Office 365 Event - thank you for attending

Office 365 Event

Thank you to all those who attended our Office 365 Cloud Computing Event today, we hope you found the event worthwhile.

To recap we covered to following:
- What is the cloud
- Introduction to Office 365
- Outlook – the single common user Interface
- Using SharePoint via Outlook
- Using Microsoft Lync via Outlook
- Using Microsoft CRM via Outlook

We then demonstrated:
- Microsoft SharePoint as a standalone solution
- Microsoft Lync including enterprise telephony
- Microsoft CRM as a standalone solution
- Microsoft Office Online

Please post your comments of the day below, your feedback would be very much appreciated.
The event was hosted by:

 
Dean Spencer - Eitex Please follow us and like us at
Twitter: @eitexuk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/EitexUK

Keith Cockerham - FusionCRM
Please follow us and like us at
Twitter: @fusioncrm
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fusioncrm

Chris Thompson - Simply Unified
Please follow us and like us at
Twitter: @simply_unified
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/simplyunified

And the Xbox winner was Kevin Lincoln from Hevertech Ltd:

If you would like to discuss Office 365 in more detail, or arrange a free consultation please get in touch!

Win this Xbox

Originally uploaded by Eitex IT Support

Attend our Office 365 Event and win this Xbox!

GG Glass and Glazing - Cloud Promotes Nationwide Success

GG Glass and Glazing fit large scale shop windows and fronts for likes of Next, Marks and Spencer and many more high street names. They also offer a rapid break-fix response available. 24 hours a day.

**Register for one of our Office 365 Events**

Being a national company with a centralised call centre meant considerable investment in terms of leased lines, remote connectivity and server farms.

Eitex were recruited as GG wanted more from their system and also wanted to find ways to reduce their annual £100k plus IT support bill. At this stage GG had several leased lines, and a Citrix Farm at head office. Low end computers and / or thin clients were installed at each branch across the UK.

The new system which was designed by Eitex was based purely around Cloud technologies including:

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

CRM Online is used to manage the entire sales process. The system is available to everyone throughout the company and provides excellent reporting to allow instant bench-marking between regional offices.

• Microsoft SharePoint Online via Office 365

SharePoint was developed to allow sharing of company data, and allows the management team to collaborate on Projects seamlessly from different parts of the UK. Company knowledge and information has become more freely available which enhances performance and reduces lead times.

• Microsoft Exchange via Office 365

Exchange Online has allowed the company to store email for longer periods with hugh 25gb mailboxes. Strict size limits were enforced previously which the company found too restrictive. SPAM is no longer an issue thanks to Forefront Protection.

All machines were replaced at each branch office with standard desktop computers. This was the single largest expense for the company. The solution however has allowed GG to retire their Citrix Farm and leased lines and represents a saving of around 70% on their IT annual expenditure.

MD Mr. Grant commented "the new system is far more flexible and allows us to invest more freely in other areas of the business. Office 365 and CRM Online allows us to simply switch on new users which means new branches and offices are far easier to plan. The savings made have far exceeded our expectations as well."

The Cloud has removed the need for server farms and leased lines. If you would like to look at the possibilities Office 365 can offer your businesses please get in touch.

**Register for one of our Office 365 Events**

Free Microsoft Sponsored Cloud Seminar

The Cloud - Your Questions Answered

Eitex are hosting a number of free cloud seminars this year, the first event is to be in March (dates to be confirmed). Industry leaders Microsoft, FusionCRM and Simply Unified will also be presenting.

 

The seminars will cover:

• The cloud - what is it?
• Cloud products including Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, Lync and CRM Online
• Your questions answered - Q&A Session
• Business Benefits
• Xbox giveaway

Register your Interest:

To register your interest in the events please go to http://www.eitex.co.uk/office365events.asp

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!

Is it time to move your IT to the CLOUD?

Get your free Cloud Assessment today.

Lots of people are becoming aware of the cloud due to mass marketing from Microsoft, Google, Apple and such like. But how do you know whether it is the right time to move your IT, if you don’t really know what the cloud is?

Many people are asking the question – what is the cloud?

Free Cloud assessment:

Eitex are currently offering a free Cloud assessment to check the viability of moving your IT into the cloud. During the visit we will explain in simple terms what the cloud is, and how it can benefit your business.

Get in touch to arrange your free Cloud Assessment.

So what are the benefits of moving to the Cloud?

Here are just a few of the benefits your business could be exploiting right now:

• Increase the life of your existing equipment by moving services such as email, file and folders to the cloud
• Reduce IT support costs
• Always have the latest software including Microsoft Office for a low monthly cost
• Have your data available via any device, PC, Tablet, phone

If you are interested in what the Cloud can offer for your business, please get in touch to arrange one of our free Cloud Assessments.

Want a trial right now? Go to http://www.eitex.co.uk/office365

Kinect support for Windows 8?

Windows 8 is rumoured to have support for its ever popular Kinect.

Does this mean that people will be waving their arms around in the air instead of using a mouse? Minority Report springs to mind:

I'm sure I can see a Kinect there somewhere?

One exciting feature is face recognition where users will be able to logon by looking into the Kinect. Voice recognition will also become more mainstream reducing the need to a keyboard as well!

Exciting times.