“The introduction of Office 365 to Nigeria has the potential to fuel business and economic transformation across the region by delivering cost-effective, flexible access to enterprise-class IT”, says Israel. “Office 356 brings the productivity backbone for, for modern businesses in Africa”.
Office 365 brings together Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft Lync Online in an always-up-to-date service, at a predictable monthly cost. The service was introduced in limited beta last year with enthusiastic response, particularly among small and midsize businesses. Over a few months, more than 10,000 organizations around the world, many of which were small and midsize businesses, signed up and began testing Office 365, creating one of Microsoft’s largest global beta programs for businesses.
Microsoft moving to the cloud with Office doesn’t require a business to change the way it works, because the service is based on familiar productivity tools people know and trust, including Microsoft Word, Excel, virtually any device or mobile phone, and businesses get the reliability, security and IT controls they need in the cloud, even without a dedicated IT staff.
“We thoroughly evaluated other cloud productivity offerings in the market before choosing Microsoft,” said Abiodun Atobatele, Managing Director and Chief Technology officer, ATB TechSoft Solutions. “Office 365 is the right choice to help our company support the way people work today and encourage a more mobile work environment. With the service, we have the added benefit of working together with familiar tools on almost any advice and can make quicker decisions when needed.”
Microsoft is building a massive partner ecosystem around office 365, which includes new ways of partnering with service providers such as telecommunications and hosting firms. Combined, the partners will integrate Office 365 with their existing services – from Web hosting and internet connections to finance solutions and mobile phone services. These partners will then be able to deliver integrated packages to their customers, creating a one-stop-stop for small and midsize businesses seeking businesses seeking business services.
About Office 365
With Office 365 for small businesses, professionals and small businesses can be up and running with Office Web Apps, Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Lync Online and an external website in just 15minutes, for $6 USD per user, per month. These tools put email, voicemail, enterprise social networking, instant messaging, Web portals, extranets, video conferencing, web conferencing and more at everyone’s fingertips.
Office 365 for enterprises for enterprises has an array of choices for midsize and large business, as well as government organizations, starting for as little as $4 USD per user, per month for basic email. Office 365 for enterprises also includes Microsoft office Professional Plus desktop software on a pay-as-you-go basis, for the first time ever, for $20 USD per user, per month.
