If you stick with your existing version of Microsoft Office, it'll quickly be out of date. By 2020, Office 365 ProPlus will be the only version to receive any support or updates from Microsoft.
But is your organisation equipped internally for an Office 365 ProPlus deployment? And what do you need to consider to deploy ProPlus quickly and efficiently? We sat down with Michael Watkins, Senior Office 365 Consultant at Fastrack, to discuss why ProPlus is such an important consideration for an Office 365 deployment and the ongoing management of the platform.
Most IT pros are familiar with the automatic update features of Office 365 ProPlus. But there's a range of things that make ProPlus more user-friendly than its predecessors. For starters, each user is allowed five licenses, enabling much better mobile usability. And because all data is in the cloud, you can access Office 365 from any device and have the exact same experience, wherever you are.
Cloud based software and updating means Office 365 ProPlus can be accessed easily from any device. According to Michael, "The update model has completely changed. Security updates are delivered monthly, but to ensure stability for enterprises, feature updates are only released every 6 months. Currently, you have to do these cumbersome update roll-outs every month, but with ProPlus, it's automatic. You choose a group of UAT users to be in an accelerated ring, and the remainder of your business can be on the safer, more tried and tested enterprise ring."
ProPlus is the full client and mobile app experience that comes with Office 365 E3 and E5 licenses and we’ve all heard about mobile-first and we think it’s here to stay. If you work remotely, check out these best practices: https://t.co/FiRSB0spIg
"Office 365 ProPlus is a completely different product from the ground up. Although it feels identical to the traditional versions, in terms of delivering it and managing it - it's completely different. What they've been doing for the last 20 years has gone completely out the window."
That means that most organisations - even if they've successfully managed Office updates on their own in the past - likely won't have the staff, time or resources to manage the enterprise servicing and updating model for this release, on their own.
From Michael's experience, even well-equipped organisations haven't been entirely successful. "A common problem we see is businesses have rolled it out, but maybe haven't been able to setup the update component successfully, leaving them with a stagnant version of Office with no new features."
That's where we come in. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we have extensive experience in Office 365 deployment including ProPlus to organisations of all sizes. While your organisation will have to learn how to deploy ProPlus from the ground up, according to Michael, "we're constantly deploying ProPlus for enterprises of all sizes."
"I've already deployed ProPlus to many organisations, and they're all a bit different, meaning we learn something every time. In a normal organisation, you deploy once and never do it again because it's done. At Fastrack, we learn it all and get so much knowledge and experience that we can bring to you right away."