Office365 - bridging the gap between on-premise and the cloud

Switching on Office 365 is easy, you simply choose the service or package you want, enter your payment details and away you go! It's certainly much easier than installing as server to do the same job.

But where does this leave my dusty old servers? Are they still needed? I better not switch them off just in case.

What about my email, how do you get it from the server to the cloud? Also I have read that I can access my documents from home and on the go, how do I do that?

The office365.com website is great, but I can never just find the answer I need for 'my' business.

Welcome Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Partner!
Luckily Microsoft recommended a Cloud Partner that could work with me and my business. They recommended Eitex in this instance who took the time to understand my business, and the steps I needed to take to get my business into the cloud.

We didn't move everything in one go, in fact we started with email. Eitex performed an 'email migration' to get my email to the cloud. I was then able to switch off my Exchange email server.

Then with a little SharePoint development I was able to move company files and folders to the cloud which were accessible to everyone. We didn't switch off the File Server as Eitex suggested a blended approach. We dont need old data in the cloud, so it made sense to leave old data on the server!

There are some exciting new communication tools also called Lync which gives functionality I never had before. This includes working on documents together with colleagues in other offices, video conferencing and private instant messaging.

We are now looking to move our CRM system to the cloud, another exciting journay there I'm sure.

I finally saw the real value of Office 365, but importantly the Microsoft Cloud Partner who helped me get there!