When you’re running a small business, every expense matters. Business owners are often balancing the need to stay up to date technologically, with their cost outlays for things like IT security and cloud solutions.

A survey of small business owners found that almost two-thirds were losing sleep due to their company’s lack of productivity. And the answer? Technology.

70% of UK employees say there is a direct correlation between the technology tools they’re given and their level of productivity.

So, the challenge is providing the type of technology tools that will drive growth and productivity, while also doing so in a cost-efficient way that makes sense for a company’s bottom line.

Finding platforms that combine several business process functions into a single cloud service subscription, is the best way to offer your employees the tools they need without breaking the bank.

One of the best cloud platform values for small businesses throughout the Thames Valley, and the rest of the world, is Microsoft 365.

Streamlining, Performance & Security

One problem that many small businesses end up with is “cloud solution creep.” They start adding on one service, then another, and another, and before you know it, they have several different cloud subscriptions added to their budget, with potential redundancies between platforms.

Microsoft 365 is a complete cloud package that includes several features that small businesses need for their daily operations. But rather than having to purchase (and train employees on) several different cloud services, Companies using Microsoft 365 use a single service that packs in a lot of features.

Here are several important benefits of subscribing to Microsoft 365.

Lower Costs with Bundled Applications

Why buy 4-5 different types of software tools, when you can have one subscription that includes them all?

With Microsoft 365, businesses get:

• Windows 10
• Office 365
• Device Management
• Security

This powerful package of technology tools includes everything you need for productivity, team collaboration, managing mobile devices at work, and the security of your data, application, and devices.

Because of the bundling of applications, businesses can save money from streamlining and reduce administration time and costs.

The Help You Need for Mobile Device Management

The United Kingdom has the highest smartphone penetration globally. 82.9% of the population own a smartphone and devices are used widely within companies.

Many businesses issue company devices to users specifically for the purpose of accessing business apps and data, while others use a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy.

The use of mobile devices to access work information continues on an upward climb due to the cost-savings and increase in productivity from the flexibility that mobile devices allow for employees.

But, managing multiple corporate-owned mobile devices is fraught with risk. It can also be an administrative nightmare, unless you have the right tool in place.

Intune makes it easy to both keep track of company issued mobile devices and offer a BYOD policy without worrying about security. Intune is a full end-point device manager and can additionally be used to manage company workstations and laptops.

The Intune app gives you control over corporate devices that may be distributed throughout the company among many employees. For small businesses, it offers a way to securely encourage mobile device use at work to promote productivity.

Features include:

• Ability to remotely deploy security updates and new applications
• Remotely lock or wipe a lost or stolen device
• Add or revoke user access instantly
• Track access to your data by device
• Deploy universal security policies throughout all devices

The #1 Cloud Productivity Suite + Collaborative Tools

Office 365 is the most popular cloud software by user count and is an excellent value all by itself for small businesses. Beyond the use of reliable standards like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, companies can take advantage of a full range of leading-edge collaboration tools.

Office 365 is a huge jump up from the single-user Office software that sits on a single hard drive. It allows small businesses to collaborate on documents in real time, conduct video meetings, and access their Office documents and email from anywhere on any device.

Some of the cloud-based collaboration features include:

• Invite everyone you work with to chat, meet, call, and collaborate all in one place with Microsoft Teams
• OneDrive cloud storage and file sharing platform
• SharePoint, share and manage content, knowledge, and applications

The Security a Small Business Network Needs

The online threat landscape only gets more dangerous every year, with multiple new forms of malware and attack types being developed all the time. The enhanced security features in Microsoft 365 give you the powerful business data protection you need, without the high price tag of a stand-alone advanced threat platform.

Some of the enterprise security features that are included are:

• Ability to protect against zero-day threats, ransomware and sophisticated malware attacks through Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection
• Application protection features that allow you to restrict copying or saving of company information
• Document rights management like “Do Not Copy” and “Do Not Forward”
• Pre-breach threat resistance with Windows Defender Exploit Guard
• Prevent file loss by enabling unlimited cloud archive and long-term preservation policies

Simplify Your Office Processes Today with Microsoft 365

NMX IT Solutions can assist you with streamlining your cloud services, while gaining more value and security.

Contact us today to schedule your free Microsoft 365 consultation! Call 01628 232300 or reach out online.