Chances are, if you are using Office 365 for hosting your e-mail services, then you already have the rights to use additional services like OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, and Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Teams
If you haven’t looked at the new Microsoft Teams client, now would be the time. Microsoft is replacing the Skype for Business client with Teams. Teams give you so much more then the Skype features you may be familiar with like instant messaging and voice services. Teams also includes a platform to use for file sharing and collaboration. This can be used to replace file shares on your servers. Some of the benefits to moving your file sharing off of your on-premises servers into Teams are: never having to pay your IT services provider to migrate file shares from server to server during upgrades, not having to maintain local and off-site backups solutions for shared files, being able to access those files no matter where you are without VPN or other costly remote access services and being able to share and collaborate on documents with people inside and outside your organization.
SharePoint Online
Teams uses the power of SharePoint on the backend to manage the file sharing structure. Users have the choice of accessing the files via a web browser or using the Teams client. Teams can be configured without having any knowledge of SharePoint because all of the backend SharePoint work is done for you automatically when creating your individual Teams.
OneDrive for Business
We usually recommend using OneDrive for Business for the user’s personal files they may currently have stored on their workstations and using Teams for storing corporate related data that multiple users may need access too. Files stored in OneDrive for Business can be easily synchronized to the user’s workstations, so they can access those files whether they are on their corporate workstation or working remotely from another device. Both OneDrive for Business and Microsoft Teams have mobile apps as well.
Storing the user’s personal files on OneDrive for Business also saves time and money when it comes time to replace workstations due to the costs associated with migrating files from machine to machine. All you have to do is install the OneDrive for Business client and re-sync the user’s files to the new workstation. You also have the option of not syncing the files and only using Cloud storage in Office 365, this could also save money on hard drive costs. Since most workstations are never backed up this will give the users peace of mind knowing that their files will always be available even if they have a hardware failure.
Have any questions about the various services Office 365 can do for you in addition to e-mail? Please contact us at any time.
