Office 365 - The Business case for the cloud

The Business case for the cloud

Consumer vs. enterprise

The concepts of consumer and enterprise are important to keep in mind because the cloud has different meanings for different audiences.

A consumer simply might want a convenient way to share files, while an enterprise might need to ensure security and audit trails in addition to the ability to share files. An enterprise might have a strong negative reaction if employees get distracted with non-work related advertising or, worse yet, advertising that might be deemed inappropriate to the mission of the organization.

Office 365

Of all the different types of cloud services, one that stands out very prominently and is clearly designed for the enterprise is the Microsoft cloud known as Office 365.

Now in its third release, Office 365 is the overarching brand name of the Microsoft’s flagship business products offered through the cloud:

·         Office 365 ProPlus      A full version of office

·         Exchange Online         For hosted messaging

·         SharePoint Online      For hosted file sharing and collaboration

·         Lync Online                  For hosted communications

Licensing Overview

There are four core technologies in Office 365; Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and Office ProPlus. As with many Microsoft licensing options, Office 365 provides multiple paths or adoption.

Just like the on-premises versions of the software, there is a standard edition as well as an enterprise edition for Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync. In the online world, these are known as Plan1 and Plan2. Online Plan1 is equivalent to an on-premise standard edition, while Online Plan2 is equivalent to an on-premises enterprise edition. Therefore, Office365 core technologies can be further defined by these plans:

·         Exchange Online

Plan 1, Plan 2

·         SharePoint Online

Plan 1, Plan 2

·         Lync Online

Plan 1, Plan 2

·         Office 365 ProPlus (no different plans)

Office 365 stand-alone purchases

The Plan 1 and Plan 2 categories represent the foundation of the flexible office 365 licensing model. You can purchase any core technology and its associated plan as a stand-alone component.

Office 365 suites

Some organizations might be interested in multiple technologies. For these organizations, Microsoft provides bundled options known as Office 365 suites. There are different types of suites designed for different types of organizations:

·         Enterprise suites

·         Government suites

·         Education suites

·         Kiosk plans

·         Office 365 Small Business

·         Office 365 Midsize Business

·         Office 365 Home Premium

Office 365 Terminology

There are several new terms that are used in Office 365. You will frequently hear these terms when Office 365 is discussed, so it is important to understand what they mean.

Tenant - An Office 365 subscription is often referred as tenant. The tenant refers to the licensing model, but might also refer to the deployed platform.

Tenant name – The tenant name sometimes referred to as the office 365 domain name, is the onmicrosoft.com name of your tenant.

Vanity domain name – Your true domain name is referred to as the Vanity domain name.

Waves – The wave term is Microsoft’s internal reference to releases of Office 365.

Wave 14 refers to Office 365 with 2010 versions of Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and Office 365 Professional Plus.

Wave 15 refers to Office 365 with 2013 versions.

Hybrid – Hybrid is frequently used in the context of the different Office 365 services. The term refers to  the implementation of on-premises Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync coexisting and working with the respective online deployments.

Government Community Cloud – Microsoft recently announced a special version of Office 365 called the Government Community Cloud(GCC). The GCC is specifically created for United States government entities. A subscription to the GCC is sometimes referred to as G-tenant.

The GCC was introduced to address very specific government regulatory requirements, such as the need for special auditing or for additional background checks and security clearances of Office 365 personnel. These requirements are unique to government entities and are not required for enterprise customers.

Business case for Office 365

Some of the more significant features for an Office 365 business case:

·         Subscription model

·         Economics of scale

·         Scalability

·         Redundancy

·         Core competency

Trust Center

Microsoft is very serious about security and privacy. Therefore, Microsoft created the Office 365 Trust Center to ensure transparent and efficient communication about the security and privacy of Microsoft cloud services.

The Office 365 Trust Center is the one-stop location for all updated privacy and security issues related to Office 365. The Trust Center has five pillars:

·         Privacy

·         Transparency

·         Security

·         Compliance

·         Service Continuity