Microsoft offers a rich variety of products and services aimed at enterprise users — but when it comes to naming them, the team at Redmond can get into a bit of a rut.
Consider the case of Office 365 and Microsoft 365. Each offers a different value proposition to your buyers, but many of them have a hard time differentiating the two.
First, a quick review of what these offerings have in common, and what sets them apart.
Office 365 (which started shipping in 2011) is a cloud-base suite of productivity applications that includes such staples as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Individual users or organizational IT departments can configure subscriptions with other optional tools, such as Teams, OneDrive and Skype for business.
Microsoft 365 (which launched just two years ago) is another cloud-based subscription service that includes Office 365 as well as a set of tools for enterprise networks, such as Windows 10 Enterprise and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility and Security. Buyers can choose among different subscription plans or subscribe to the services a la carte.
Petri.com asked IT leaders about which software they’ve adopted. Almost 69% of respondents said they’d already migrated to Office 365, and another 11.6% said they’d make the switch in 2020.
Meanwhile, 52.6% of Petri.com readers said they’d already moved to Microsoft 365 — a high number for this young product, but with plenty of room to grow.
So what will induce the balance of Office 365’s enterprise users to migrate to the bigger-ticket Microsoft 365? The top barrier was cost, according to 44% of respondents, followed by complexity, which was a distant second at 25.9%. What’s more, 17.2% cited redundancy of features with Office 365 as a reason to hold off.
If your enterprise buyers are hesitating to take the leap, here are some tips for helping them jump in. Microsoft 365 represents:
A one-stop shop. Subscribing to Microsoft 365 packs an enterprise Windows license, productivity software, and end-to-end security in one bundle, making it far easier to deploy and maintain the software.
Smoother, safer migration from Windows 7. Plenty of shops still support this OS, and a subscription to Microsoft 365 extends security for it — an option that’s pricy when purchase on its own.
Security, security, security. Petri.com readers are loud and clear that security is their top concern when it comes to IT infrastructure. Microsoft 365’s comprehensive security features create seamless end to end. Lacking a component or using a competing product such as Google Docs may open gaps in security — a top concern among Petri.com buyers.
Bottom line: Microsoft 365 is coming on strong among buyers who read Petri.com, and a few clear talking points are likely to get them off the fence.
