More Flexibility And Productivity With Cloud Services Attendee Copy

Editor's Notes

• #2: Hello everyone and thanks for joining us. My name is Anita Mathis and I am the Senior Business Analyst at AMA Unified Communications – GA. We are Microsoft partners, small business specialists and licensing experts. Today’s session Greater Flexibility & Productivity “At Your Service” has been designed to:Give you a quick overview of why businesses like yours are investigating the value of incorporating cloud services into their business operationsProvide you with 3 key terms to be aware of in your searchTo tell you a little bit about Microsoft’s new cloud services offering – Office 365.Before we begin, please be aware that these slides are not set to automatically advance. To hear the audio, click the speaker icon at the bottom of each slide. When the audio portion completes, advance to the next slide.
• #3: The world of work is changing. All around us -- at home and at work -- we use more and more devices to live our lives.
• #4: While the culture of work and the way your employees get things done has changed dramatically, in many cases, the tools we provide them have remained the same.There needs to bea better way to get things done.
• #5: Wherever we go . So let’s take a look at some of the trends that are influencing the changing workplace…
• #6: Today’s knowledge workers juggle hectic schedules and endless lists of responsibilities. Even on vacation and during family time, they often need to stay current with what’s going on in the office. For example, Lisa is a business manager with a busy work schedule. She plans to take a family vacation and she decides to bring her own media tablet so that she can play games or read books for fun while checking her work items and review documents briefly.
• #7:  Frank is an architect and is constantly on the road. Frank’s main concern is staying connected to the resources he needs.
• #8: Holly is a busy professional and a soccer mom. She tries hard to balance busy workload while participating in her children’s activities. As she drives her children to different practices she needs a mobile work solution that allows her to work anywhere and anytime when she can and wants to. And the device of Holly’s choice to work is her phone –because it is small and she carries it with her at all times.
• #9: As the world of work changes, so do our technology needs.
• #10: However, in the current economic environment, businesses are pressed for time and money, they need to know that the investments that they are making in technology will provide them with returns that they can begin to realize immediately. They want to make the most of their limited budget and want practical solutions that increase revenue, reduce costs, and help their businesses run more efficiently and competitively today. Industry analysts and experts agree and here are some of their recent quotes.
• #11: So your organization’s technology strategy is more important than ever and you need to provide your people the tools they need to get they job done in a world that is very different than just a few years ago.
• #12: To meet this need, Microsoft has developed a host of cloud computing technologies that allow you to create a more flexible workplace using the on-premise hardware you may already have with services available in both private and public clouds. Today we’ll focus on the new public cloud service, Office 365, which began available in 2011.
• #13: Before transitioning into that segment, we’d like to highlight the 5 phases your organization will take as you begin to enable a more flexible workplace.Phase 1 begins with assessing your business needs. This simply means you’ll be assessing the unique needs of your business and how technology can help propel strategic imperatives. Phase 2 requires you to understand your users. Understanding the needs of your users and the variety of roles, tasks, and styles that come with each personPhase 3 you’ll consider the Essentials (not the nice to haves.) Considering the essentials such as security, cost, and compliance and ensuring that these are not compromisedIn Phase 4, you’ll Evaluate the technologies. Included in this are enabling technologies such as virtualization, cloud computing, mobile devices, etc.In the final phase, Phase 5, Exploring a pilot program to test out the benefits of enabling a flexible work environment in your organization.At the end of the presentation today, we’ll provide you with a special officer only available at this time to viewers of this presentation. Included in it is a tip about your use of Office Professional Plus, should you sign up for the trial through us.Be on the lookout for it.
• #14: No doubt you’ve heard the terms cloud and cloud computing applied to a variety of things and might be wondering exactly what is cloud computing?Cloud computing can be broken down to the basic categories- software as a service, which will talk a bit more about today,platform as a service and infrastructure as a service.Lets begin with Infrastructure as a service. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a model for provisioning hardware (compute, storage, networking, etc...) to the end user where management of the underlying fabric is controlled by the provider, but the end user maintains control of the operating system and applications installed within. This system usually includes a metered-by use cost model and allows the end user to expand/contract their use of the infrastructure as needed, usually via self-service portals. Providers of these services include: FastHosts, Go Daddy, Rackspace, Amazon EC2, vCloud Express Services (e.g., BlueLock, Hosting.Com, Melboure IT, Terremark), and private clouds deployed/managed by IT as service to business units (internalIT’s end-customers), Azure Service with the VM RolePlatform as a Service(PaaS) is a model for delivering complete development platforms as a cloud service. PaaS offerings facilitate development, testing, deployment and on-going maintenance of applications without the cost of buying the underlying infrastructure and software environments. Examples include: Microsoft Azure Platform, Google App Engine, VMforce.comSoftware as a Service (SaaS) is a model where an application is delivered over the Internet and customers pay on a per-use basis. It is the most common form of cloud computing delivered today. Popular names you may be familiar with include. Hosted Exchange, Salesforce.com
• #15: Lets learn a bit more about software as a service.
• #16: Software as a Service (SaaS) is a model where an application is delivered over the Internet and customers pay on a per-use basis. It is the most common form of cloud computing delivered today. Lets take a look at how it compares to the software you’re probably using today. Finished – Today’s applications are installed locally and purchased per machine.SaaS follow a user wherever he or she goes and are paid by subscription.Deployment – Today’s software requires time-consumingdeployment to physical machines. SaaS can be rolled out via the web.1:Many – Today’s software is attached to the machine its installed on. SaaS can serve many machineUpdates – Today’s software requires updating of individual machines. SaaS updates automatically in the cloud.CAPEX/OPEX – Today’s software is often incurred as a capital expense. SaaS can be shifted to an operational expense.Usage – Today’s software is allocated per machine or user. SaaS can be measured by overall usage.
• #17: In summary, there are 6 very good reasons to consider the use of Saas in your business. 1.Reduce Costs – ongoing IT operational costs and capital investment costs (servers, IT equipment) reduced, cloud technology is paid incrementally, saving organization money2.Agility- No longer having to worry about constant server updates and other computing issues, organizations will be free to concentrate on innovation. 3.More Mobility - Employees can access information wherever they are, rather than having to remain at their desks4.Highly Automated – No longer do you need to worry about keeping software up to date5.Easy Implementation: Without the need to purchase hardware, software licenses or implementation services, a company can get its cloud-computing arrangement off the ground in record time — and for a fraction of the cost of an on-premises solution6.End-UserProductivity: Extend productivity to all users
• #18: AMA Unified Communications and Microsoft have many offerings in software as a service today. Our primary focus is Office 365.Microsoft® Office 365 delivers the power of cloud productivity to businesses of all sizes, helping to save time, money and free up valued resources. Office 365takes advantage of the familiar Office desktop suite with cloud-based versions of Microsoft’s next-generation communications and collaboration services: Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online. Office 365 is simple to use and easy to administer – all backed by the robust security and guaranteed reliability you expect from a world-class service provider.In addition, we have Dynamics CRM for customer relationship management from the cloud and InTune to simplifies how businesses manage and secure PCs using Windows cloud services and Windows 7—so your computers and users can operate at peak performance, from virtually anywhere.. All are finished services that can help you focus on your core business goals.
• #19: We find here that simplicity is the key and Microsoft has a simple approach to making productivity easier. Microsoft is focused on providing the best productivity experience across the PC, the phone, and the browser. Some of our competitors focus on improving productivity using the PC and but not through your browser or phone. Some of them are completely browser-based. They have no rich client and they have no phone. Microsoft believes that your users, and you as users, really do want to use the PC, the phone, and the browser in your daily world and that you want to be able to get to your email, no matter what device you’re using. You want to be able to get to your Office documents, no matter what device you’re using. And Microsoft is making that possible by providing the best productivity experience across the PC, the phone, and the browser with Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Exchange 2010. 2. These Productivity Solutionsgive you the flexibility you need to gradually move to the cloud using Microsoft’s technology. It means that if you’re like Starbucks, you may continue to use Microsoft technology in your headquarters operation on-premises. But Starbucks has rolled out 18,000 laptops to all of their cafes in the United States. Those 18,000 laptops are running Windows 7. And those 18,000 laptops are using Exchange Online and SharePoint Online. And it’s integrated in with their headquarters operations. So you can send email to anyone in the company. But the 18,000 new users, who’ve never had our technology before, now are using our cloud, and the rest of corporate headquarters are actually using the traditional on-premises technology. Microsoft hasother customers like Coca-Cola Enterprises, who’s gone 100 percent to the cloud and they’re not using any servers when it comes to Exchange and SharePoint. And so you can have the cloud on your terms. We believe that is very, very important, and we’re dedicated to helping you think about how to use the cloud in the most effective way.3. Microsoft’s vision for what productivity actually is likely the broadest one available. Productivity is not about desktop documents. It’s not about word processing and spreadsheets. That was twenty years ago. Microsoft believes modern productivity combines the things you see at the bottom of this slide in a very seamless experience and we agree.No other company takes this broad of view of what productivity means.
• #20: Let’s focus a bit more on Microsoft Office 365. One of the first things I appreciated about it when I began using it was how easy it was to administer and use. It definitely got many IT professionals worried because it eliminated the need for you to have a technician come into your office to install software and updates.As a business owner, I was impressed by the robust security and guaranteed reliability you’d expect from a world class provider. The per month user pricing can be as low as $2 a month for someone who only needs access to email up to $27 per user per month for their top of the line service. The enterprise level subscriptions includes:Microsoft® Office Professional PlusThe world’s leading productivity tool now seamlessly connected and delivered with cloud services – for the best productivity experience across the PC, Phone and Browser. Note this is the Plus Edition with is only available to our clients who have purchased through volume licensing. Exchange OnlineCloud-based email, calendar and contacts with always-up-to-date protection from viruses and spam.SharePoint OnlineCloud-based service for creating sites to connect colleagues, partners and customers.Lync OnlineCloud-based instant messaging, presence, and online meeting experiences with PC-audio, video conferencing and screen sharing.
• #23: If your organization has aging PBX systems and believes VOIP would help you address that problem, you maydecide, like Energizer, to take advantage of hosted voice capabilities from Microsoft based on Office Communications Online (now called Lync Online now part of Office 365. Lync is an amazing service.In fact, Microsoft partner, Global Crossing worked with Energizer and Microsoft to tailor and deploy a VoIP solution that allows them to consolidate PBX systems, reducing expensive maintenance costs. Because it’s a cloud-based system, it can follow employees anywhere they have a PC and IP connection. Employees can also take advantage of rich voice-mail features such as Voice-Mail Preview, which converts voice-mail messages to e-mail that workers can access and respond to through Outlook on their desktop or mobile phone. Energizer can also enable employees to receive calls through it on both their computers and their mobile phones, and provide employees with the ability to conduct multiparty audio and video conferencing.Setting up for deployment of the new voice capabilities was easy. Microsoft arranged the voice connection and Energizer set up a contract and billing, making for a smooth transition with the voice carrier.
• #25: Here you see a list of the services we provide.
• #26: In summary, if cost and simplicity are important to your productivity plan, Office 365 may be a good fit because:you’ll reduce costHave greater flexibilityCan get more done in and out of the officeBe more agileBe able to implement the technology easilyGet what you expect, more end user productivity.
• #27: Wanted to give you an idea of the cost savings you could experience by using a cloud service over a 3 year period, which is typical. Take a minute to look it over.It goes without saying, you can expect to save a significant amount of money up front by not having to invest in new hardware and maintenance and over time.
• #28: So what are the next steps?
• #29: We recommend partnering with a trusted advisor, someone who 1 – 5AMA Unified Communications can help you get started today by talking with you about your organizations challenges and point you in the direction of the Office 365 trial that is best suited for you.Here’s that offer I referenced in the eariler slide: Our company will save you the time needed jump starting your trial by gathering the necessesary information from you to set up your trial. We do this all of the time and can do it more quickly than you can. We will help your team take advantage of the different features available during the month. We find that without partner support, businesses allow the trial to end without ever having using it. At the end of the trial, you’ll be able to convert that trial to a paid subscription or get started with a fresh new subscription. Either way we can help.
• #31: Now we’ll take time for questions. Feel free to email us at info@ama-unified-communications.comThanks for attending. Visit our website to find out about upcoming webinars and presentations.