Use Office 365 comprehensively on the move - but how?

Acceptance of cloud services is growing steadily among Swiss companies. This applies in particular to Office 365, Microsoft's combination of online service, Office web application and software subscription. Because the apps for mobile devices are now also becoming increasingly sophisticated and versatile, many companies would like to make them available to their employees on smartphones and tablets. Since Microsoft announced its intention to operate its own data center in Switzerland, IT managers have become even more aware of this topic and it is likely to become increasingly attractive when it goes into operation next year at the latest. Another reason for the increased use of apps in Office 365 is the fact that many applications in the business editions are subscribed to automatically, but are not or not yet used in practice. Yet alternative applications could be abandoned with an Office 365 subscription in particular, thereby saving costs. In addition, individual apps such as the chat application Teams or the digital notepad One Note can be initiators for the mobile integration of Office 365. For the latter, there are hardly any mobile alternatives in terms of user-friendliness. In addition, users are familiar with it and want to use the application on the go. However, the improved availability and functionality of Office 365 on mobile devices is likely to increase the pressure on existing services, which until now have been licensed separately. After all, in addition to the question of licensing costs, collaboration with external app developers is also fraught with special, additional challenges. There is therefore a lot to be said for the comprehensive use of the Office suite not only on PCs and laptops, but also on smartphones and tablets. However, most companies do not know what to expect when integrating Office 365 into mobile devices and how to approach the issue. After all, when it comes to business use, mobile devices remain a separate issue for corporate IT, with their own peculiarities and challenges.

Challenges
Of course, the first thing to do when using Office 365 on the move is to accept that the data will be stored in Microsoft's cloud. Because the protection of business data must be ensured and requirements in this regard vary from company to company, the first thing to do is to clarify the situation in detail. Depending on the type of data or the business area concerned, the initial situation and requirements can be very individual. As uncertain as many are about the question of integrating Office 365 into mobile devices, the expectations of management for a quick implementation are just as high. Nevertheless, it is important to pay attention to certain aspects when making such a forward-looking decision. If you want to ensure the successful and efficient use of Office 365 mobile apps, user-friendliness, support and security must be guaranteed in the same way as with on-premises operation and desktop computing.

Security, usability and support
The top priority in the integration of any application must be user-friendliness in addition to security, even with mobile use of Office 365. The user wants a simple set-up and a largely familiar usability. This also applies to the private use of the device, on which Office 365 as an app should have no influence. Mobile cloud computing should also have as little impact as possible on the quality of support. This must be guaranteed as with any other application. As with on-premises platforms, either internal or external people are needed to deal with employee problems and the commissioning and testing of new functionalities. Such tasks sometimes arise at very short notice, because the trend towards mobile use of cloud software is accompanied by the services being updated more and more widely and in shorter cycles, and the knowledge for this is sometimes not yet available. This can be the case because the necessary personnel is lacking or because the topic is becoming more complex when new releases are being installed by the manufacturer in the background at ever shorter intervals. It should be helpful here that "mobile monitoring services" have recently made it possible to monitor all infrastructures (cloud and on-premises, including mobile devices). This makes it possible to proactively identify support problems before they reach the service manager. In addition, questions such as BYOD in connection with security and data protection must not be left unanswered. Either way, the appropriate know-how regarding security, service management and support must be available for a smooth process.

Conclusion
Microsoft cloud services, and Office 365 in particular, have been talked about for years. The general breakthrough of mobile and cloud computing is now accompanied by a stronger demand for mobile use of as many functionalities of the services (Office 365 or other cloud services) as possible. For most companies, it should also make sense to provide their various user groups with as many of the extensive functionalities as possible on smartphones and tablets, depending on their requirements. However, instead of wanting everything at once, a controlled, continuous introduction of individual services is recommended. In doing so, a separate team does not necessarily have to be set up and permanently provided for integration and support. But it will not work without a dedicated internal or external team responsible for integration. Cooperation with an external, vendor-independent system integrator who specializes in mobile device management, unified endpoint management and Microsoft Cloud is likely to make sense and should therefore be considered.