What Does BPOS Mean to Me?
Microsoft Exchange has long been the leading email
and personal information management platform for
businesses. Similarly Microsoft SharePoint has
been the leader in information management and
collaboration. The power and business advantages
offered by these platforms easily justifies the expense of
installing and maintaining the hardware, software, and internal
operations required by them for the major corporations that now
depend upon them. But small to midmarket
businesses are challenged by the investment.
Microsoft introduced BPOS, Business Productivity Online Services, to respond to that challenge. By delivering online versions of Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Office Communication Server, and Windows Live Meeting via the internet Microsoft effectively removed the need for companies to purchase server hardware or software. Now any company can obtain these powerful platforms by simply subscribing to them for a low monthly fee per user.
Obstacles Removed
The primary advantage of BPOS is that it removes all the obstacles that formerly held companies back from enjoying the strategic advantages delivered by this software suite. No capital investment decisions are necessary, no additional staff needs to be hired, and IT becomes an easily budgetable operating expense. Because Microsoft takes full advantage of economies of scale, not only are the upfront costs eliminated, the total cost over time is also reduced.
Powerful Capabilities
Microsoft Exchange offers far more than just email. Shared calendars allow team members to easily schedule meetings for and with each other. Shared contacts enable anyone with permission to obtain needed information directly. Task management, note-keeping, and a host of special features dramatically improve communications and operations in most any company that migrates onto Exchange.
Similarly, the simplest use of Microsoft SharePoint enables users to store and retrieve documents using familiar library structures like lists instead of "drive mappings" that confuse most users. Documents are checked out and back in to assure that only one person can be editing them at a time, and full version control makes it easy to backtrack and revise. With extensive search and programmatic functions SharePoint is easily extended to a wide variety of applications.
Microsoft Office Communications Server was developed to integrate all forms of interpersonal communication, from seeing who's currently on the network (presence) to instant messaging, to computer to computer audio and video calling all at the click of a mouse.
Windows Live Meeting brings two or three to hundreds of people from anywhere on the internet together to conference, see each other via video, and share applications and information.
Office 365 - What's Next?
Scheduled to enhance BPOS in 2011 is Microsoft Office 365. More than just a name change, Office 365 adds Microsoft Lync Online which combines the functionality of Office Communication Server and Windows Live Meeting into one powerful platform with greater integrated functionality, including integration directly into Microsoft Office Professional Plus which is now part of the online suite.
The importance of this new addition cannot be overstated. Microsoft Office is, by far, the most popular suite of productivity tools on the market. Now users can enjoy Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and more from virtually any device. Office Web Apps extends this ability to allow users to review and make light edits to documents from any browser.
Compliant & Secure
One of the most important things to remember is that Microsoft has taken every precaution to assure that user data is completely secure on BPOS or Office 365. They back that assurance with significant Service level agreements.
What Does BPOS Mean to Me?
To answer the question we started with, BPOS and soon Office 365 bring any company new flexibility in where their people work, how they work, how they collaborate and share information resources. It does so with no initial or subsequent capital investments and reduced operating expense. To learn more about how to put the power of Microsoft's best products to work for your company today contact CloudStrategies.net.