Microsoft Office 365
The Microsoft Office 365 suite is a hosted, online version of the traditional installed version of Microsoft Office software. This online service is subscription-based and includes Office, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Skype for Business (Lync) Online and Microsoft Office Web Apps.
The advantage of the Microsoft Office 365 suite is that the cloud service is provided by Microsoft and thus eliminates a company’s IT maintenance tasks, such as patching, and infrastructure support costs. For end users, the advantage is the ability to access Office 365 offerings using any device, anywhere with an Internet connection.
Logging in to the Office 365 portal, users have access to Office applications including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel, Yammer, Skype for Business (Lync) and OneDrive for Business.
Office 365 provides state of the art features for staff, faculty and students to improve productivity and academic success.
- Economy - Moving data to the Cloud reduces operational costs for managing mail servers, which frees up out limited resources in ITS to focus on more campus and departmentally-specific projects.
- Efficiency - Office 365 will serve as a hub of productivity, offering a full-fledged office suite, online collaboration tools, and security to help students and faculty be more collaborative and have a more meaningful experience. With features such as real-time communication and extensive file-sharing capability, students, staff and faculty will have a new, fluid experience with technology.
- Security - As hackers agressively pursue private data, the need for enhanced security features grows exponentially. Moving to a Cloud-based solution provides the full power and security protections of Microsoft engineers to protect intellectual property from these threats, as well as providing meaningful changes to the way students, faculty and staff work in an online environment.