Microsoft continues to lure businesses over to its cloud-based productivity suite. At a press conference recently, Microsoft Philippines announced three key enhancements to Office 365 E5, the company’s premium productivity suite for enterprises.
Cian O’Neill, Chief Operating & Chief Marketing Officer for Microsoft Philippines
“People can no longer live without cloud access,” says Cian O’Neill, Chief Operating & Chief Marketing Officer for Microsoft Philippines. “The workforce is becoming more mobile, thus, they need constant access to their files. That’s where the cloud plays a huge role.”
Since Office 365 is powered by a cloud infrastructure, users are able to connect to on-premise data sources anytime, anywhere, says O’Neill.
The three features, designed to support the new workplace and digital transformation initiatives of enterprises, are security, analytics, and real-time communication. These features are now merged into a single suite, making it unique from previous Office 365 Suites.
“Office 365 E5 is technically an Office 365 plan that has features that address the analytics, security, and voice communications concerns of enterprises,” says Christian Lim, Office Marketing Business Group Head, Microsoft Philippines.
Collaboration
Yvette Watson, Technology Solutions Professional of Microsoft Philippines, says that for real-time communications, the Office 365 E5 supports Cloud PBX, PSTN Conferencing, Skype Meeting Broadcast and PSTN Calling.
These voice features basically lets users set up and manage online meetings and promote creative discussions. Users also can now join meetings wherever they are, whatever device they prefer – be it a PC, a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone.
Users make outgoing calls to landline numbers and manage incoming calls, among others. “The Office 365 E5 gives enterprises the opportunity to experience a PBX system which are traditionally expensive,” says Watson.
Analytics
Most enterprise employees use information produced with Excel spreadsheets to make decisions. However, with the amount of data generated by companies today, it’s not easy to make decisions.
Microsoft says that with Office 365 E5’s added features on analytics, managing and analyzing large amounts of data is made simpler. Live dashboards and interactive reports also enables users to visualize data with better speed, efficiency and understating.
Specifically, the new analytics features of Office 365 E5 include End-User Analytics with Power BI and Organizational Analytics with Delve Organizational Analytics.
Security
Data and processes are almost always happening in the cloud,
making security a critical factor. By providing more advanced security capabilities, Microsoft may be able to convince security-conscious businesses to buy into Office 365.
The new security features of Office 365 E5 gives companies the capabilities to detect security threats, provide granular controls and let IT administrators track if people in their organization are using unauthorized services.
Specifically, the advance security features include Predictive eDiscovery, Secure Attachments and Safe URLs with Advanced Threat Protection, and Access Control with Customer Lockbox.
