Azure Cloud & Hybrid IT

‘The cloud’ is a general term, which covers any number of services that are typically delivered over the Internet. Cloud services include Microsoft Azure, Intune and Office 365, Hotmail, Google Mail, Amazon Web Services and many more.

A cloud solution and an equivalent on-premises solution may provide similar functionality but the on-premises solution will require hardware, operating systems, management, backup and other tasks whilst the cloud solution requires none of this.

Yes, internet access is a pre-requisite.

Currently, an Office 365 tenancy can only reside in one location.  However, users in other parts of the world  may make use of the global Microsoft network for better performance, depending on the application they are using.

If you have migrated into Office 365 and later decide that you wish to move to another platform then you are free to do so.  Of course, there will be a migration process to go through to extract the data, etc.

A Microsoft account allows Microsoft to authenticate users, which is a requirement to be able to use Office 365

Office 365 is the suite of products including Exchange and SharePoint, Office is the desktop product that provides Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.  Office is actually required to make best use of Office 365.
Some plans include a version of desktop Office called Office ProPlus

Office 365 ProPlus, the version of Office bought with some Office 365 plans, allows installation on up to 5 devices.  Office Professional Plus, the traditional desktop product, only allows one installation.

Yes, in most cases it is possible to switch from one plan to another.

Yes, there are some options to mix different plans.  This might, for example, support a mix of low-use consumers and high use creator-type employees.

Silversands can provide a trial key and evaluation advice on request.

The security of Office 365 is a very important element of the service.  The Microsoft data centres are ISO27001 and 27018 certified and the services themselves are protected by various security features including data encryption.  Microsoft has created a site specifically to cover virtually any security-related questions or concerns. Click here for details.

All data stored in Office 365 remains your property.  Microsoft engineers do not have standing access to customer data.

For the majority of plans an Exchange Online mailbox is 50Gb but E3 and E5 the limit will be 100Gb

The feature is dependent on your licence and can be added to almost any licence if not included.  On Exchange Online Archive is unlimited but initially capped to 100Gb.

Older versions of Exchange may require a more complicated migration process but there will be no data loss. Please visit this case study for more information.

The location of email and documents in Office 365 is based on the region that you select when the tenancy is created.   For European customers, data may be stored in Ireland, Netherlands, Austria and Finland.  For customers using the new UK region, the data will be stored in London and Durham. Click her for details. You will need to sign in

Yes, you can create what is known as a hybrid configuration, which allows users to be split across the two platforms.  Full mail flow will be as expected but mailbox delegation, sharing and calendar access will not be fully available.

Migrating a user from on-premises Exchange to Exchange Online can be achieved in a number of ways.  The typical method used for organisations is known as a hybrid migration and is virtually transparent to users, requiring only a restart of Outlook (and possibly a re-profiling of their mobile device)

It is possible for users to manage their distribution lists but, typically, this requires that they are re-created in Office 365.

Skype for Business is primarily a communication and collaboration tool.  It allows users to communicate and work with one another using a number of different methods including instant messaging (real time type and response), desktop audio/video and audio/video conferencing with multiple parties.  Skype also provides presence information to show whether a user is available, busy or away, and full telephony capabilities.

Skype is the public instant messaging/audio service and provides similar functionality to Skype for Business.  The latter provides standardisation of corporate naming, policies and greater levels of functionality.

Skype for Business allows you to connect to anyone in an external organisation if that organisation has Skype for Business Online, on-premises, Lync or public Skype.  This can be controlled through policy, if required.

Apart from communications, it is also possible to share your desktop, to present a PowerPoint deck, to show a whiteboard and to conduct instant polls.

Office 2016, the latest version runs on any PC running Windows 7 or later.  Office 2016 for Mac runs on OSX 10.10 or later

Yes, Office is available for Android, iOS and Windows mobile devices.

Document fidelity is maintained as far as possible across all platforms (desktop, browser, mobile) but very complex documents may not render the same as on desktop Office.

If you need to share documents with users of Office 2003 or earlier then you can save in a legacy format.

Office 365 ProPlus, the version of Office bought with some Office 365 plans, allows installation on up to 5 devices.  Office Professional Plus, the traditional desktop product, only allows one installation.

Office 365 comes with a built-in support service that can be accessed through the portal.  This can be supplemented with a Silversands support service, if desired.

Silversands has been working with Office 365 since its original incarnation (called BPOS) and has implemented and migrated for many organisations, large and small, across Exchange, SharePoint and Skype.

Silversands can provide end-to-end consultancy for design, implementation, configuration, migration and support.  Having been around for 30 years, we have a deep level of experience of the on-premises versions of Exchange, Skype and SharePoint, which enables us to fully understand all aspects of an Office 365 migration.