14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is providing enterprise customers with the necessary guidance to deploy Office 365, free of charge. The “Office 365 Deployment Guide for Enterprises” whitepaper is up for grabs from the software giant’s Download Center, released just a week after Microsoft’s Cloud productivity suite went live globally on over 40 markets.
While Office 365 is not a Cloud-based replacement to the Office desktop productivity suite, customers that leverage the new offering can also get Office 2010 Professional Plus as a part of their subscription deal.
“Microsoft Office 365 brings together cloud versions of our most trusted communications and collaboration products with the latest version of our Microsoft Office Professional Plus desktop suite. The Office 365 for enterprises solution includes the following cloud-based services: Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Lync Online, and Microsoft Office Professional Plus,” the software giant said.
Essentially, Microsoft is marketing Office 365 as the successor of the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS), namely a new, more mature generation of cloud-based business productivity offerings offered from Microsoft Online Services.
The most expensive Office 365 offering from Microsoft costs $27 per user/month, but enterprise customers can negotiate a better deal with the software giant.
At the same time, the Redmond company stressed that Office 365 is a great opportunity for small businesses and professionals to get access to affordable enterprise-grade services.
Office 365 for professionals and small businesses (Plan P) costs just $6 per user per month and was designed with companies that need anything from one account to a few tens of users.
Microsoft has even put together the Office Show in an effort to show small businesses and IT pros the benefits that Office 365 can offer them.
“This Office Show answers those questions with a special two-part episode, wherein our heroines Laura and Tina start a business from scratch with Office 365. Like many of you, they're strapped for resources and face some nasty competition. Office 365 is their key to surviving. We review calendaring and email in Outlook and some cool ways to save time and work together in OneNote,” the company added.