In today’s business climate, often the speed at which IT departments can deliver solutions has a direct impact on deliverables for the overall business.  Cloud computing gives IT departments the flexibility to act with speed that was unheard of in the past for all except large organizations with lots of resources.

Despite the benefits of cloud computing, according to a recent report by Accenture many IT departments have spoken of security concerns, privacy concerns, and vendor lock-in concerns as reasons for not yet adopting cloud computing. At the same time, business executives did not see any of these items as significant hindrances to adoption.

The future is pretty solidly going towards Cloud Computing.  IT departments need to appreciate both the benefits and possible risks of this model.  To learn more about the benefits, please click here.

Microsoft BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) has taken the business world by storm.  It gives businesses the flexibility to collaborate and share in real time, from any location with an internet connection.  You’ve heard a lot about the cloud – Microsoft BPOS operates on the cloud.  It can enable businesses to stay competitive in their market space.

Some features:

• E-mail and calendar functions
• E-mail coexistence and migration tools
• Document collaboration and workspaces
• Web conferencing
• Instant Messaging

As you may imagine, there are competitors, including Google.  “Google Apps” is the collection of business offerings from, you guessed it, Google.  Most users will interact with it through a web  interface.  It allows ease of collaboration, just like Microsoft BPOS.

One striking difference is the amount of storage space allocated, out of the box.  Google Apps gives 25GB per user mailbox, right away, whereas BPOS only allocates 1GB-5GB.

Another big difference is that Microsoft BPOS runs as a hosted service. If the server on which your environment resides experiences troubles, you lose access to all services.

In today’s business climate businesses need any edge they can get.  Microsoft promises that Microsoft 365 will bring enhanced agility and communication to your business.  It is considered to be the next version of Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS) Suite which brought Microsoft Office functionality to the cloud.  Are they claims of increased agility true?  Let’s analyze Microsoft 365 to see if it might benefit your organization.

Microsoft Exchange Online

Microsoft Exchange Online is built upon the same technology as Exchange Server 2010.  It provides the critical tools your business requires, such as email, personal information management, calendaring, anti-virus protection, and much more.  It can be accessed using Microsoft Outlook, or a web browser, as well as Outlook Mobile on certain mobile devices.

Microsoft SharePoint Online

Microsoft SharePoint Online allows your employees to manage, share, and collaborate on documents using a variety of internal and external sites including My Sites, Team Sites, Intranet Sites, and Extranet Sites. It can also be used to create public-facing Web sites.  A key benefit is the ability to use this as a common repository of information for the workers in your organization.

Microsoft Lync Online

Lync Online provides communicative abilities including instant messaging, video conferencing and more.

Office Professional Plus

Office Professional Plus delivers Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and several other important applications for business.  The key advantage to note here, though, is that Professional Plus allows you very flexible purchasing plans.  One particular nice option is the ability to allow match the number of licenses to the number of users that will need them as you have the ability pay month-to-month.

Conclusion

Microsoft 365 brings the power you expect from Microsoft business applications such as Office, and also provides flexible purchasing options.  Have further questions about how Microsoft 365 can benefit your business?  Call us today for a free consultation.

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Today’s business climate is tough, and financial resources are at a premium.  It pays to be prudent and frugal in how you choose to allocate your resources.  One smart decision that many companies are deciding to make is to outsource non-core functions, like I.T. support to a so-called “Managed Services” company.  This has several benefits.  Among these benefits are getting a technological “edge” over your competition, potentially reduced costs, and easy access to expertise.

Enhanced Agility in Dealing with Technology Issues

NetworkElites will help you utilize the latest technologies to help you gain an edge over your competition.  One exciting, new product our clients are very happy about is Microsoft 365.  Microsoft 365 is a suite of cloud applications, from Microsoft, that allows businesses of all sizes to easily collaborate, and communicate from anywhere.  We are a certified Microsoft Partner, and have the expertise in installing, and supporting these products.

Costs Savings Arising From Your Technology

Not only can our services reduce overhead costs, we can also implement systems that result in direct, tangible cost savings.  For example, we have the expertise to implement virtualized, cloud solutions for your business.  We often find that our clients prefer Citrix.  This solution results in a reduction in the amount of hardware (typically servers), and a lowered need for the highest performance PCs, as the bulk of processing is carried over to the server.

Easy Access to Expertise in a Variety of Technological Fields

With the rapid changes occurring in technology, it can be difficult for in-house I.T. staff to stay up to date and to gain expertise in all the types of technology that may benefit your business.  This is another area where a Managed Services company can be very helpful.  With a large staff, we have expertise in a variety of key areas.  Some of our engineers are Network Engineers with several certifications.  Others are more geared towards hardware repair, others towards software and database development, and yet others in other areas that many businesses need.

Conclusion

Outsourcing your non-core business functions, in particular Information Technology to a Managed Services company can be a boon for your business.  A better ability to fix, and avoid technological problems, savings in costs, and access to greater technological expertise are but a few benefits.  In this extremely competitive business climate, it behooves companies to get the technological edge that Network Elites can provide.

Fall In Love With The Cloud and Microsoft 365
February is the month of love, and it might be time for you to be introduced to a new partner: Microsoft 365. Let’s examine some of the key benefits, and you can decide if you love for it is as intense as many peoples.

3 Reasons Your Workplace Should Get on the Cloud with Microsoft 365
Cloud computing is all the rage these days, and in the workplace, it is increasingly becoming a de-facto standard. The ability to access your key data, and documents, from anywhere, and collaborate with team members seamlessly and securely provides great benefits to businesses as they seek to become more streamlined and efficient. Microsoft 365, the latest Office product from Microsoft, helps businesses in these ways by letting you work “on the cloud”.

The Agility to Work Anywhere
With Microsoft 365 you can access your key data and documents anywhere that you have an internet connection. Data hosted “on the cloud” isn’t stored on your local machine. It is stored in a central repository, remote from your location. This means you will be able to, for example, access key Excel spreadsheets anywhere, anytime, even from your smart phone. Whenever you can access the internet, you can access your information.

Team Collaboration on Steroids
With the addition of Sharepoint, collaboration between team members becomes a breeze. You can easily keep team documents, lists, and calendars synced, in addition to staying up to date on key business updates, news and events. Real-time communication with colleagues can be enabled directly and easily. Instantly respond to challenges in a team-based environment with Microsoft 365.

Enterprise-Class, Robust Security
One benefit of the cloud is that it makes enterprise level security and reliability available to smaller businesses with tighter budgets. The simplicity of the cloud models simplifies IT management, allowing you to have more control over your data, and confidence that it is being kept safe.

Summary
In this era, businesses need every edge they can get to remain competitive. Microsoft 365 helps your business in this by allowing you to use enterprise level technology, even on a small budget.
Microsoft 365 promises to be a boon to business of all sizes, but especially small and midsized ones. With Microsoft 365 you can be “on the cloud”, with increased business agility, enhanced ability to collaborate, and peace of mind knowing your critical data is safe and secure.

Generally speaking, you only want to work with firms that offer contracts, unless you have only very small jobs for them to accomplish. Keep in mind, that often contracts have various “tiers”. Often emulating Olympic medals. Lower tiers may only include limited on-site support, with higher, more expensive tiers providing nearly unlimited access. Generally, the smaller your organization, the more simple your infrastructure; Thus, you can probably get away with a lower cost plan. However, for large companies, with critical operations, and complex infrastructure, the need may arise for on-site support, and lots of after hours support. In these cases a higher tiered plan would be appropriate. You can shoot me an email here if you have questions:

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It is possible for your business to profit even in an economic slump.  You can use this time to re-evaluate your company’s organizational structure and streamline your business operations.  Part of this should involve consideration of outsourcing your non-core work.  Finding a trusted, experienced professional organization to do this non-core work for you is critical.

What is Non-Core Work?

Things like managing your payroll, keeping your office space tidy with janitorial services, or managing your IT infrastructure are examples of “non-core” work.  These are things that must be done, but do not directly involve your company’s goals, missions, or primary focus.  They do not typically help you grow your business, they support your business growth.

Outsourcing Your IT Managed Services Makes Sense

In today’s economic client, it is a sound decision to off-load your non-core IT management to another company that specializes in such services.  Often this type of work can be done more efficiently by an outside organization, and more cheaply, than from an internal IT department.  Your internal IT department should focus on leveraging technologies that help you grow, and not spend time simply keeping you afloat.

In addition, having the expertise at-the-ready of a dedicated IT Management Provider enables you to keep an eye on the future.  You can lower costs by allowing research and development of new technology methodologies  be outsourced as well.

Conclusion
With recent shifts overseas of jobs, and Obama’s recent trip to India, sometimes the word definition of the word “outsourcing” gets muddled.  You can “outsource” in America too.  For our purposes it simply means offloading non-core work to an organization that is expert at handling such matters.  In economic times like these, the “outsource” option is something to consider – it doesn’t have to be a dirty word.

If you would like to learn more about our Dallas-Fort Worth based Managed Services, please contact us.