Changes?
Over the last few weeks we have seen many posts by Microsoft and other news networks about some of the up and coming changes to the Microsoft Office 365 platform.
Which Plans are Changing?
At present we are only aware of changes happening to the Business Premium plan, and some sources have indicated some of the changes will also be coming to Enterprise plans like E3 and ProPlus.
Whats the changes?
Microsoft Access
Microsoft have moved it’s database product called “Access” from higher plans and add-ons to Business Premium. For small businesses Access was a great program for custom data collection and reporting; and is a much welcomed move.
To read the official announcement from Microsoft click the following link.
Microsoft Bookings
Microsoft Bookings makes managing online appointments easy for small businesses and their customers. With a few steps, a business owner sets up an online booking page which their customers can use to make appointments online, 24/7.
Bookings helps business owners save time by reducing the amount of scheduling and re-scheduling of appointments, for both customers and employees.
There is also a function with this that will allow you to connect this directly into your Facebook account, to read more about this feature see Microsoft’s blog.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is the chat-centered workspace in Office 365. It is a smarter way of working as an essential hub for your chats, content, people and tools to keep the team connected.
To read the official blog visit Microsoft’s site here.
MileIQ
Microsoft purchased MileIQ back in 2015, and is possibly looking to integrate this into Office 365.
We don’t know too much on this yet, but the mobile app looks good and can already be accessed via https://www.mileiq.com/
Outlook Customer Manager
Microsoft is adding another new service to its Business Premium plan called Outlook Customer Manager. Microsoft described the service as a tool for managing customer relationships from inside Outlook.
Outlook Customer Manager automatically organizes customer information like emails, meetings, tasks, deals and deadlines in a timeline next to users’ inboxes.
Will the plans price increase?
Microsoft have said that these changes will be included in the current pricing bracket. Something that Microsoft cannot tell us is what will happen to prices due to inflation or Brexit.
Other Rumors
We like a good rumor here, but ones like this from Microsoft sound good and can really benefit Small to Medium sized business. Rumors of other business applications are: –
- Invoice – Get paid faster by generating invoices on the go
- Spend – Go receipt free and track all your expenses for finances and taxes
- Point – Get more word of mouth referrals from your satisfied customers
- Presence – Establish yourself online simply and confidently track your web presence
The source of these rumors is MSPowerUser.com