A lot of misconceptions have been raised about Office 365 (O365), the cloud tool from Microsoft that seems to be revolutionizing the business world.
Office 365 is a subscription plan of cloud computing services offering productivity software tools and applications for businesses.
According to the Managing Director of Epinec Nigeria Limited, Obi Ibeto, Office 365 has a lot to offer businesses but there has been widely held but false belief about the cloud computing plan.
“As a Microsoft Partner, we are used to answering common questions about O365 and we have realised that a lot of things said about it are just fabricated stories which are not true facts.”
He pointed out that there is a common misconception that the office 365 is just office apps in the cloud because of the shared word ‘office’. However, he clarified that the cornerstone of O365 is Exchange (online hosted email for business), saying that the plans also include desktop versions of the latest office apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.
“O365 offers some productivity tools such as hosted email and calendar, the Office Pro suite downloaded directly to your desktop, online versions of Office apps so that you can work from anywhere, IM, presence sharing and video conferencing for total collaboration, 1 TB of file storage and sharing per user and much more”, he said.
There is also a widely held myth that Office 365 cannot be used without internet access because of the fact that as a cloud-based solution, many apps (i.e., OneDrive, Lync, and SharePoint) need the internet to fully function.
However, Ibeto corrected this belief saying that “if you choose a plan with the Office Pro Suite, your Office apps, like Word and PowerPoint, are downloaded directly to your desktop, allowing you to use them without internet connection. It allows you to open, edit, and save an Excel documents offline.
It is tempting to think that physically seeing all your data in your possession is safe. People believe that information is not safe on cloud. However, Ibeto has revealed that data on premise and on your hardware does not ensure safety.
According to him, “Microsoft has built five layers of security in Office 365 that constantly monitor for potential threats and recognize malicious attacks. Data can be encrypted while being stored and while being shared, and Office 365 complies with industry standards like HIPAA, PCI, and many others .Office 365 also simplifies backup and disaster recovery planning by hosting your data in geo-synchronous data centres so if your building suffers a disaster, Office 365 data is fully protected”.
Although some people fear that Microsoft will have access to their private data, Ibeto revealed that “Microsoft does not scan data or customer documents within Office 365. You own and control all data you store in the service. Microsoft contractually commits to a data processing agreement (DPA) so that your specific privacy needs are met”.
