As a Sr. Systems Analyst, a big part of my job has been to recommend business tools to national and international enterprises as well as government organizations. This article provides technology recommendations to help entrepreneurs, home businesses and small businesses gain a competitive edge to perform like a big business.
There are three key areas that big businesses care about: saving moving (through efficiency), delivering quality customer service, and adopting business tools that bring the best value. Over the past couple of years big organizations like Home Depot, ABM Industries, Lockheed Martin, Turner Broadcasting, Dell, Northrop Grumman, SAIC, Sun Trust Banks, Ernst & Young, Sogeti USA, Hewlett Packard, General Dynamics, Federal Aviation Agency, the Department of Defense, and many others have paid well over $1,000,000.00 to implement Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Online, which is part of Office 365. And, there is a product package available for entrepreneurs, home businesses and small businesses. The cheapest package is $5.00-a-month. The most expensive package is $15.00-a-month.
And, one of the most interesting aspects is this price includes access to Microsoft's support and system administration team. Yes, you read right! If you run into a problem, you contact Microsoft and one of their support persons will help you troubleshoot the issue. The following paragraphs provide additional information about Microsoft's Office 365, which includes access to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and other office applications hosted in the Cloud.
Probably the most valued capability is the ability to easily create websites that meet a specific business objective. For example, entrepreneurs or small businesses that want to effectively manage customer problems can easily build a website customers can log into to submit a complaint. The organization can assign statuses to the complaint so the customer can monitor the organization's progress towards resolving the stated problem. As the solution is implemented the status is changed to keep the customer informed through notifications.
Or, entrepreneurs or small businesses may want to keep customers informed. Whenever a website is created SharePoint, which is a content management system, automatically creates a mobile version of the site. And, with two clicks content is syndicated and made available as an RSS feed to which users can subscribe.
Create a virtual meeting room website to host virtual meetings. Add Microsoft Office Lync Online to gain instant messaging (IM), the ability to make phone calls through your computer (with the appropriate hardware). And, moderate or join audio, video and web meetings with people you invite. You can give an online presentation by sharing your desktop.
Or, if working with a customer to finalize a proposal give the upload the document to the meeting room so the customer can access the document and make changes. SharePoint can notify you when the customer has completed his or her revisions.
Speaking of sharing documents users can upload, organize and manage Microsoft Office documents using SharePoint's shared documents feature. Access those documents from any location using your laptop or hand-held device such as a mobile phone or tablet.
Manage your calendar and messages.
You can also manage photographs by uploading them to SharePoint online, which means they can be accessed from anywhere.
You can learn more about Office 365; or even test drive it by visiting: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/business/office-365-small-business-small-business-software-FX103887194.aspx
There are three key areas that big businesses care about: saving moving (through efficiency), delivering quality customer service, and adopting business tools that bring the best value. Over the past couple of years big organizations like Home Depot, ABM Industries, Lockheed Martin, Turner Broadcasting, Dell, Northrop Grumman, SAIC, Sun Trust Banks, Ernst & Young, Sogeti USA, Hewlett Packard, General Dynamics, Federal Aviation Agency, the Department of Defense, and many others have paid well over $1,000,000.00 to implement Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Online, which is part of Office 365. And, there is a product package available for entrepreneurs, home businesses and small businesses. The cheapest package is $5.00-a-month. The most expensive package is $15.00-a-month.
And, one of the most interesting aspects is this price includes access to Microsoft's support and system administration team. Yes, you read right! If you run into a problem, you contact Microsoft and one of their support persons will help you troubleshoot the issue. The following paragraphs provide additional information about Microsoft's Office 365, which includes access to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and other office applications hosted in the Cloud.
Intranets & Extranets
Probably the most valued capability is the ability to easily create websites that meet a specific business objective. For example, entrepreneurs or small businesses that want to effectively manage customer problems can easily build a website customers can log into to submit a complaint. The organization can assign statuses to the complaint so the customer can monitor the organization's progress towards resolving the stated problem. As the solution is implemented the status is changed to keep the customer informed through notifications.
Or, entrepreneurs or small businesses may want to keep customers informed. Whenever a website is created SharePoint, which is a content management system, automatically creates a mobile version of the site. And, with two clicks content is syndicated and made available as an RSS feed to which users can subscribe.
Create a virtual meeting room website to host virtual meetings. Add Microsoft Office Lync Online to gain instant messaging (IM), the ability to make phone calls through your computer (with the appropriate hardware). And, moderate or join audio, video and web meetings with people you invite. You can give an online presentation by sharing your desktop.
Or, if working with a customer to finalize a proposal give the upload the document to the meeting room so the customer can access the document and make changes. SharePoint can notify you when the customer has completed his or her revisions.
Speaking of sharing documents users can upload, organize and manage Microsoft Office documents using SharePoint's shared documents feature. Access those documents from any location using your laptop or hand-held device such as a mobile phone or tablet.
Manage your calendar and messages.
You can also manage photographs by uploading them to SharePoint online, which means they can be accessed from anywhere.
