The age of the digital office has arrived in full force:
- Half of employees are saying they are more productive in their work when they are using their own mobile devices. (Source)
- The BYOD market is predicted to reach nearly $367 billion by 2022 from $30 billion in 2014 — an increase of +1,200 per cent in eight years! (Source)
- There will be almost 30 billion connected devices by 2022, of which roughly 60 per cent will be related to IT. (Source)
- Over 80 per cent of employees see smartphones playing a critical role in their work. (Source)
No more is disruption a merely imminent threat — it’s a daily reality. Eighty-five per cent of organizations on the original Fortune 500 in 1955 are now dead and buried. Most of the remainder are working hard and working smart to keep their edge in the new digital economy. One thing they are doing (because they must do it) is to turn their offices into “whenever wherever” offices.
If, as one report has it, roughly 70 per cent of IT decision-makers favour bring-your-own-device (BYOD) as a positive addition to workplace policy for the time it save, the challenge is not if BYOD is a good thing but how organizations can help make employees more efficient without incurring any security (data) risk.
At baseline, employees must have access to email, a calendar, a word processor, and a spreadsheet program. However, with the emergence of the mobile office, the basic productivity toolkit has had to evolve — to meet the needs of an increasingly sophisticated and tech-savvy user.
Office 365 is a user-based subscription solution that gives organizations access to Microsoft Office applications and hosted solutions that are always up to date. Office 365 gives employees the flexibility they need to work from anywhere — and gives employers the assurance of a fully secure network.
It doesn’t matter what devices employees are on. They are fully free, and fully empowered, to work without regard to how, where, or when. They have access to literally all the tools they need to be productive:
- Cloud services – Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, or purchase cloud services “a la carte”
- Office applications – installed and running on desktop, online/offline
- OWA – Office Web Apps / Office Online
- OneDrive – Individual user cloud storage (1TB). Users can save their files locally to their hard drive or to their OneDrive for Business account (where documents can be shared with others or kept private).
- Skype for Business – Instant Messenger, Presence (Online, Offline, Busy, Away) and Video Conferencing (Voicemail/IP Phone capabilities possible).
The digital world, for all the tech and organization it brings, can tax the energies. There are thousands of different apps and programs for thousands of different business tasks, and it can all be a little difficult to navigate and translate everything into an actual decision. In such a world, time becomes the key consideration — with so many apps out there to help us work, organize our time, and manage our business, the challenge is to settle on a single solution that takes care of all facets.
Office 365, from its name on down to the features and functionalities it offers, is that one solution. It offers unparalleled scope and covers all bases — 360-degree coverage — as you attempt to turn your office into a truly whenever wherever place: a home base from which anyone, anywhere, using any device, can work productively and at peak efficiency.
Visit CDW to find out more about moving to Microsoft Office 365.
About CDW
From optimizing resources to minimizing costs and boosting productivity, CDW has the services companies needs to maximize their IT investment and ensure staff are working effectively to support their organization’s goals.
