services.

Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a suite of applications that give your small business the power of customer relationship management (CRM) combined with enterprise resource planning (ERP).

Microsoft began rolling out a version of its Dynamics 365 offering priced for small businesses called the Business Edition. Currently, the financial module is available. The company has big plans to add to it during 2017 and onward.

Why Small Businesses Love Dynamics

  1. Dynamics offers eight applications to help run your business including financials, operations, customer service, and sales.
  2. Integrate your customer’s experience from first contact through the sale.
  3. Gain actionable insights that your small business can use to stay ahead of its competition.
  4. Use predictive guidance to stay ahead of issues and go from being reactive to proactive.
  5. Automate processes, freeing up you and your employees to focus on high-value tasks.

Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS)

If you’re concerned about security in the Cloud, then Microsoft’s Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) will help put your mind at ease.

EMS enables you to gain identity, mobile management, and security features that will protect both your employees and your business.

Why Small Businesses Love EMS

  1. Integrates seamlessly with Office365, Azure, and Windows 10.
  2. You can manage iOS, Android, and Windows devices in one place.
  3. Like Azure, EMS can work with both cloud services and on-premises infrastructure.
  4. Employees can be given conditional access to specific data including restrictions based on devices.
  5. Security is part of the package. If employees require access, the authentication process is built in and simple to execute.

If you are interested to explore Microsoft cloud services, signup to receive 1:1 free cloud licensing and product consultation ($500 value) for your business.

Image: Microsoft

This article, “23 Reasons Small Businesses Love Microsoft Cloud” was first published on Small Business Trends