Microsoft has announced the commercial launch of its cloud productivity service, Office 365, in SA. Depending on the configuration users opt for, the service pricing starts at R46,50 per user per month and goes up to R170,75 for the full suite.
Office 365 was launched in SA in November 2011 and has been available as a free trial since then.
Melanie Botha, Microsoft SA’s marketing and operations leader, says users get new software features and upgrades as soon as they are available and costs that would traditionally be capital intensive can now be spread over time as operating expenses. This, she believes, makes it compelling for small and medium-sized businesses.
The subscription includes online versions of Exchange, SharePoint and Lync for e-mail, document management and unified communications. Certain subscription plans also add Office Pro Plus that provides offline capabilities for Word, Excel, Outlook and the rest of the Office desktop suite.
“Moving to the cloud with Office 365 doesn’t require a business to change the way it works because the service is based on familiar productivity tools … such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Access,” Botha says.
“Employees get new ways to work together with ease, on virtually any device or mobile phone, and businesses get the reliability, security and IT controls they need in the cloud, even without dedicated IT staff.”
Businesses can try Office 365 for free for 30 days. — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media