Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365)

Main article: SaaS - History. Philosophy. Development drivers

Microsoft Office 365 is a cloud service that provides subscription users with a set of classic Microsoft Office tools for working with documents. The ability to purchase a subscription service allows you to quickly deploy it in your own IT infrastructure without the need for additional administration and configuration, get the latest and most secure version of the software, and flexibly manage terms of use and tariff plans. One subscription includes 5 devices on Windows, Android, iOS or Mac platforms .

In addition, the purchase of Office 365 for business service with monthly payment (CSP channel) allows companies to save on hardware and use the latest version of the package as a service from the cloud. Thus, the IT service is moving into the category of operating expenses of the company, which greatly simplifies the accounting of capital investments. At the same time, Office 365 subscription includes access to Russian-language service support 24/7.

Business Opportunities

Microsoft Office 365 for Business allows organizations, even without their own IT administrator, to quickly integrate all the cloud services they need into their infrastructure and configure full-fledged workspaces for network users. Office 365 allows you to configure license access on cross-platform devices, allowing you to easily implement the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) concept in your company.

Office 365 for Business subscriptions include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and the Outlook email service to create, edit, and upload files in mobility. Each user receives 1 TB of memory in the OneDrive cloud to store work documents.

In addition, Office 365 subscriptions provide security settings that meet Microsoft standards, as well as the latest version of current services. Information security and data breach protection are critical for business: according to IDC research, the ratio between the level of distribution of unlicensed software and cases of malware infection in the country is 0.79 (in ideal conditions - one).

Package composition

Depending on the tariff plan, Office 365 is available (data for August 2017):

• Word - text editor,
• Excel - working with tables,
• PowerPoint - working with presentations,
• Skype for Business - communication platform,
• Exchange is an email-based document exchange platform,
• SharePoint for creating enterprise portals,
• Yammer is a business collaboration application,
• Office Delve search application,
• Sway app for creating interactive content from mobile devices and others.
• Workplace Analytics.

There are Office 365 tariff plans for personal use, for home, school, for business, including separate versions of the service for SMB and large companies.

Payment for the service is charged according to the monthly subscription model.

Competition with Google Apps

Main article: Office 365 Confrontation - Google Apps

The article provides materials on comparing services and facts about the confrontation between the two main competitors in the market ON for working with documents.

2024: Shutdown begins in Russia

On September 4, 2024, Microsoft began shutting down some cloud services in Russia. Due to the formed geopolitical situation and sanctions, access of users from the Russian Federation to Office 365, Microsoft 365 and Teams space is limited.

According to the Softline group of companies, the blocking is carried out in accordance with the new rules of the US Treasury, adopted in June 2024. American companies without obtaining a license from the US Department of Commerce are prohibited from providing IT consulting and design services, cloud services, etc.

Microsoft

We began to receive information about the beginning of the shutdown of cloud services. A number of our clients in the administration console have changed their subscription status to disabled. Restrictions affected Microsoft 365, Office 365, EMS (Enterprise Mobility + Security). Teams is not available to users, Softline Group of Companies said in a statement.

It is reported that the introduction of new restrictions prohibits Microsoft from providing Russian users with some products and services, as well as certain Azure services. The following services are subject to restrictions:

· Azure Data Explorer;

· Azure Databricks;

· Azure Managed Grafana;

· Azure Operator Insights;

· Azure Quantum;

· Azure Synapse Analytics;

· Microsoft Fabric;

· Power BI Embedded.

As noted by Softline Group of Companies, Microsoft prohibits the further use of these resources in Russia. Customers will not be able to make changes or updates to the specified resource list, and their further application may lead to the termination of the tenant. To preserve data and maintain business, it is recommended to make backups of information, as well as transfer loads to alternative domestic platforms.^[1]

2023: Microsoft acknowledges global infrastructure failure

The reason for the global failure of the Microsoft 365 infrastructure and a number of cloud services Azure was a change in the IP address of the WAN router. The corporation Microsoft announced this in an official notice at the end of January 2023.

Problems in the operation of Microsoft 365 office applications, a number of systems of the Azure cloud platform, as well as Power Platform business services began to be observed on January 25, 2023. Users complained of large delays and waiting times. In most of the affected regions, failures were quickly eliminated, but in some zones they continued to recur periodically. In addition, Azure cloud services for government organizations were disrupted.

As reported, the source of the problems was one of the Wide Area Network (WAN) routers, on which the planned IP address change was performed. The command sent to the device forced it to send messages to all other routers on the WAN, causing them all to recalculate their tables. During such a recalculation, routers could not correctly forward packets passing through them, which turned into large delays.

The command that caused the problem causes a different response on different network devices. It was not well tested using our full qualification process on the router before execution, Microsoft said in a notice.

Due to the failure that occurred, the automated WAN health maintenance services were suspended. This affected, in particular, the system for identifying and excluding inoperable devices from the network, as well as the traffic management system. The pause caused an increase in packet loss - until these systems were manually restarted.^[2]

2022

German schools ban Microsoft Office 365

On November 30, 2022, it became known that the Federal Protection Authorities data Germany banned the use of the 365 cloud application package Microsoft Office. schools in the country Read more. here

France's school use ban

On November 22, 2022, it became known that France had banned the use of free Microsoft and Google office products in schools. This was announced by the Minister of National Education and Youth Affairs Pap Ndiaye.

We are talking about cloud solutions Microsoft Office 365 and. In Google Workspace for Education August 2022, Philippe Latombe, a member of the National Assembly, France told the Minister of National Education that the free version of Microsoft's office applications was a form of illegal dumping, despite its appeal. Subsequently, the country's authorities confirmed that French contracts for public procurement require payment. In other words, offers of free services are, in principle, excluded from the sphere of public procurement.

The use of packages like Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace for Education raises questions among French regulators regarding the security and protection of personal data of citizens. The authorities believe that the cloud services of Microsoft and Google, which store information on servers in the United States, do not comply with European standards, such as GDPR (General Regulation for the Protection of Personal Data).

Back on September 15, 2021, Nadi Bou Hanna, head of France's inter-ministerial digital department, DINUM, said that government agencies considering replacing office applications with cloud services should not use Office 365, since this product does not meet the requirements adopted in the country. Paid versions of Microsoft and Google cloud services may be considered as one of the options if they have not yet been banned due to concerns about security and user privacy.^[3]

Error that allows access to message content

On October 19, 2022, it became known that researchers from the information security company WithSecure discovered an error in the message encryption mechanism in Microsoft Office 365, which could allow access to the contents of the message.

As reported, experts noted that the encryption of Office 365 messages (Office 365 Message Encryption, OME) is based on the Electronic Code Book (ECB) operating mode, which is considered unsafe and can disclose the structure of messages sent, which can lead to partial or complete disclosure of the message.

The OME method is used to send and receive encrypted email messages, and the vulnerability could allow attackers to decrypt the contents of encrypted email messages.

Because encrypted messages are sent as regular email attachments, experts explained, they can to be stored in a variety of mail systems and can be intercepted by either side between sender and recipient. Cybercriminal from a large database message can infer their content (or parts thereof) by analyzing the relative location of the repeating parts of the intercepted messages.

Experts have demonstrated how to exploit the vulnerability by extracting an image from email protected by Office 365 message encryption. Although the message was encrypted with AES encryption, the use of ECB mode revealed the contents of the message.

According to WithSecure, an attack can be performed offline for any encrypted messages. This means that exploiting the problem could allow attackers to decrypt messages that have already been sent.

WithSecure reported its findings to Microsoft, but the corporation replied that the problem is not considered a hack. According to Microsoft, the error is not related to security and is not considered a violation. No code changes were made, so no CVE was released for the vulnerability.

WithSecure experts concluded that the end user does not have the ability to provide a safer mode of operation. Since Microsoft has no plans to fix this vulnerability, the only solution is to avoid using Microsoft Office 365 message encryption.

In addition, organizations using OME should avoid using it as the only method of email privacy until Microsoft releases^[4].

Plan to disable support for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2008 R2

On July 12, 2022, it became known that Microsoft had found a way to force users to switch to its modern versions of Windows as soon as possible. To do this, it uses Microsoft 365 - the cloud analogue of the classic Office.

As explained, in order for users to quickly switch to Windows 11 or at least Windows 10, Microsoft will very soon stop supporting earlier systems in Microsoft 365. In this case, we are talking primarily about an expanded support program, in which users received the necessary security updates for cloud service applications.

All this applies to users who prefer to work in operating systems Windows 7, Windows 8.1. The first was released in 2009, and Microsoft stopped supporting it in January 2020. Windows 8.1 appeared in 2013. The innovation will also affect those who work for Windows Server 2008 R2. Windows 8.1 will stop receiving updates on January 10, 2023. The release of updates for Microsoft 365 applications will stop on the same day.

How the process of "excommunicating" users from old Windows will go is the Russian unknown. Microsoft left Russia back in March 2022, after which it returned, but not for long. In June 2022, she promised to partially or completely destroy her Russian representative office.

Microsoft will not leave users of 365 service any loopholes for its use under old operating systems. As a result, the only "workaround" will be to abandon outdated operating systems in favor of more modern Windows 10 and Windows 11, if we are talking about user PCs. Microsoft has implemented the ability to migrate to these operating systems without reinstalling the system, but sometimes this leads to the loss of all user files.

By pushing users of the 365 service to master its OS, Microsoft presents this under the guise of concern for their safety and productivity.

The corporation's website says that using Microsoft 365 applications on older, unsupported versions of operating systems can cause performance and reliability problems over time.

First of all, the changes concern Microsoft corporate clients. Ordinary users often prefer offline versions of Office, the performance of which is almost independent of the version of Windows used. The only exceptions are Office 2019 and 2021, the list of system requirements indicates the presence of Windows 10 or Windows 11. Office 2016, in turn, officially supports Windows 7.

The transition to an updated version of the OS is often combined with the need to update the hardware, since the system requirements of modern operating systems are higher in comparison with their predecessors. This is especially noticeable when switching to Windows 11 - the requirements of this OS for the hardware of the PC were recognized as overestimated immediately after its premiere in June 2021.

For organizations, updating the PC fleet can result in large costs, especially taking into account the shortage of semiconductors and the geopolitical situation, which together lead to an increase in prices for equipment. The lifeline can be the transition to Windows 10, the system requirements of which are much more loyal than those of Windows 11. But its support expires in October 2025, and it is possible that in the end it will repeat the fate of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 in terms of support in Microsoft 365.

Windows 7 in 2022 is still one of the most popular versions of Windows in the world. According to StatCounter for June 2022, in this regard, it is second only to Windows 10 with its share of 11.52% versus 73.46%. Windows 11 is in third place with 10.96%. Windows 8.1 has only 2.83% of the global market left, but it is still the fourth place in the ranking.

In Russia, dependence on old operating systems is even higher. The share of Windows 7 in June 2022 was 21.62%, Windows 8.1 - 4.51%. For Windows 10 and Windows 11, this figure was at 65.37% and 5.16%, respectively^[5].

Discover a vulnerability that can encrypt files in OneDrive and SharePoint

Experts from Proofpoint discovered a vulnerability Microsoft in 365 that allows attackers to cipher to be placed in, cloud files after which it will be impossible to recover them without a special solution for or backup decryptor key. This became known in June 2022.

According to cybersecurity researchers at Proofpoint, if an attacker gains access to the victim's cloud, then he has two options:

• Limit the number of auto-saves to one;
• Use the autosave function 500 times, reaching the limit.

It is unlikely that an attacker will encrypt more than 500 files. Such an operation requires a lot of work on scripts and a lot of resources, while computer significantly increasing the risk of detection.

However, whatever option is chosen by the attacker, the collaboration platform will stop making saves. If the hacker encrypts the files while the saves are not working, then the victim has only two options: to use backups physically isolated from the infrastructure or pay the attacker for the decryptor key.

After the results of the study were released, Microsoft did not agree with Proofpoint. According to the tech giant, everything works correctly, and even if something similar happens, the support service will be able to restore files that are stored in the cloud no longer than 14 days. Proofpoint, on the other hand, claims that experts have tried this method and it does not work^[6].

Power Automate Vulnerability Detection in Microsoft 365

A team of Varonis Systems analysts has discovered a way to abuse the Power Automate cloud service in Microsoft 365 - hackers can use it for cyber attacks. Power Automate enables attackers to automatically extract data, communicate with C2 servers, and evade detection tools.

By default, Power Automate, enabled in Microsoft 365, allows users to automate business tasks and workflows between different applications and services. With it, you can create "threads" (automated behavior between applications) for Outlook, SharePoint and OneDrive - for sharing and sending files, sending e-mail, and more. To create a "thread" and configure a scenario of behavior between applications, the user must create a connection between two applications to transfer data between them. For example, when you receive an email, you send a message to Teams and create an entry in the SharePoint list.

Varonis analysts have discovered two methods that could be used for cyber attacks. The first provides direct access to the endpoint of the user "stream" to request existing connections, and the second provides for the fraudulent download of the fake Azure application.

The first method is more difficult to implement, but it causes more serious harm if successfully implemented. After hacking a Microsoft 365 account, attackers can simply execute a command that will leak incoming sensitive data without having to manually create a Power Automate stream.

The second method is more sophisticated: as soon as the user agrees to launch a malicious application, he will have the necessary permissions to create a "stream." However, you cannot create a new connection using the application. A hacker can only use existing connections, that is, Azure applications limit attackers to users who have already established certain connections.

Attackers can use Power Automate to export email through new forwarding rules. And because they are not created in Outlook/Exchange, this process cannot be detected or blocked. The Forward Email stream will automatically forward all received emails to the hacker. In this case, the stream name is configured and can be changed to a value that is more incomprehensible to the user.

Malicious threads also provide access to data from Delve, statistics on SharePoint files and other sensitive information. For example, unauthorized download of SharePoint files is possible through anonymous shared links created by the "stream," which are redirected to the criminals' server using the API.

Varonis analysts note that monitoring the creation and activity of automated threads, Azure applications, resource access, application permissions, atypical authentication and login will help prevent the threat of data theft through Power Automate.

Varonis also adds more context for events in Microsoft 365 based on user behavior. This allows abnormal data access and email activity to be detected based on the stored basic behavioral profile of the user.

Such a line of protection against data theft through Power Automate does not require writing special rules for detecting or manually searching for suspicious changes in user IP agent addresses or lines. Behavior-based alerts are also effective in detecting a malicious infection of systems ON - it is very difficult for attackers to mimic normal user behavior.

In addition, Varonis analysts recommend blocking emails forwarded from Power Automate and prohibiting data transfer using email by configuring connector controls to various services.

2021

Increase in prices for a package of office programs by 20%

On December 6, 2021, it became known about Microsoft's decision to raise prices for its office suite by 20%. The rise in price will affect companies with a monthly subscription to services and will not affect users of annual tariff plans. Thus, the software giant is forcing its customers to switch to longer-term contracts.

According to CNBC, Microsoft has notified its partners about the introduction of the new New Commerce Experience for Office subscription model for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Windows 365 and Power Platform from 2022. The company's blog explains that it was planned to introduce the New Commerce Experience for Office back in October 2021, but the deadlines were postponed to January 2022. All new customer orders will be carried out through this subscription model starting from March 2022, and subscription updates from July of the same year.

The innovation is least interesting to small organizations. Resellers and distributors often offer customers discounts when choosing an option with a subscription for at least a year, for many representatives of large businesses it is preferable. At the same time, for small companies burdened by the consequences of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the new model may not be attractive at all.

According to Microsoft partners contacted by CNBC, the company did not officially sell Office 365 subscriptions on a monthly basis, but in practice, customers could increase or decrease the number of users every month as needed. This was actively used by small firms.

Not being able to cut subscriptions can be a bigger problem for customers than higher prices, said George Hammerschmidt, executive vice president of Nortec Communications (a Microsoft partner).^[7]

Ex-employee: Microsoft has known for years about using Office 365 servers to spread viruses

In October 2021, former Microsoft security analyst Kevin Beaumont said that Microsoft has known for many years about using Office 365 servers to spread viruses. The ex-employee of the American corporation gave such a comment in response to a study by TheAnalyst, in which Microsoft was called "the world's best hosting provider for malicious software."

According to Kevin Beaumont, Microsoft cannot call itself a leader in security, since abuses in Office365 and OneDrive have occurred over the years. He continued, explaining that deleting data from OneDrive is a nightmare process with a rather slow reaction time, which makes the company the world's best malware hoster from 2011 to 2021, thanks to the Office 365 service.

However, this is not Microsoft's only problem, since malware has been spotted on other platforms as well. According to a study University of Bern of applied sciences, Google as of Cloudflare October 18, 2021, they are among the leading hosting malware networks on the entire Internet. Thus, the entire tech industry should better search for malicious content on its own servers and services before starting to search for problems in any other places. It is hoped that this incident will push Microsoft to take decisive action to help protect users and commercial companies from debilitating malicious attacks. ON Thus, it would be unfair to blame Microsoft for this, and, rather, it is time to hold the entire tech industry accountable.

The US has had a tough 2020 in the fight against ransomware virus attacks, even as the Biden administration has promised to improve things. At the beginning of 2021, the DarkSide group hacked Colonial Pipeline, and this was one of the first cases of attacks using ransomware viruses. Joe Biden has vowed to take strict action against criminals, even as lawmakers continue to debate legislative reforms that could make it harder for bad actors to access systems important to the country's national security.^[8][9]

Updated Office 365 tools

On September 14, 2021, Microsoft introduced updated features of Microsoft Teams and Office 365, which take into account the diverse needs of employees and provide convenience of work regardless of its format. Read more here.

Microsoft raises prices for business software in Russia by 15.2%

On July 9, 2021, Microsoft announced an increase in prices for its corporate solutions in order to equate them with European ones. From October 1, 2021, products will rise in price by an average of 15.2%. Read more here.

As part of the DaaS service from Microsoft, Softline and Dell

On June 28, 2021, Microsoft, Softline and Dell announced the creation of a DaaS service, under which customer companies will be able to lease Dell computers with pre-installed Windows 10 Pro operating system and subscription to Microsoft 365 business standard services. All devices will be supported by Softline. Read more here.

2020

Add employee activity monitoring features

Microsoft has added features to Office Suite 365 that allow organizations to monitor the actions of their employees. This became known on November 26, 2020.

In particular, the Workplace Analytics function has appeared in the MyAnalytics service of the Microsoft 365 software package. If MyAnalytics collects data on resources used by workers, Workplace Analytics provides a more complete picture of their workplace habits and calculates their productivity rating.

Statistics are provided in two categories - Employee Experience and Technology Experience. Among other things, the first category displays the percentage of workers who save content in the Microsoft cloud and exchange files with external users. The second category provides statistics on, for example, how much work time workers lose when their computers boot from traditional hard drives rather than SSDs.

As for employee data, Workplace Analytics also shows how many days each individual employee sent emails and messages to Yammer, used chats and news channels. It also displays the number of days he has supplemented his emails with cross-references to other email addresses. Employee names, group memberships, and locations are displayed by default. Anonymization of this data is available optionally.

Although statistics on employees' use of video cameras and the time they shared their screens during video conferencing are provided anonymously, it can only be obtained from data collected separately. Administrators can view worker statistics without notifying them^[10].

Integration with Trimble Connect

On October 23, 2020, Trimble announced the integration of its Trimble Connect cloud collaboration platform with Microsoft 365 and BIMcollab. Read more here.

Rename to Microsoft 365

On March 30, 2020, Microsoft announced it was renaming Office 365. Starting April 21, this subscription package, which provides traditional tools for working with Microsoft Office documents, will be called Microsoft 365. The product will also receive a number of new functions and services.

Microsoft 365 is the evolution of Office 365, using new artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, diverse content and templates, and the power of cloud computing to improve text, presentation and design skills, according to a press release on the rebranding of Office 365.

Updated Microsoft 365 will receive a service for managing screen time and geolocation on devices of family members Microsoft Family Safety (allows, for example, managing screen time on children's devices, such as setting time limits to play on Xbox, tracking the location of family members and receiving notifications about their movements), Microsoft Teams corporate messenger, which uses an artificial intelligence service to improve the quality of Microsoft Editor text and other innovations.

Microsoft Teams is a teamwork center that allows you to chat, make calls, conduct video conferences and use other collaboration opportunities in one application. It is noted that Teams will be adapted for private life, says Microsoft. The following will appear in the application for private users:

• Calls and videoconferences.
• Group chats.
• Work with shared calendars and task lists.
• Schedule management.
• Sharing photos and videos.
• Tracking user geolocation.
• Tools for storing and sharing important information - for example, passwords to Wi-Fi.

The AI Editor service will receive a large-scale addition. So, the Rewrite Suggestions function will tell you how to make the text more convincing or understandable, while maintaining the original meaning. In addition, for the first time, the Editor function in Word will be able to test text for plagiarism, helping authors create original content and, when necessary, insert appropriate quotes directly into the document with just one click. For March, Editor is available in more than 20 languages ​ ​ including Russian, Word, Outlook.com and as a separate extension for Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome browsers.

Among other innovations, Excel has a new Money feature that allows you to track profits and expenses. New types of data have become available in Excel, for example, "Food," which will allow you to track the effectiveness of the diet.^[11] Data sets will help you more easily select and structure information: users will have access to a total of extended information on more than 100 topics. You can save time by converting plain text and numbers into data types so that Excel offers a variety of visual and informational interactive data maps and images to better represent information. Access to exchange data types and geography is open to everyone in the web version of Excel, and Microsoft 365 subscribers will have exclusive access to more than 100 new Wolfram Alpha-based data types.

Presenter Coach in PowerPoint will help overcome the fear of public speaking. Presenter Coach uses artificial intelligence to determine whether the user is talking too quickly, whether "Mmm" appears too often in speech, or just reading from slides. Microsoft introduced two features in PowerPoint Presenter Coach: Monotone pitch and Speech Refinement. Presenter Coach listens to the tone of the voice and in real time will offer to make the speech emotionally colored, as well as help with grammar: it will advise how to build a sentence more competently.

In turn, PowerPoint Designer enhances creative capabilities without requiring additional time. For example, you can convert text to a spectacular timeline in one click. And when you add an image to a slide, Designer automatically generates multiple design options. Microsoft 365 subscribers will have an even greater arsenal for creativity - with more than 8,000 images and 175 circular videos from Getty Images, 300 new fonts and 2,800 new icons available to create visually appealing documents. All this content will also be available in Word and Excel.

To get started quickly on a school, work or family project and save time, Microsoft 365 subscribers will have exclusive access to more than 200 premium templates in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Templates will help you create the perfect resume, wedding invitation, newsletter, birthday card and more.

Browser Microsoft Edge will be available with features for protection Internet passwords in using the Password Monitor verification system and simplifying research with the Collections feature.

To help people call faster, Microsoft recently introduced a free Skype feature called Meet Now, which allows you to create a video meeting in just three clicks, and those who connect to it do not have to log in with their account and install an application on their computer.

Microsoft also introduced the capabilities of the web version of Outlook, which will help manage all agreements in work and life in one calendar, displaying the real download in a work account, while maintaining the confidentiality of information about personal and business meetings.

The new Microsoft 365 subscription will be available in two variations: Personal and Family. The first will cost $6.99 per month, and the second will cost $9.99. 

Existing Office 365 subscribers will start accessing Office features as early as March 30, 2020. Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family subscriptions will be available worldwide from April 21, 2020. Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions retain all the capabilities of Office 365, such as premium Office applications for computers 1 TB per person cloudy in storage, OneDrive 60 minutes of calls to mobile and city phones in Skype, advanced security tools for protection against malware ON and attacks phishing , technical support.

Publishing ZForms for Office 365 to Microsoft AppSource

On March 17, 2020, i-Sys Labs announced that the ZForms form editor for Office 365 has been published in Microsoft AppSource . Read more here.

Eight ways to optimize the work of line employees

On January 15, 2020, the company Microsoft introduced eight clouds productivity features. Microsoft 365 Digital transformation companies have already recognized how important it is to provide all their employees with effective technologies and tools. In industries such as retail and trade hotel business manufacturing, expanding the capacity of the "first-line" workforce plays an important role - more than 2 billion people around the world are engaged in services or project activities.

Leading companies in their industries, IKEA and Mattress Firm, are already increasing their employee engagement and user experience quality with tools such as Microsoft Teams. The application allows you to unite line employees using chats and video calls, save time and money by digitizing shift schedule management, as well as increase customer satisfaction, providing personnel with instant access to the necessary resources and expert information. These functions will be available in the first half of 2020 and will achieve even greater productivity.

Tools that make it easier for employees to communicate and manage tasks:

Walkie Talkie (Radio) in Teams - will provide clear, instant and secure voice communication through the cloud, turning corporate or personal smartphones and tablets of employees into walkie-talkies. This reduces the number of devices that employees have to carry with them, as well as the cost of technical support. Customers no longer need to worry about cross-talk or that conversations can be listened to, as is the case with analog devices and insecure networks. And since the walkie-talkie mode is available via Wi-Fi or mobile Internet, this option can be used in any territorial units.

Task distribution, publishing, and reporting. With Tasks in Teams, customers will be able to run smoothly across the organization. Corporate and regional management can send job lists to the right area units - such as specific retail stores - and track progress with automated, real-time reports. These tools will allow managers to easily manage work in their stores, and employees will receive simple lists of priority tasks for their personal or corporate devices - to know exactly what to do next.

Integration of personnel time management processes. Customers using leading third-party workforce time management systems - such as Kronos and JDA - to schedule, time and attendance will now be able to directly integrate with Shifts using the Shifts Graph API and SDK. Supported scenarios include shift and schedule management. The JDA connector for Shifts is open source and available on GitHub. The Kronos connector for the Shifts will also be available on GitHub this quarter.

Sign in via SMS. With the SMS login option, employees will be able to log into their Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) account using one-time SMS passwords - without the need to remember logins and passwords for all Microsoft 365 applications and others. When entering, the system prompts the user to enter the phone number, and then generates an SMS with a one-time password. This login method can be connected to select groups and configured at the user level on the My Staff portal - helping to reduce the burden on the IT department.

Exit on a shared device. Many line employees use the same tablet or mobile phone - each in its own shift. As a result, security risks to your organization can occur when employees who have access to different types of data use the same device during the day. With the sign-out feature on a shared device, line workers will be able to log out of Microsoft 365 apps and the rest of their apps, as well as close browser sessions with one click at the end of their shift - so that their data and customer data are not available to the next user of that device.

Out-of-shift access control for Teams applications. IT administrators can now configure Teams to restrict employee access to the application on their personal devices outside of working hours. With this feature, employees will not work outside their shift, and it will also help employers comply with labor laws. The feature will be available to customers in the current quarter.

Manage assigned accounts. First-line managers can approve password changes and enable employees to use their phone numbers to log in via SMS - all on a single, customizable portal accessed by the IT department. The feature provides managers with access to the My Staff portal so they can manage employee accounts, relieving the burden of managing sensitive data from the IT department and keeping employees connected to the applications they need in their work.

Transfer SAP SuccessFactors accounts to Azure AD. The Azure AD account service now integrates with SAP SuccessFactors. Accepting employees and managing employee credentials on the right scale is now easier than ever in all applications using Azure AD. This feature, which is still in test mode, is based on the already available ability to transfer user accounts to Azure AD from Workday, another popular human resources system. Integration with these accounting systems allows IT professionals to scale the process of connecting new line workers and help increase productivity from day one.

2019

Ban in German schools

In mid-July 2019, it became known about the ban on Microsoft Office 365 and Windows 10 in German schools. Authorities fear that the personal data of students and teachers may be available to the US government.

The Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (HBDI) of the federal state of Hesse said that the collection of information by these Microsoft products violates the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), according to which children under 16 cannot independently consent to the processing of some confidential information.

The Federal Office for information security Germany (Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik, BSI) indicates that Windows 10 sends "a lot of telemetry data to Microsoft." The regulator asked the company to clarify the nature of the information transmitted, but did not receive an answer.

According to BSI, both standard diagnostic information and user content from applications can be transmitted, including fragments of text from documents and the subject of emails.

For several years, Microsoft offered a localized version of Office 365 in Germany, which schools could use when complying with local data protection laws. However, in 2018, Microsoft ceased cooperation with Deutsche Telekom, as a result of which the data began to be stored in the data center not in Germany, but in the United States. As a result, Microsoft services were blocked in schools.

Although this applies only to educational institutions, general dissatisfaction with Microsoft's practice can lead to the spread of the ban on the company's services to other government agencies, The Register notes.

HBDI Data Protection Commissioner Michael Ronellenfitch says that even if the data collected by Office 365 and Windows 10 is stored in European data centers, there remains a likelihood of American authorities gaining access to them.^[12]

Data Transfer Tool Output from Google G Suite

On April 19, 2019, Microsoft announced the launch of a tool designed to automatically transfer data from GoogleG Suite to Office 365. In the first stage, the new solution will be available to a limited range of users, and a full-scale release will take place in the "coming weeks."

As reported in the documentation section of the Microsoft website, for a phased migration, users need to configure Office 365 Directory Synchronization (DirSync) or they will have to manually provide account data. Microsoft described the process using the example of the fictional company Fabrikam Inc.

With the new tool, Google G Suite users can quickly and effortlessly transfer email, contacts, calendars, and other data to Office 365. In the case of email, data is transferred using the IMAP protocol. Microsoft warns that the tool does not allow the following data to be transferred:

• In e-mail: settings for the vacation and automatic response section, as well as filters and rules;
• In Meeting Rooms: Online meetings created;
• In the calendar: general calendars, attachments from cloud services, Google Hangout links and event colors;
• In contacts: a maximum of three email addresses per contact can be transferred; You cannot transfer tags, Gmail links in contacts, or personal tags.

Microsoft notes that there are several ways to transfer data from Google G Suite to Office 365, but the company recommends a new tool for several reasons:

• This is a built-in migration mechanism that does not require additional costs and settings;
• The ability to transfer mail, calendar and contacts with high accuracy.
• Data is copied directly from the source to Office 365 without creating secondary copy points;
• Delegate service account authentication: There is no need to know or reset user account data for data transfer.^[13]

Mac App Store Availability

On January 25, 2019, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Office 365 is available in the updated Mac App Store.

According to the company, users Mac need one click to download the current and updated version of the package Office connected to, to cloud including installation, Word Excel PowerPoint,,, and. Outlook OneNote OneDrive

Microsoft provides hands-on tools designed specifically for Mac and, macOS including Dark Mode, Continuity Camera, OneDrive Files on Demand, and Touch Bar support on the MacBook Pro. Microsoft Office 365 is connected to, to cloudy to storage so you can access your to content from any device, work with other authors from anywhere in the world in real time, and use the capabilities () artificial intelligence AI to create more effective content with less effort.

2018

Vulnerability related to 400 million users

In December 2018, it became known about a vulnerability in Office 365, due to which data from up to 400 million users were at risk. Sahad Nk, an Indian information security specialist, spoke about the problem.

According to him, the vulnerability is associated with an incorrect configuration of the success.office.com subdomain, for which the expert was able to create a CNAME record that allows assigning an alias to the host. This alias usually associates a function with the host, or simply shortens its name. After creating such an entry, Nk configured the redirection of traffic passing through the subdomain to an external server - in this case, to a Microsoft Azure account. It is noted that in this way it was possible to intercept any data transmitted through the success.office.com.

As noted by SiliconANGLE, the problem is aggravated by the fact that an information security specialist could use his own Microsoft account and two-factor authentication to gain control over the subdomain. This means that the Microsoft OAuth authorization server also has a vulnerability.

Sahad Nk discovered that Microsoft's Office, Store and Sway apps could be tricked into sending their authenticated registration tokens to the right domain after the user logged in via Microsoft Live.

Baghunter contacted Microsoft and notified the company of the vulnerabilities found, and they were fixed. Microsoft itself confirmed the existence of the problem and paid a specialist to detect them.

Error information in Office 365 was made public in the press on the same day that Microsoft released a monthly set of updates to improve the security of Windows operating systems. This kit contains patches to fix about 40 vulnerabilities, including critical ones.^[14]

Price increase in Russia by 30%

From October 18, 2018, the cost of an annual subscription to the Office 365 Personal software package in Russia will increase by 30% and amount to 3.5 thousand rubles. Prices will be adjusted for other Microsoft office products.

By October 4, the old prices are still indicated on the Microsoft website. So, "Office 365 personal" is offered for 2.7 thousand rubles, "Office 365 for home" - for 3.4 thousand rubles and "Office for home and school 2019" - for 6.7 thousand rubles. As a reason for the increase in prices, Microsoft indicated the following:

From time to time, Microsoft reviews its pricing approach to meet the needs of customers and partners as well as the market situation. As a result of these studies, she can change her pricing policy.

The company also added that these are global changes that will affect users not only in Russia, but also from other countries.^[15]

As RBC was told in Microsoft, the prices for other Office products, including for corporate clients, will also be changed. At the same time, no details about the size of the adjustment were reported.

According to Dmitry Komissarov, CEO of New Cloud Technologies (My Office software developer), Microsoft controls about 85 % of the Russian office software market, therefore, due to its monopolistic position, it can sell software at any price.

Ordinary users will not be able to spend more money on software, the use of pirated versions will grow. However, large government agencies and corporations are not focused on reducing costs, so it is unlikely that demand from them will change, "Komissarov said, adding that Microsoft's share in the business segment can be reduced only under the influence of the import substitution rate.

Appearance of the built-in antivirus mechanism

In September 2018, Microsoft announced the introduction of a built-in virus protection mechanism in Microsoft Office and Office 365 applications. We are talking about Antimalware Scan Interface (AMSI) technology, which, using the capabilities of various antivirus engines, blocks malicious scripts - the so-called macros.

AMSI is an open interface that can work with almost any antivirus. By default, it is integrated with Windows Defender, but third-party manufacturers can adapt the solution to their products.

Macros have long posed a serious threat to Microsoft Office users, but AMSI integration should solve this problem or at least provide a high degree of protection when working with documents.

AMSI is built into Office 365 applications such as Word,, Excel PowerPoint,,, and Access Visio Publisher. When a potentially high-risk function or method (CreateProcess or ShellExecute) is called, Office stops the execution of the macro and requests its validation through the AMSI interface. It prevents attacks through infection, and JavaScript VBScript PowerShell.

But Microsoft draws attention to the fact that the system will not check macros if the security settings contain the item "Enable All Macros" or documents are marked as trusted or open from trusted sources.

The company warns that AMSI does not guarantee 100 percent protection, but the technology significantly increases the chances of preventing a virus attack.^[16]

Macros have become popular tools for hacking computers because attackers have plenty of free tools in their arsenal to hide macro source code in parts of the document, such as spreadsheets and cells in Excel.

The AMSI interface takes effect when the user opens a malicious file sent by mail, disguised, for example, as an account for payment, and then clicks on the "Open Content" button. Although the macro code can be very confusing, AMSI reveals the logic of behavior using advanced antivirus software.

Intelligent security tools

On April 18, 2018, Microsoft introduced a number of intelligent security tools included in the Microsoft 365 cloud solution to help IT and security professionals simplify security management in companies.

Threat Prevention Tools:

• Secure Score makes it easy to select the security elements you need to activate to protect users, data, and devices. This tool helps you quickly assess system readiness and provides clear benchmarks for information security. The tool will also allow organizations to compare their results with the results of companies of a similar profile thanks to the built-in functionality of machine learning.
• Attack Simulator, part of Office 365 Threat Intelligence, will allow security professionals to simulate attacks, including the introduction of a bogus ransomware virus and phishing emails, to test how employees respond to threats in practice and, accordingly, adjust security configurations and system protection settings.

Threat Detection, Response, and Countermeasures Tools:

• The latest Windows 10 update, available as of April 18 in the preview version, includes Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), which now works with other Microsoft 365 elements, allowing you to integrate threat protection and system recovery in Office 365, Windows and Azure. Also in the pre-release version and with the upcoming Windows 10 update, Windows Defender ATP capabilities are available for automated investigation and response to attacks. The applied mechanisms of artificial intelligence and machine learning allow you to identify threats on end devices and respond to them in a matter of seconds.
• Conditional Access enables real-time risk assessment and controls access to sensitive data without compromising end-user productivity. Microsoft 365 now has the additional ability to assess the risk to a device based on data from Windows Defender ATP, which transfers information directly to Conditional Access (available in the pre-release version) to prevent an infected device from accessing sensitive business data.

2017

Integration with Genesys Customer Experience

On October 2, 2017, the company Genesys announced the availability of platform functionality Genesys Customer Experience for Microsoft Office 365 users. With support for Office 365 in PureEngage and PureCloud, companies can take advantage of the integrated contact centers voice, digital virtualizations , workflow, and self-service capabilities of a single environment. More. here

Integration of Microsoft and Adobe products

Microsoft and Adobe on September 11, 2017 announced the expansion of strategic partnerships and integration of their products. The Adobe Sign electronic signature solution (a component of the Adobe Document Cloud line) has become preferred for use in all Microsoft services, including Microsoft Office 365, with more than 100 million commercial subscribers. In turn, Microsoft Teams - a chat space for Office 365 - has become the preferred service for Adobe Creative Cloud, Document Cloud and Experience Cloud. In addition to integrating products, the companies announced that Adobe would make Microsoft Azure the preferred cloud platform for Adobe Sign.

The main goal of this stage of the partnership is to provide customers with the opportunity to work effectively as a team, communicate and make decisions using all devices and applications.

In the coming weeks, companies plan to carry out the following integrations:

• Integration of Microsoft Office 365 and Adobe Sign enables fast and secure e-signing in Office 365 applications, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook;
• integrating Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Stock with Microsoft Teams will give Adobe's creative work customers access to an international-class workspace, speeding up and making it easier to share ideas, iterate, and make decisions. In the future, it is planned to integrate Microsoft Teams with Adobe Experience Cloud;
• Adobe Sign integration with Microsoft Teams will speed up the process of creating and approving agreements between teams using an electronic signature. Adobe Sign in Microsoft Teams has a tab for sending documents for signature, as well as a bot that allows team members to manage and track documents;
• Adobe Sign integration with Microsoft Flow will allow users to create continuous digital workflows. In the coming months, it is planned to integrate Microsoft Flow (included in Microsoft Office 365) with other Microsoft applications: SharePoint, Dynamics and OneDrive.

In March 2017, the companies announced the availability of the first joint solutions based on Adobe Experience Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, which will help enterprises transform the customer experience. In addition to the announced partnership, companies will be considering continued cooperation in artificial intelligence, analytics and intelligent document automation, increasing performance in the cloud.

Microsoft 365 F1 - Working without computers

The Microsoft 365 F1 plan includes the formation of a culture of work and interaction between people: interactive municipal meetings are held through the broadcast of Skype meetings, and the Yammer service allows employees to find new developments and publish their own projects for the entire company.

With Microsoft 365 F1, it's much easier to train employees: through Microsoft Stream, you can distribute dynamic content and videos based on roles, and through SharePoint, you can distribute educational materials and manage academic knowledge.

To ensure high productivity and translate business processes into digital format, the Microsoft StaffHub application for working day planning and Microsoft PowerApps and Flow were created specifically for employees without computers to automate the daily routine: marking the arrival and exit of employees and tracking tasks, through StaffHub, messaging is integrated with Microsoft Teams - a teamwork center - as well as highlighting corporate announcements through Yammer in a special way. It is possible to link StaffHub to other HR systems using open APIs.

Microsoft 365 F1 simplifies IT management, reduces costs, and keeps all employees and devices safe. Azure Active Directory offers a way to manage identity and access for each worker, Microsoft Intune is responsible for device security, and the capabilities of Windows 10 make it easier to control employees without computers by supporting the blocking of specialized devices through Windows Assigned Access and automatic deployment through Windows AutoPilot.

Microsoft 365 announcement

On July 10, 2017, Microsoft introduced the Microsoft 365 business technology suite. It is based on the company's products: Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security.

The product will allow company employees to work anywhere and use ways to interact with colleagues, while the company's information and data will remain protected.

The technology is offered in two versions:

• Microsoft 365 Enterprise – продукт Secure Productive Enterprise. The offering includes Office 365 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise, and Enterprise Mobility + Security. This set of technologies is designed to help employees in their daily work.
• Microsoft 365 Business will become available, in the preliminary version, on August 2, 2017 and presents a product for small and medium-sized businesses. The software includes Office 365 Business Premium, security and management features for Office applications and Windows 10 devices. They are combined in a centralized admin dashboard to deploy applications and secure devices and users.

Microsoft opened access to Workplace Analytics

On July 9, 2017, it became known about the launch by Microsoft of an enterprise tool for measuring the time spent by employees on performing certain tasks. Workplace Analytics is available to Office 365 business subscribers for purchase as an add-on.

Office 365 - Co-authoring in Excel

On March 30, 2017, Microsoft published add-ons to Office 365.

Co-authorship in Excel has become available to Office Insiders Fast members on Windows PCs. This function displays the process of working with a colleague table, allows you to see the edited place in the document and see changes. Co-authoring is available in Excel Online, Excel on Android, Windows Mobile and iOS (for Office Insiders)^[17]

Co-authoring in Excel on a Windows PC will allow you to see where the table is edited at the same time.

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on Windows PCs add Auto-Save for files stored in SharePoint Online, OneDrive, and OneDrive for Business.

Microsoft Teams is a chat-based workspace in Office 365. It is available in 181 markets in 19 languages. Teams became available in Office 365 for education, free to faculty, staff and students. The company announced more than 100 additional features. The updates cover four main principles of Teams:

• chat for modern teams,
• teamwork center
• customization options
• corporate-level security.

More than 150 integrations with other applications, services and bots are already available or planned.

Microsoft Bookings is deployed worldwide to Office 365 business premium subscribers. Bookings makes it easier for small businesses to plan and manage customer meetings. Several features are presented based on user feedback from the initial release of the app for residents of the United States and Canada. Now you can connect an Office 365 calendar to Bookings, add intermediate time between appointments, set up a Bookings page, and stay connected on the go with iOS and Android apps.

OneNote handwriting and accessibility

A number of changes have been made to OneNote. In the Mathematical Handwriting Assistant - OneNote can now create graphs of hand-written equations and allows you to manipulate variants to display the visual effect of changes. He can also teach a phased solution to a system of equations. OneNote's built-in intelligence enhances math learning.

OneNote can plot a handwritten equation in addition to recommendations on how to solve it.

Availability: Plotting and equation systems support is available in OneNote for Windows 10 to all Office 365 subscribers.

The accessibility check feature available in OneNote for Windows 10 helps make the document accessible to people with visual impairment. She analyzes the material and gives recommendations for notes, which helps you understand how to fix errors and create more accessible notes.

Visio Integration with Excel and PowerPoint

Visio, Excel, and PowerPoint work together to help automatically generate flowcharts from data and share them as presentations.

Availability: Data Visualizer templates for Excel data are available in Visio on Windows PC for Office 365 Office Insiders Slow subscribers. The Slide Snippets panel is available in Visio on Windows PC for all Office 365 subscribers.

The Activity Feed is included in the Office 365 interface

On January 31, 2017, Microsoft announced an upgrade to the Office 365 interface - enabling Activity Feed. The Activity Ribbon brings collaboration in Office applications to the fore.

This feature is available to people who store documents on OneDrive. All users can now keep abreast of changes to shared cloud documents by accessing the full change history, opening and returning previous versions, if necessary^[18]

As of January 31, 2017, the Activity Feed is available in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint products on Windows PCs for Office 365 commercial users. It is also available in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on Windows PC for Office 365 Office Insider users.

2016

Purchase the Genee planning service for Office 365 integration

Microsoft will buy the Genee scheduling tool, a service that plans using artificial intelligence capabilities, according to the company's blog^{[19] [20]}.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, it is known that Microsoft is going to use the tool's capabilities for Office 365 services, such as Outlook. The company's blog states that Genee uses natural language processing and optimized decision algorithms. For example, if a user wants to make an appointment with someone next week, the tool will analyze the calendar data, based on this and other options, select a free day in the schedule and send a notification to whoever the user wants to see. TechCrunch^[21] also clarifies that Gene analyzes the content of email to set the appropriate parameters for the planned meeting.

Genee uses natural language processing and optimized decision-making algorithms so that interacting with a virtual assistant is just like interacting with a human one. For an example of how Genee works, let’s take a look at a common scheduling problem. Say you want to meet a potential customer, Diana, for coffee. Simply send an email to Diana and copy Genee, like you would a personal assistant. Genee understands that you want to `Find a time to meet with Diana for coffee next week` and will streamline the process by emailing her directly with appropriate options that work with your calendar and preferences. Genee will even send out the meeting invite on your behalf – freeing up your time. A coffee meeting scheduled in a snap!

Large-scale Office 365 upgrade

On July 29, 2016, Microsoft announced that Office 365 had made large-scale functional changes aimed at improving efficiency when working with office applications.

Updates will be available for PCs and mobile devices running Windows 10, Mac, iOS, Android, in the web version of the product.

Working in Microsoft Word

Microsoft has introduced two main innovations for working with text in Word 2016:

• The Researcher application allows you to search and integrate links to content sources directly in the Word interface thanks to the Bing Knowledge Graph search engine, which helps you quickly and conveniently place correctly formatted quotes in the document. The service is already available to Word 2016 users on Windows, but will soon appear on mobile devices.
• The Editor machine learning tool is able to improve the stylistic aspects of the text, simplify and organize speech turns, as well as give visual visual hints on grammatical, stylistic errors and spelling. Like all cloud services, Researcher and Editor will eventually self-learn with the growing number of processed requests and improve.

Outlook Email Functionality

• Focused Inbox is a function for Outlook that divides all incoming account messages into Focused and Other. This simplifies the process of finding important letters and helps to rank the most relevant tasks. The program remembers the user's choice and in the future follows the corresponding algorithm for distributing letters. A similar feature has already been implemented for users of mobile platforms, today it is also available for users of computers and the web version of Outlook.
• A mention function that allows you to mark a user using the "@" sign when entering a name. This helps to notify you when you are included in a conversation, set tasks, allocate work resources, search a specific user, and much more. Mentions are available to users of Outlook 2016 for PCs within the Office Insider program and in the web version, the function will soon appear for mobile devices.

PowerPoint Presentation Upgrades

• In the July Office 365 update for Office Insider users, Microsoft has included a tool for PowerPoint 2016 - Zoom, which will make interactive animated presentations faster and more efficient. With its help, the formation of non-linear thematic groups of slides is available, creating links to them in the desired place. This makes presentations more visual and structured.

Upgrading Office 365

On May 31, 2016, the blog Microsoft announced the release of an upgraded Office 365, which integrates live chat and a number of features Outlook Visio ^[22]

Live chat for commercial users of Office 365

Office Online provides chat mode for commercial users of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. This is available when some user edits a public document. This works for all documents stored in SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business.

Skype for Business chat is unfolding in the web version of Outlook. To access contacts, search the organization and start a conversation right inside your mail and Outlook calendar, now you just need to click the Skype icon in the navigation menu.

Integrating Skype for Business chat into the web-based version of Outlook enables real-time conversations, access to all contacts, and search across your organization.

Outlook on Android Wear allows you to interact with notifications, read email messages and respond with a ready-made set of answers or voice dictation.

Outlook 2016 for Mac supports Arabic, Hebrew, and right-to-left languages. The company introduced an editor with support for advanced formatting.

Working together on documents in Outlook has become easier - just send a link to a file that is stored in OneDrive for Business and recipients will see the latest version of the document.

Outlook on iOS and Android devices allows you to insert links to OneDrive for Business files into your mail.

Files that are attached to a Skype meeting request in Outlook 2016 or the web version of Outlook are now automatically uploaded to the Skype meeting document box as soon as participants join the meeting. Cloud attachments automatically assign rights to meeting participants. This makes it easier to collaborate during a Skype meeting.

It has become easier to share files and work together on any device. Now you can use OneDrive for iPhone and iPad - share, edit, and offline any files stored in SharePoint document libraries, Office 365 groups, and OneDrive for Business. In web versions, you can copy files from OneDrive for Business to a team site on SharePoint or an Office 365 group.

The SharePoint mobile application will provide full access to organization content, sites and applications on the go. The app will be available on iOS at the end of June 2016, on Android and Windows later.

Visio Pro for Office 365 users can insert and open the latest AutoCAD 2013 and 2010 file formats. Architects, engineers, operations teams, and others can work more effectively together to develop AutoCAD documents in Visio with the ability to co-authorship, comment, and add annotations. You can add data to schemas to provide valuable operational information.

Polycom and Microsoft agree on software integration

On March 15, 2016, Polycom and Microsoft announced plans to expand the reach of video meetings through Skype for Business.

Companies of all sizes - Polycom customers, switching to Microsoft Office 365 and Skype for Business, will benefit from investment in video solutions. At the same time, Microsoft customers who do not yet have the right equipment will be able to use Polycom technologies in their working environment. A cloud service created by Polycom and Microsoft to ensure compatibility of video communication systems allows collaboration regardless of the platform selected.

The Polycom RealPresence Group Series industry solution for video conferencing in meeting rooms will be certified for Skype for Business Server software and will be supported in Office 365.

With a Skype for Business-like interface, the Polycom RealPresence Touch dashboard will allow users to integrate video conferencing into active workflows.

As part of a 12-year partnership, Polycom and Microsoft have done a tremendous amount of work as a result of close collaboration to present the best industry collaboration solutions that help establish efficient workflows while being extremely user-friendly. Customers say that with our joint solutions, they achieve the highest levels of performance and efficiency. We provide companies of all sizes with cloud-enabled solutions that enable them to organize the workplace of the future. Peter Leav, CEO of Polycom

Some Office 365 customers are looking for ways to integrate heterogeneous workflows. The companies announced Polycom's intention to introduce the industry's first cloud service for Office 365 users, which will ensure compatibility of video communication systems, hosted on the Microsoft cloud platform. As a result, Office 365 customers with the transition to cloud technologies will be able to use existing video communication systems, combining them with equipment from other suppliers, including Polycom, Microsoft and Cisco. This service will receive the capabilities of Polycom RealConnect technology, which provides a single experience in using Skype for business for users running Microsoft software and other vendors.

Combining Skype for Business with Polycom solutions in Office 365 for high-quality voice and video communication gives customers the most comprehensive set of tools for organizing collaboration in a modern workspace. Zig Serafin, Vice President, Skype for Business

2015

Office 365 E5 Premium Plan Release

On December 1, 2015, Microsoft released a new, premium Office 365 plan for enterprise users - Office 365 E5. The company calls its release the "largest" update in the history of the cloud service. New opportunities have appeared in terms of communications and collaboration with documents, as well as analytics and security. Details in a separate article.

Office 365 gets built-in MDM support

On March 30, 2015, Microsoft announced the launch of Mobile Device Management (MDM) in Office 365. The new technology will allow you to configure access to corporate data stored in Office 365, employees of companies that use personal smartphones and tablets running various platforms, including Android, iOS and Windows Phone.^[23]

Microsoft notes that its MDM solution is built into Office 365, so customers have access to the same applications from the cloud product as before - unlike third-party projects that replace office programs with universal and functionally limited applications for work.

Office 365 has mobile device management capabilities

Microsoft has highlighted three main features of its mobile device management technology in Office 365:

• Security and management of corporate resources. IT administrators can configure security policies to provide access to corporate mail and documents only to devices that are truly registered with the company and meet security requirements. Office 365 uses Microsoft Intune and Azure Active Directory to apply these rules to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other business applications.

• Device management. The MDM solution in Office 365 allows you to block lost or stolen smartphones and tablets with your password to prevent unauthorized access to information intended only for internal use by employees of organizations. In addition, the system will detect hacked gadgets on the corporate network and prevent them from logging in.

• Selectively delete data. Corporate information stored in Office 365 can be remotely erased from an employee's mobile device, such as when they are fired. At the same time, the employee's personal data will remain intact.

It is worth noting that the functionality implemented in the MDM solution for Office 365 is similar to that offered by the Microsoft Intune cloud service. However, the innovation is designed for more mass distribution. Built-in MDM support in Office 365 is free for all corporate subscription holders, including Enterprise, Business, Education , and Government.

Business Test: MS Office 365 vs Google Apps for Work

By the beginning of April 2015, many different products were available to corporate users in the cloud office applications for working with e-mail, documents, calendars and file sharing, but the most famous are perhaps Google Apps for Work and Microsoft Office 365. Each of them has its own strengths and weaknesses, having studied which, companies can choose the optimal solution for themselves. Observers of the CIO.com edition tried to find out who is more suitable for Google Apps for Work or Microsoft Office 365 by interviewing business representatives. You can read more about this here.

Added Data Control and Management to Office 365

On April 23, 2015, it became known about the introduction of new data control and management functions in Microsoft Office 365^[24].

According to the developer company, the new features of the cloud package will provide customers with more data control and access tracking capabilities. The presence of Exchange Online and SharePoint Online user and administrator activity records in Office 365 logs will help cloud administrators see how clients interact with data hosted on these services and identify policy violations or actions that pose a security risk. Logs are accessed through the new Office 365 Management Activity API, which can be used by developers of data monitoring, analysis, and visualization tools.

By the end of 2015, Microsoft plans to implement in Office 365 the ability to create a special data warehouse called Customer Lockbox. Even company engineers will need to ask the customer for permission to access this data during service operations.

Within a few months, the company will have to implement encryption functions for email content. Since 2016, customers will have the ability to encrypt data in Office 365 using their own keys - Microsoft will not have access to customer data when they are not using the service.

Add MDM support

On March 30, 2015, Office 365 gained mobile device management capabilities. The built-in MDM feature is free for Office 365 corporate subscribers.

Microsoft raises Office 365 prices in Russia by 15%

Microsoft has sent a notification to users of the Office 365 office suite about price increases since February 25, 2015. Starting February 25, 2015, the cost of a monthly Office 365 home subscription purchased directly from Microsoft will change from 249 rubles to 286 rubles.

The new price will be valid for new connections and when renewing the subscription of users who purchase this service in Russia directly from Microsoft.

The increase for commercial customers, depending on the product licensing scheme, can be up to 30%. No change in the Office 365 price for enterprise users has yet been reported.

Since 2010, Microsoft has switched to ruble prices and so far has practically not raised them. The current price increase has nothing to do with sanctions, compared with inflation, it is insignificant.

2014

Office 365 Message Encryption

On February 25, 2014, Microsoft announced the beginning of providing Office 365 users with the functionality to send encrypted messages outside the perimeters of corporate systems - the general availability of the Office 365 Message Encryption mechanism was announced. The recipients of the coded letters decrypt their contents by following the instructions transmitted with the message. When you send a response in Answer to Message mode, the message is automatically encoded.

Earlier, on November 25, 2013, users Office 365 from Microsoft were able to exchange encrypted messages. Then the service updates were announced as a preliminary version.

Office 365 Message Encryption is an advanced version of Exchange Hosted Encryption (EHE) with a number of new features. The encryption functionality is implemented on the basis of Information Rights Management technologies available in Windows Azure.

For Office 365 Enterprise E3 and E4 subscribers, these features are included in the service pack, and other Office 365 options require an additional subscription to Windows Azure Rights Management ($2 per user per month). Existing EHE users can upgrade to Office 365 Message Encryption for free.

For locally deployed Exchange Server 2013, this functionality is available through the Exchange Online Protection (EOP) service or using the hybrid mail-flow model.

New tools, scripts, social networks

On March 4, 2014, Microsoft announced new tools and scripting capabilities for Microsoft Office 365.

Users, developers, IT professionals will have access to the tool. They will be allowed to solve their tasks faster and more efficiently. By using powerful mobile devices, cloud services, social networks, and big data, it became possible to create a customized Office 365 scenario for each user.

Tools available to employees in teams and teams will help you simplify interaction with customer representatives, organize collaboration, simultaneously edit documents and make business processes transparent in the organization.

The new Office 365 tools focus on a robust platform built around security, data personalization, and industry compliance.

Changes to Office 365 include:

• "Oslo" (codename). A new application managed by Office Graph, codenamed "Oslo." The application takes into account the peculiarities of user interaction and the capabilities of the device in order to present the data in a timely manner and in the most relevant form for everyone who uses Office 365 with SharePoint, Exchange, Lync, Yammer.

• Groups. This is a new element of flexible user interaction and synchronization of conversations, calendars, email addresses, and files using the Office 365 suite of apps. Groups created in all Office 365 applications will automatically connect to Yammer conversations, calendars, document libraries, incoming messages; team members will be able to work together in teams. In Yammer, all groups are open by default, but groups can be closed if necessary.

• Built-in social media. With integration with social media, Office 365 has new collaboration capabilities. The first example of such a scenario is the ability to negotiate with colleagues when editing documents in SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business.

• Office 365 video portal. The new Office 365 video portal is designed to download, store, and watch videos securely. Companies will be able to organize videos, place videos on certain channels, view video content on mobile devices and process it: compress and optimize.

There are more than 3.4 million Office and SharePoint developers in the world, their number continues to grow and Microsoft has announced additional investments, thanks to which customers and partners will have even more opportunities to create effective solutions for browsers, desktops and mobile devices. On the Office 365 platform, developers can build integrated solutions and mobile applications that meet the requirements of modern business.

• Opportunities for mobile work. The Office 365 SDK for Windows 8 and Android will help developers build Office 365-based mobile productivity solutions. Developers of applications and services for Windows and Android can use Office 365 data and all its services, including documents, calendars, contact and task lists, and email.

• Seamless integration with Office 365. Upgrading the programming interface in Office 365 for PowerPoint and Outlook gives developers the ability to create new, more complex solutions. In PowerPoint presentations, you can integrate surveys or research data, and the Outlook Compose apps will offer supporting information that can be useful when writing a letter.

• Reliable programming interface. With the growth of programming interfaces in Office 365, new interfaces for documents, business contacts, email, calendars, and tasks are changing the way you create intuitive services. Application creation tools include highly sought-after enhancements such as self-provisioning sites and support for file operations on OneDrive for Business.

• Additional capabilities. Recipients of Office 365 documents that use information from apps will find it easier to work with them. PowerPoint applications are also available in PowerPoint Online, allowing users to share their favorite applications. During this year, Office Online will also receive the same functionality as Excel.

• Data protection. Microsoft introduced new data protection capabilities in Office 365 that allow organizations to manage, monitor, and validate content without disrupting user experience.

• OneDrive for Business. In April 2014, companies will have the opportunity to purchase OneDrive for Business, which provides great opportunities for secure collaboration with documents in the cloud and has all the benefits of integrating with Office. In addition, with SharePoint Server 2013 Service Pack 1, Microsoft introduced new management tools for system administrators that enable OneDrive for Business to be included in the enterprise cloud directly from the SharePoint Server 2013 dashboard. These tools allow users to work with familiar corporate infrastructure while taking advantage of cloud storage and data sharing.

• A simple transition from SharePoint to Yammer. Through Service Pack 1, Microsoft helps the system administrator transfer the Sharepoint social component to Yammer. Using simple controls on SharePoint Server 2013, administrators can activate Yammer and redirect users to an enterprise social network based on Yammer.

Price cut: Office 365 Personal tariff

Microsoft will make Office 365 more accessible for personal use by offering customers a new plan called Personal. The new rate will cost $69.99 per year to subscribe to Office 365, which is 30% lower than the Home Premium rate, which was considered the cheapest to date. In addition to this, Microsoft announced its intention to rename Home Premium to simply Home^[25]

Office 365 Personal will include the same apps as Home Premium: Word,, Excel PowerPoint,, Outlook OneNote, Publisher, and Access. The user will have access to the same 20 GB of space in OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), 60 minutes of free calls Skype per month and access to Office Web Apps (Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote applications for the browser).

The lower price is due to the limitation of the number of devices that can be installed. The package can only be installed on one PC or Mac and on one tablet. For comparison, Home Premium can be installed on 5 computers and on 5 mobile devices based on Android and iOS (smartphones on Windows Phone are not considered, since they are already sold with Office installed).

SMB version

On October 1, 2014, new Office 365 service plans for SMB enterprises began to operate, replacing the Office 365 small business and Office 365 medium business service plans families. Companies will be able to choose from three options for new plans: Office 365 Business for 300 rubles. per employee per month, Office 365 Business Basic - for 180 rubles. and Office 365 Business Premium - for 450 rubles.

Office 365 Business subscriptions include apps such as Outlook Word, Excel PowerPoint, OneNote, and Publisher, as well as 1You have OneDrive for Business cloud space per employee. The Office 365 Business Basic plan will include Office Online, Outlook, Lync, and a location for data storage in OneDrive. Subscribing to the Office 365 Business Premium plan will allow customers to work with all of the listed tools. In addition, companies using it will be able to additionally connect the Dynamics CRM Online customer relationship management system, the Yammer corporate social network Active Directory , and other services.

Another important feature of new subscriptions is the ability to use different tariff plans within the infrastructure of one company, using them to work for certain groups of users. Now subscribers will have the opportunity to mix tariff plans not only within the same family, but also between different subscription families. In addition, an important feature of Office 365 is the low cost of infrastructure, which does not require additional servers and highly qualified staff to support.

New APIs

At TechEd Europe (October 28-31, 2014) in Barcelona, ​ ​ Microsoft introduced new application programming interfaces (APIs) for Office 365.

The announced APIs concern third-party applications with files, email, calendar, and address book within Office 365. With tight integration, the functionality of Microsoft's cloud solution will expand.^[26]

For example, programs designed for booking tickets will be able to instantly connect to user contacts and calendars of Office 365, which will allow you to conveniently plan trips and book tickets for friends. Sales automation software will gain access to e-mail and client files, increasing the efficiency of software in the organization.

Microsoft extends Office 365 functionality

One of the first new APIs was used by the IFTTT (If This Then That) service, designed to automate the function when using various Internet services. IFTTT users will be able to create actions for each contact in the Office 365 Address Book - for example, include an SMS alert when they receive an email.

Office 365 SDK for iOS and Android

Microsoft strives to make Office the most cross-platform product possible, so it decided to release open source SDK software tools for developing mobile software for Android and Apple iOS. These kits make it easier to integrate mobile apps with Office 365.

The iOS SDK has received support for the Objective-C programming language, and in the future it is expected to use the new Apple Swift language.

As for the Android SDK, Microsoft says that the toolkit has been tested in the Android Studio development environment, but later support for the Eclipse environment, which is well known to Java developers, will be implemented.

Unlimited access to OneDrive

In late October 2014, Microsoft announced that it had lifted restrictions on access to OneDrive online storage for Office 365 subscribers. This offer applies both to corporate clients (for 2 thousand rubles per year) and private (200 rubles per year). Previously, Office 365 users had 1 TB of disk space available in OneDrive.

2013

Package for SMB in Russia

On February 27, 2013, Microsoft launched special subscriptions in Russia for the latest version of its Office 365 cloud service for medium and small businesses. In addition to Russia, the proposal begins to operate in 68 more countries of the world, and in April 2013, 20 more countries should join them, according to the Russian representative office of the corporation.

As TAdviser explained at Microsoft, since its launch, the corporation has been collecting feedback and suggestions from customers on its use. Based on the collected wishes, proposals were formed with a fixed set of functions specifically for small companies - with employees from 1 to 10 people, and average, which Microsoft includes organizations with a staff of 10 to 250 people.

In particular, three subscriptions became available for them. The Office 365 Professional Plus option provides access to Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, InfoPath, Access, and Lync applications and can run on five devices. The subscription cost for it is 4610 rubles. per user per year. In addition to access to the above applications, the Office 365 for Midsize Business subscription also includes access to enterprise-level tools for communication and collaboration, as well as simplified tools for managing IT infrastructure. Its cost is 5491 rubles. per year per user. There is also the "Office 365 for Small Business Advanced" option, which, in addition to a fully functional set of Office applications, also includes enterprise-class email, general calendars and HD-quality video conferencing at a price of 4950 rubles. per year per person.

For large companies - with a staff of more than 250 employees - there is an Office 365 Corporate subscription. In addition to the features available in Office 365 Professional Plus, this subscription also includes access to enterprise-class cloud services such as group sites, corporate mail, an advanced set of IT administration tools, and others, as well as access to Yammer corporate social networks .

As before, SMB companies will be able to subscribe to Office 365 on the Microsoft website and through the corporation's local partners who offer it in conjunction with their own services, as well as through authorized retail chains. With large customers, the corporation works directly, determining the cost of subscription individually in each individual case.

According to Microsoft, now more than 90% of Office 365 users are SMB companies. In addition to new versions of subscriptions, they are also given a 30-day trial period for using the service, after which customers will be able to continue using it by paying for a subscription by credit card or account.

Globally, Microsoft calls Office 365 one of its fastest growing lines of business ever. According to the corporation, the number of companies using it increased by 150% from 2012 to 2013.

Business Analysis Tools

In early July 2013, Microsoft announced the inclusion of business data analysis (BI) tools in its Office 365 service, while some of these features have never been implemented in other independent products of the corporation.

The new tools offered to Office 365 users "combine our entire BI stack of capabilities and provide them as a service," said Eron Kelly, who is responsible for marketing SQL Server.

According to Kelly, at the heart of the ideology of the new approach to data analysis implemented in Office 365, the so-called "self-service BI," when end users themselves can operate with data to achieve certain business goals.

Previously, Office 365 already contained separate BI tools, for example, the Office 365 ProPlus version offered Power View and Power Pivot as part of the online version of Excel. The new user service will create a SharePoint-based single sign-on page with a catalog of data sources and analysis tools. The starting point for the analysis is Excel.

Data sources selected by the administrator can be internal or external, public, for example, Wikipedia can be specified as a data source. So users can upload one or more sources to Excel and process them using the proposed analysis tools.

One of these BI tools is called Power Query (formerly Data Explorer), it just allows you to connect external data sources to Excel tables. For example, a table can be built from a Twitter feed, so that messages, dates, locations, and usernames will be placed in individual columns.

Another tool is called Power Map, with its help you can place various geo data on the map provided by the Bing Maps service. For example, using this option, you can visualize exactly how many messages Twitter are coming from different cities of the country, so that the indicators on the map will correspond proportionally to the volume of posts. Power Map debuted as a beta option in Excel 2013 as a plugin called GeoFlow.

After the user has created the report, the latter can be published in the organization's data catalog, so that colleagues can familiarize themselves with its conclusions. Microsoft also plans to release the Power BI mobile application for Windows 8 and iOS devices. Reports published through Power View can also be reformatted to HTML5 in addition to the default Silverlight format.

The new query language will also be used in Power BI. For example, if the user writes "How much revenue did product X generate last year?" in the search window, the system will go to the columns showing the revenue data for the last few years. According to Kelly, the use of the natural language of queries will make it easier for those users who are not familiar with SQL queries to work with the system.

At the beginning of July 2013, the exact release date of the new toolkit was not named, as well as its cost. It is known that pricing will be based on two models: user fee and monthly fee.

Office 365 has received a number of updates

In November 2013, Microsoft introduced a number of updates for the Office 365 cloud service to help companies increase productivity, reduce IT support costs, and make it easy and easy for users to solve their personal and work tasks, regardless of place and time.

For example, the updated Microsoft Office Web Apps service has added functions for automatically saving Word documents and collaborating on documents in real time - several users can simultaneously make changes and edit documents in Word Web App, PowerPoint Web App or Excel Web App.

Office 365 Home Advanced sharing has also been updated. As early as next month, Office 365 Home Advanced users will be able to share a subscription with their family. Each family will be able to install any available application on their computer, Macbook or mobile devices, as well as receive an additional 20 GB of cloud storage. SkyDrive You can manage the installed applications on the My Account page.

All Office 365 plans are integrated with Yammer Enterprise, and all Office 365 subscribers will receive the appropriate licenses. Office 365 users no longer need to purchase additional licenses for users working on an external network. In addition, Microsoft presents the Yammer Partner Enablement program, in which the corporation's specialists will share their deep expertise in the promotion and implementation of successful corporate social projects, the company said.

In addition, Power BI technology for Office 365 will become publicly available in the first half of 2014. This technology makes it easy and convenient to create vivid and visual illustration materials, combining private and public information in the "cloud," thereby motivating users to quickly make decisions.

The latest updates will complement a wide range of more than 100 enhancements that have become available to Office 365 subscribers throughout the year. Among them: the emergence of a mobile version of the Office Mobile service, thanks to which subscribers can install and use Office applications on various devices, including those running iOS and Android, new features for using gestures when working with Microsoft Office Web Apps and browsers that support touch control, on tablets running Windows 8 and iOS.

In addition, the amount of storage available to users was significantly increased: SkyDrive Professional cloud storage - from 7 GB to 25 GB, Exchange Online mailbox - from 25 GB to 50 GB. The OneNote app has become available on iPhone, iPad and Android devices, and Outlook 2013 RT has been released for Windows RT devices.

According to Microsoft, in the first quarter of this year, the number of companies that opted for Office 365 tripled. In addition, Office 365 for Home Advanced uses more than 2 million subscribers, and Office 365 for study - more than 110 million students and schoolchildren.

2012

Hiding Sales Data

A year after the launch of Office 365, Microsoft is still not ready to provide specific details about sales and the degree of adaptation of this solution, according to Computerworld. In response to an official request, the press service of the corporation told reporters of this portal that "the number of customers, users and data on sales revenues of this decision were not disclosed."

At the same time, Microsoft confirmed the statement made earlier, according to which Office 365 is "one of the fastest growing" offers of the company. Analyst IDCMelissa Webster (Melissa Webster) believes that the new Office 365 "did not blow up the market." In her opinion, the corporation will provide figures on the sales of the solution as soon as they become a significant part of its revenue.

Increase the free test period

Since December 17, 2012, Microsoft has begun an active campaign to draw customer attention to the Office 365 product, in particular, the corporation has increased the period of primary free use of its cloud applications for small businesses. Basically, these actions are aimed at Google Apps users.

Microsoft's activity is explained not only by the desire to attract the maximum number of new customers, but also by the fact that in early December 2012, applications from the Google Apps package ceased to be free for organizations with more than 10 employees. App fees are set at $50 per account per year. Google hastened to reassure its customers that everyone can work in the same mode. However, Microsoft played on this.

Microsoft has increased the free Office 365 timeslot for companies with up to 10 employees. So the version of the package for small businesses, including mail, general calendars and office web applications, is now available in a free version not 30, but 90 days. Previously, this package cost $72 per employee per year.

Office 365 Microsoft product marketing manager Tony Tye said in a blog post that Office 365 wants to replace small businesses with apps from. Google

A free 90-day version of Office 365 is available until February 2013. When the company's pricing policy for this product will be officially announced. At the same time, Microsoft has another Office 365 Premium Business package. Its base cost is $150 per employee per year. This version is available in a free version for a little less - 60 days after the official launch of retail sales of Office 2013.

2011

Start of sales in 40 countries

In June 2011, Office 365 launched simultaneously in 40 countries around the world, and more than 20 international service providers that are partners of Microsoft have already included this product in their sets of solutions for corporate customers.

Large companies will be able to get a new cloud solution as part of the updated Enterprise Agreement volume licensing program. This option will enable large enterprises with advanced IT infrastructure based on Microsoft technologies to take advantage of cloud on flexible terms, which will optimize costs.

Office 365 will allow enterprises to combine their service plans based on current needs, expanding or reducing the number of licenses for certain products. It is also important that the organization can easily transfer its employees to and from the cloud, evenly distributing the load on its local infrastructure. And these are not all the advantages of the updated Enterprise Agreement volume licensing program.

Microsoft is building a massive ecosystem of partners for Office 365, including system integrators, software vendors, resellers, and other partners. Now this ecosystem is expanding as the company begins cooperation with leading service providers in the market. These companies will deliver Office 365 as part of their own services - from web hosting and broadband Internet to financial solutions and mobile services - and open these offerings to millions of small and medium-sized businesses around the world.

High prices at launch

According to analysts, Microsoft will have to radically reduce the subscription price for cloud-based Microsoft Office 365, possibly to $2 a month, in order to convince users: it is really more profitable to rent software than to buy it.

When the CEO of the corporation, Steve Ballmer, presented Office 2013 and the new Office 365, he did not focus on pricing policies for new products, but, meanwhile, prices for them are quite high.

Analysts compared the prices of Google Apps and corporate Office 365 and concluded that so far the comparison is not in favor of the latter. So, according to Michael Osterman, president of Osterman Research, the cost of Google Apps for Business is currently $5 per user per month, and Microsoft prices should be competitive against this background.

Comparison of prices for Google Apps and Office 365 in Russia

Patrick Moorhead, lead analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, agrees with this thesis. "For those businesses that do not yet use Office, Google's offer is very, very tempting, primarily where Android phones or web tools are used," he said.

The final prices for the new Office 2013 and Office 365 will be announced after the launch of products on the market in the fall of 2012. So far, the corporation has only announced that Office 2013 will be distributed according to the classic scheme: on disks or using software downloads, while users will be granted a lifetime license when making a one-time payment. If prices for Office 2013 are reduced, the choice between Office 2013 and Office 365 will become even more ambiguous, analysts say.

A number of analysts, including Osterman, believe that migrating customers to Office 2013 will also be a difficult task for Microsoft.

Integration with Microsoft Dynamics NAV

In 2011, the ability to integrate the ERP system of Microsoft Dynamics NAV with Microsoft Office 365 became available and their seamless integration is one of the main competitive advantages of this solution. The solution provides the ability to reduce the initial cost and total cost of ownership (TCO) of the solution, increase user mobility without increasing overhead. That is why now is the right time to start planning the deployment of an integrated solution of two systems - Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Office 365.

The Microsoft Dynamics NAV business management solution, especially when combined with Microsoft Office 365, has the following benefits:

• Easily integrate with your existing enterprise infrastructure and other Microsoft systems, allowing you to interact with other applications at a lower level.
• Use of familiar tools and formats.
• By integrating Microsoft Dynamics NAV with cloud services, we enable customers to build a strong and multifunctional foundation for the future that transcends conventional applications and can expand the traditional capabilities of ERP systems.

2010

Beta version in Russia

Microsoft 19.10.2010 announced the release of a beta version of the Office 365 cloud service, tomorrow's technology to ensure the efficiency and performance of today's companies. Office 365 combines all the most popular and sought-after collaboration and unified communications solutions: Office, SharePoint, Exchange, and Lync. Office 365 will be expanded to include Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

Different versions of the online package are available: Office 365 for Small Businesses is designed for a small number of users (from 1 to 25). Large enterprise customers who choose to edit Office 365 for Enterprises will be able to provide their employees with various levels of service from basic mail kiosks to a full-featured version of Office 365 with the Office Professional Plus client.

In Office 365, all components are designed to work as a single, coherent mechanism. Earlier in 2010, the launch of Office, SharePoint, and Exchange 2010 showed how you can improve performance. Office 365 is the next step. Combined with Microsoft Lync, all these solutions will provide the foundation of modern business.

Demo in Russia

Microsoft has announced the availability of a fully localized trial version of its Office 365 cloud solution in Russia. Now companies can get acquainted with the product for free for 30 days. In addition, Office 365 has received a number of important updates that improve collaboration and unified communications, the corporation said in an official statement.

After the 30-day period, customers can continue using Office 365 by paying by credit card or account. All settlement operations are carried out by Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited, which licenses Microsoft products in the Russian Federation and other European countries.

At the same time, new opportunities are opening up for Microsoft partner companies in Russia: in addition to providing consulting services for deploying Office 365 and migrating to the cloud, partners who join the Microsoft Online Services program will be able to receive rewards for attracted customers under the Partner Advisor model.

As for more than 30 updates that are included in Office 365, they include support for Lync for Mac, support for Business Connectivity Services for SharePoint Online, and support for Windows Phone 7.5.

Meanwhile, Softline has announced the completion of the first transaction in Russia to sell the Microsoft Office 365 cloud service for Information and Technical Company LLC (ITK). The transition to the cloud was made as part of a special offer from Microsoft for enterprise customers with an Enterprise Agreement, which allows you to migrate Office 365 licenses from On Premise at no additional cost during the first year of using the service..

According to TAdviser, Office 365 already uses VimpelCom. In the fall of 2011, the pilot operation of the Office 365 public cloud in the company began. If, in terms of costs, the SaaS model confirms its benefits, some consumers will be transferred to these services, representatives of the operator said earlier. The Microsoft at the time of publication does not comment on which client can formally be considered the first in this regard.

As for the success of cloud Office 365 in the global market, according to Microsoft itself, 90% of existing customers of the service are small businesses. The corporation also said the service is now available in 22 new markets including Argentina, Taiwan and South Africa, with a free demo period also available to customers here. Previously, the service was available in 41 countries.

Partners in Russia

VimpelCom and SKB Kontur

Representatives of small and medium-sized businesses can already get Office 365 at their disposal as part of the services of SKB Kontur, which began delivering the solution within the framework of agreements with Microsoft announced two months earlier. Starting today, SCS "Contour" includes a fully functional version of Office 365 in its service packages. In the near future, Office 365 will also be available as part of VimpelCom's offerings.

Thanks to Office 365, any Russian company will be able to use the capabilities of the Cloud. Providing the service within the framework of the new business model is also very important for the Russian market, because it opens up access to unique productivity tools for companies of any, even the smallest scale. For example, using the new offer, small businesses will be able to reallocate the saved funds to develop their core business by saving on IT services. Large and medium-sized enterprises will have the opportunity to redistribute their IT resources, directing them to higher priority, strategic projects, removing the tasks of routine administration and support.

With Office 365, Russian companies will be able to establish effective collaboration within the organization, with your partners and customers, create a website using your domain name, use the updated email, calendar and contact services on any device, use familiar Office applications, receive the latest functionality updates, and monitor the state of the company's IT infrastructure and the safety of its confidential information through even more reliable security and security mechanisms.

VimpelCom provides Internet access, domain name registration and support, a functional Microsoft Office 365 subscription for three employees, and virtual PBX services. Also, the package may include the Beeline Business: Smart Office service, plus three telephone numbers with a special tariff for mobile Internet. Monthly subscription fee for various packages ranges from 3.7 thousand to 13 thousand rubles.

The client can also purchase an additional number of Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions, if necessary. The cost of each subscription ranges from 350 to 1100 rubles.

"Most of our corporate customers use Microsoft solutions. And now they have the opportunity not to overpay for installing software, but to use the service where there is the Internet for monthly deductions. Our bundled offerings, which include communication services and Office 365, are targeted at different segments, so they are suitable for both large and small companies. We also provide customers with targeted offers developed taking into account the individual needs of the business, "notes Aleksei Nazarov, Marketing Director of the business segment of VimpelCom OJSC."

Despite the familiar name, Office 365 should not be perceived as an online analogue of the Microsoft Office desktop application package, "warns Pavel Kuzmenko, head of the department for promoting Microsoft information office systems in Russia. - The range of its functionality is significantly wider: first of all, it is a universal solution for collaboration, document management and integrated communications, requiring minimal support from a full-time system administrator. Designed for businesses of all sizes, Office 365 can be a game-changer for SMBs. "

1C

As of December 1, 2011, partners still have a very important role in sales of Office 365 in Russia. They can generate additional revenue by finding and advising customers, providing them with services to prepare and integrate the client's existing IT infrastructure and cloud services.

Members of the Microsoft Office 365 Channel and 1C Partner Network. 1C will help partners establish a "cloud" business, providing information support, offering training and assistance in generating demand.

As the main steps to develop the Microsoft Office 365 channel, 1C plans to:

• Provide high-quality Internet resources for partner information support
• Organize training of partners in Moscow and regions on the basis of their Training Centers and regional distributors
• Advise partners on how to effectively sell Office 365
• Carry out marketing actions and events to generate demand in the market.

As Igor Shipilov, head of the 1C distribution department, explained to TAdviser, the company will not sell the cloud office directly. "In the Office 365 distribution model, the user makes a payment directly to Microsoft. Partners receive income from subscriptions that are registered with their help. We see partners as the main channel for generating subscriptions; we do not plan to work directly with customers 1C, "he said.

MTS

On February 27, 2013, the operator partnered with Microsoft in the enterprise market by incorporating the Office 365 cloud service into its service packages.

Main competitor: Google Apps

* Office 365 Confrontation - Google Apps

In the same segment is the main interest of the main competitor, Google Apps: since the release of this solution in 2007, most of its customers have been small companies.

Users Google Apps at the moment are 5 million companies, 66 out of the 100 largest universities USA and government organizations in 45 out of 50 American states. More than 90% of Microsoft Office 365 users are companies with 50 or fewer employees, according to the data.

In January 2012, the Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) announced its plans to introduce Google Apps for 110,000 employees, disabling an entire "zoo" of mail systems, including Exchange, which at that time was used by 35 thousand users at the bank's headquarters. This implementation will be the largest for the solution at the moment.

In May 2012, the US Department of the Interior announced the choice of Google Apps for 90,000 users, also replacing several systems, including Exchange. Moreover, an alternative option in the form of Office 365 was also considered, but was subsequently rejected.

Microsoft also does not lose hope of getting equally high-profile orders. For example, in May 2012, the corporation announced a deal with the Minnesota government, according to which it consolidated about 40 disparate email systems on the Exchange 2007 platform, and then migrated 40,000 users to Office 365. At the same time, the corporation entered into a deal with the formations Catholic International Education Office to launch an educational version of Office 365 for 4.5 million Catholic students.

Another major victory for Office 365 was the introduction of Lowe's in the American retail chain, which implemented a solution for 200 thousand users in 1745 stores and corporate divisions in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Notes