The SharePoint platform has been the choice of most of the business organizations as various versions of SharePoint are used as content management sites, document management storehouse and business reporting tool etc. With new versions being launched in the market from time to time, it is necessary to upgrade to the latest version to derive benefits from new and added functionality.

Benefits of Office 365 for Small Business Enterprises

Cloud computing will bring tremendous benefits as far as profitability, communication and freedom to work from anywhere, anytime are concerned.

Some advantages are furnished below:

• Access to documents in real-time, from your desktop or mobile device.
• Schedule video conferences, online meetings and get email alerts and access to calendars and shared files, even when you are on the move.
• Up-to-date files just a click away for fast business decisions.
• Office 365 takes care of IT while you concentrate on core business issues.
• Management of all services in admin centre. Guaranteed security too!

Most of the business enterprises will vouch for migrating their on-premise SharePoint environment to the clouds! Yes, to Office 365 service. However, such a migration to SharePoint Online requires meticulous planning. Diverse migration approaches exist depending on the type of data that is required to be migrated. Let us evaluate the three distinct phases for Office 365 deployment.

Planning Phase:

• Holding the deployment kickoff meeting for developing migration strategy.
• Building the risk and issue tracking system.
• Plan Active Directory preparation and options for user identity and account provisioning.
• Ascertain on-premises infrastructure server requirements.
• Categorise operating systems and client applications and mobile platform which will be used by your enterprise.
• Build the training agenda for end users and delivery mechanism.

Preparation Phase:

• Adding and verifying your domain name with Office 365.
• Preparing on-premises Active Directory for directory synchronization.
• Configuration of single sign-on.
• Configure email coexistence, Lync Online, SharePoint online.
• Configuration of exchange hybrid deployment.
• Organize client applications, Office 365 desktop setup and end user experience.

Migration Phase:

• Migrate Mailbox data, collaboration documents, calendars, and contacts, allot user licenses, configure mobile phones and devices for Office 365.
• Perform post-migration service validation testing.

The entire process has to be periodically reviewed and the key configurations must be followed for successful migration. Also, required hardware for on-premise components of Office 365, for instance, hardware for hybrid deployment, must be procured at the outset. An experienced Project Manager who has the requisite expertise and experience to work as a team is a pre-requisite for this multi-phased migration project.

With the completion of a successful migration, your business organization is ready for secured access to e-mails and calendars, video conferencing, streamlined collaboration and file sharing including instant messaging.

Look forward for a perfect synchronization between your computers and mobile devices with access to real-time data — thanks to cloud computing