How to Reap the Benefits of Cloud Computing With Microsoft 365 Help

One of the most controversial arguments in the business world over the past decade has been whether to allow knowledge workers to spend more time working outside the office (read: home). Proponents on both sides had strong feelings, and it looked like the debate was poised to continue for at least another decade, especially as even tech giants began to rescind their workforces’ ability to telecommute.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened, and it was game over. Organizations could either invest in remote working technology such as cloud implementation to allow employees to work remotely, or they could severely limit their ability to conduct business. As you might expect, it wasn’t a difficult choice for most.

What many discovered along the way, however, is that making the leap from technology designed for on-premise workers to enabling cloud collaboration for remote ones wasn’t just a matter of subscribing to Microsoft 365 and giving everyone an account. As Han Solo tells Luke Skywalker in “A New Hope,” “(It) ain’t like dusting crops, boy.”

The benefits of cloud computing are myriad, and Microsoft 365 is a particularly powerful tool for midsize to large enterprises. It has many advanced capabilities that enable cloud collaboration and drive productivity across cities, regions, states, countries, and even continents. That is, if you know how to take advantage of those capabilities.

While Microsoft 365 does come with some basic templates and functionality to help you get started, to truly get the benefits of cloud computing through the platform, you need a certain level of expertise and experience, especially when it comes to migrating users and data from older versions of Microsoft SharePoint or server-based applications.

That’s why CTG has now formally introduced our new Microsoft 365 Services — to provide all the Microsoft 365 help you and your employees need. As a longtime Microsoft Solutions Partner, we have extensive experience not only implementing but customizing Microsoft 365 for the specific needs of all size enterprises.

Who Can Reap the Benefits of Cloud Computing With Microsoft 365 Help? 

Our expertise can help smooth an organization’s transition to the cloud no matter where they are in their journey. For example:

• For those enterprises that were already well on their way to the cloud, CTG can dig in deep to help them achieve higher levels of productivity and collaboration. Despite their success, they may still be using only a fraction of what Microsoft 365 offers them.
• For those enterprises that were slowly working their way toward the cloud, we can help accelerate the transition while minimizing disruptions to the business — all while freeing their internal IT departments to focus on core technologies that drive business value.
• And for those who have, shall we say, had the cloud thrust upon them in the past few months, we can set them on the right path to ensure a successful transition from an office-based environment to one that accommodates the current realities. They can then use this time to decide on their business goals and measure performance, cost, and other factors to determine whether telecommuting is merely a bridge to returning to the office or should become a permanent option in the enterprise’s overall work strategy.

3 Ways CTG Can Help You Use Microsoft 365 to Your Fullest Advantage

Whether your company is struggling through the beginning stages of cloud implementation or just looking to optimize cloud collaboration to its fullest potential, our Microsoft 365 Services can help in three primary areas: 

1. Creating the road map.

For enterprises that are early in the cloud journey, CTG’s experts can evaluate the business, its goals, its current technologies, its workforce’s readiness, and other factors to develop the road map for effective cloud implementation and transition. For businesses further along in their journeys to the cloud, CTG's experts can take a step back to ensure cloud computing capabilities are a good match for these factors as well.

This service is valuable even to enterprises that plan to return all or most of their workforce to an office environment once the pandemic has subsided. Microsoft 365 offers a rich set of capabilities that help organizations collaborate and share information more efficiently to drive business value while delivering the highest levels of data security. The current situation is the perfect time to learn what it can do for your enterprise.

2. Leveraging the platform.

There is a huge difference between implementing Microsoft 365 and actually taking advantage of all it can do. Putting all the products and tools in place is just the first step. The real magic happens when business apps are configured and then tailored with enhanced functionality that meets the specific needs of your business. CTG can help enterprises quickly expand from individuals using paper, or simple Excel spreadsheets, in their daily work to achieving widespread cloud collaboration across a range of powerful applications — all without the long development cycles normally associated with this type of cloud implementation. The only limit is your imagination on where you want the business to go.

3. Support and use.

In an ideal world, once applications are implemented, they would be understood and enthusiastically adopted universally across the enterprise. Then again, in an ideal world, there wouldn’t be a global pandemic disrupting everything. Rather than having to develop your own power users or rely on your IT staff to understand all the details of every service, CTG can supply full or partial teams to support user requests for additional services. CTG’s experts can develop the applications, deploy them, train users, and manage the performance to ensure you are maximizing the value of your Microsoft 365 investment and reaping all the benefits of cloud computing.

One other advantage of turning to CTG for Microsoft 365 help is the partnerships we have developed across the Microsoft ecosystem of third-party products and add-ons. For example, while Microsoft 365 offers basic data backup capabilities, partners such as Keepit extend those capabilities to ensure faster, more comprehensive data back and recovery services.

CTG maintains a host of partnerships with top organizations offering enhancements to Microsoft 365 to ensure your deployment is optimized for your enterprise while remaining pain-free. And, of course, our status as a Microsoft Solutions Partner ensures we remain on top of the latest Microsoft 365 developments and road map while learning from the shared experience of the partner network, so we can help you keep your enterprise at the forefront of your industry.

Whether the cloud was part of your original technology road map or something you had thrust upon your enterprise, you want to be sure you’re deriving the maximum benefit from it. CTG’s new Microsoft 365 Services will help you get to where you’re going, no matter where you are on your journey to the cloud.

To learn more about how CTG can help you maximize your investment in Microsoft 365, check out this video.