Recent research by cloud management software company SkyKick suggests that among U.S. small and medium businesses (SMBs), 83% have yet to use Office 365 in some form. So what’s holding back SMBs from adopting cloud-based services that can help them reduce costs and improve productivity?
Smaller companies have generally had less exposure to the industry dynamics of cloud infrastructure and software as a service (SaaS). The research of 109,000 SMBs found that the industries with the highest percentage of SMBs using Microsoft Office 365 were industrial companies, tech-focused business services organizations, and white collar business services.
And as the size of the business increases, the higher the likelihood that it will adopt Office 365. While businesses with more than 10 employees have more than double the Office 365 adoption rates of businesses with under 10 employees, nearly 17% of businesses between 51 and 250 employees use Office 365 versus the average of 7.5% across all SMBs.
While larger enterprises have IT staff that can analyze the opportunity to migrate to cloud-based business and productivity services, SMBs often lack these internal resources. SMB executives remain focused on running their businesses, and venturing into the world of cloud services can be perceived as confusing, technically overwhelming, and even frightening.
Switching from a license-based to a subscription-based software utilization model requires an SMB to conduct a careful analysis that can potentially divert finance and IT staff from their jobs. The reality is that most SMBs are likely postponing migration to Office 365 because they either don’t know where to begin migration or are not equipped internally to conduct a thorough analysis to determine whether Office 365 migration is in their best economic interests.
Office 365 presents a very different way of licensing because it is a subscription-based service that is licensed per user. It gives SMBs the familiarity and power of Office with the flexibility of the cloud. With Office 365, a user’s applications and files are with them wherever you go, and always up to date.
Connection has the tools and the expertise to help your organization successfully migrate to Office 365 using proven, best practices. Through our Microsoft Licensing Optimization (MLO) process, we will help you evaluate whether Office 365 is the right choice for your business, and we’ll develop and manage a solid implementation plan if you decide to move forward with Office 365.
We’ve built tools to help assess your readiness and plan for a successful migration. Both our MLO and Readiness Assessment are built entirely by our team of in-house experts, who have helped SMBs from every industry make this important decision.
The Connection Software Practice offers unbiased services that can help you quickly and efficiently evaluate whether you should build out your premises-based infrastructure or migrate to Office 365. Then we can help you implement the buildout or migration so you can complete your project quickly and efficiently. If you’d like to find out more, please complete this information request form.
