Delivered via the cloud, Microsoft Office 365 offers a subscription based approach to software provision

• Microsoft Office 365 is an alternative way to leverage all the Microsoft products you're familiar with (including Exchange 2010, SharePoint 2010 and Lync), but delivered via the internet instead of via your own servers
• Securely access files, email, calendars, instant messaging, conferencing and more from virtually anywhere, on nearly any device
• Flexible pay-as-you-go monthly pricing model
• Because apps are all hosted by Microsoft, there’s no upfront investment in server hardware and no associated server running costs
• Updates and patches all happen automatically
• 99.9% uptime and enterprise-class security and reliability

Overview

Delivered via the cloud, Microsoft Office 365 offers a subscription based approach to meeting your software needs. It's an alternative way for your organisation to leverage all the Microsoft products you're familiar with (including Exchange 2010, Sharepoint 2010 and Lync), but delivered via the internet instead of via your own servers.

There's lots of advantages to Office 365's cloud based software provision, not least its flexible pay-as-you-go monthly pricing model. Because your apps are all hosted by Microsoft, no upfront investment in server hardware is required, which also means no IT administration resource to run your servers and no ongoing maintenance. What's more, there's no need to worry about updates and patches - they all happen automatically.

Count on 99.9% uptime with Microsoft Office 365

BT Business Direct can help you to implement your Office 365 solution so you can securely access your files, your email, your calendars, instant messaging, conferencing and all your favourite Microsoft office apps from virtually anywhere on nearly any device. And with more and more business being conducted remotely, having the right software available, at the right time, could give your business serious competitive edge.

Ideal for small businesses or those with limited internal IT functions, Microsoft Office 365 has the tools to help you run more efficiently and sell to a wider audience. It helps level the playing field by making you look like one of the 'big dogs', whilst personalised email domain names, shared storage space and web conferencing add credibility and help you better compete in the marketplace.

Benefits for organisations of all sizes

For larger organisations with established processes, moving to an Office 365 workspace doesn't necessarily mean disruption or a large learning curve for employees. For organisations already using programs like Microsoft Office, Outlook, SharePoint and others, moving to Office 365 should merely transition your users to a similar, but cloud-based experience. BT Business Direct can help you achieve this with the minimum disruption possible to day-to-day operations.

As well as subscription based pricing benefits, larger organisations can also benefit from enterprise-class security and reliability. For instance, numerous layers of security help protect Office 365's data centres, whilst stringent privacy policies help keep your data safe. Office 365 data centres provide first-rate disaster recovery capabilities, are fully redundant and are geographically dispersed to give protection against all kinds of unforeseen disasters, ensuring your data is always available. With Office 365, you can enjoy worry free, 99.9 percent uptime.

Key Microsoft 365 features and benefits:

• Increased efficiency:
  Respond to email, collaborate and work on documents from virtually anywhere
• Cost Reduction:
  The simple ''per user, per month'' pricing model allows you to pay only for exactly what your business needs at any point in time. Save money on running your own internal servers.
• Expanded international reach:
  You can use Lync Online to host virtual ''face-to-face'' meetings with others across the globe - they just need to download and install the Microsoft Lync 2010 Attendee Client