BPOS brings you the latest communications software on tap
Simon Gautrey
Simon Gautrey is Software-plus-Services Lead for Small and Mid-Market Solutions and Partners at Microsoft UK.
Question: I have 75 users in my business and want to run the most up-to-date versions of Microsoft Exchange and Office Communications Server. I don’t have any in-house IT expertise, so I prefer to outsource so I can focus on running my business. Like everyone else at the moment, I’m looking to keep my costs as low as possible. What’s my best option? - George, Birmingham.
Answer: Hi George, it sounds like your business is doing well. With so many employees and doubtless many more customers to communicate with, you’re wise to want the latest versions of essential software. Of course, you’re by no means alone in wanting to keep a rein on expenditure in these uncertain times.
If you can afford to wait just a few weeks, I’ve got just the solution.
It’s a product we’re launching this Spring called Business Productivity Online Suite - BPOS for short - the latest addition to our Software-plus-Services offering. It’s designed for businesses like yours, who want a cost-effective way to keep their software updated without expensive IT overheads.
“Software in the Cloud”
Basically, it’s a way of giving you the applications you need on tap, but delivered as a service – like your gas or electricity - without needing to install them on your server. Or, as the media have dubbed it, “Software in the Cloud”.
We look after all the hardware remotely and you simply log on and use the service via the internet. You can create your own solution with individual services or purchase them as a ready-integrated suite.
As you’d expect, this new service integrates with our existing products, meaning you can have a mixture of in-house (on-premise software), Microsoft hosted applications (Microsoft Online Services), and solutions hosted and provided by Microsoft’s Partners - and you can adjust this arrangement dynamically as your business needs change, making BPOS ideal for dealing with the unpredictable changes in a growing company like yours.
Microsoft offers a range of software tools online. BPOS specifically is a set of online messaging and collaboration tools hosted by Microsoft - namely the Office products Exchange, SharePoint, Live Meeting, and Office Communications - all designed to streamline your business communications and deliver a reliable service without the need to invest in more physical software and equipment.
And if you need more than one standalone service – as in your case - BPOS offers excellent value by ‘bundling’ services at a discounted rate.
Eases cash flow
Cloud computing is a particularly attractive proposition to many companies in the present economic climate because this model of software delivery will ease your cash flow. You pay per-month, per-user, so instead of the capital expenditure you were probably expecting, you can now run your software out of operational budgets instead.
Since the service is subscription-based and billed automatically by Microsoft, you simply pay for new users as you add them online, which makes licensing much simpler, too. You can manage subscriptions and set up all your Online Services, all from one online management dashboard.
Collaboration on tap
Yet all of this is only worth the effort if the service meets your expectations and the demands of your business. Well, BPOS will make a huge improvement to your communications because your employees will be able to access the service securely from anywhere, through any popular mobile device, laptop or Web café. As well as having access to the very latest in business-class email, they’ll get Web conferencing, instant messaging, document collaboration and workflow. And with ‘presence’ awareness, everyone is available when they want to be and left in peace when they don’t.
You might also consider adding Live Meeting – our real-time video conferencing tool which will save you money by reducing travel costs. Of course, as with all the tools in BPOS, you can switch LiveMeeting on or off as and when it’s needed.
Simple, secure and reliable
There are several other advantages to BPOS and other online-delivered services. Your software will be deployed and updated automatically, as opposed to traditional updates, which can be quite time-consuming and costly. Furthermore, because these hosted services are the responsibility of Microsoft and our Partners, they are highly reliable, backed by strict service level agreements (SLAs), managed by rigorously screened and highly trained staff, and available more than 99.9% of the time.
Our Online Services run on a global network of replicated data centres protected by many layers of security and operational best practices. In the unlikely event of a problem with a particular data centre, services automatically switch over to a backup centre. And to give you an idea of the scale of our Online operation, every month we add around 10,000 servers to the system – that’s more each month than the total number used by Facebook!
Positive feedback
Returning to your question, I would say that BPOS is likely to be just what the doctor ordered. Because it’s a hosted service, it will allow you to focus on running your business, rather than worrying about managing an in-house server (and the IT support costs associated with it). Indeed, the feedback we’ve had from one the many companies who’ve been piloting the solution is that BPOS has helped them create and deliver the kind of products and services you’d normally expect from a much larger firm.
Put us to the test!
Now, if all this sounds too good to be true, then why not put the service to the test! We’ll be offering a free 30-day trial, which means you can either walk away after a month, or continue using the service by paying a monthly subscription. You can find a partner to support you with your implementation, integration and customisation by clicking here.
So to round off, I reckon BPOS will provide you with everything you need – the very latest versions of the software you need, slicker communications, 24x7 availability, total security, negligible IT management and lower costs. Need I say more…
I wish you well and do keep an eye out for this imminent release.
--Simon.
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