Microsoft 365 showcased in India, geared towards SMEs and enterprises

Microsoft 365 can allow for one solution to ensure setting up of company-issued devices with the right data policies, as well as deploy these policies to personal devices.

Microsoft 365 India small medium businesses Windows 10

The idea with Microsoft 365 is to provide all tools from the company under one package to an enterprise and SME.

Microsoft 365, which is a new solution from the software giant has been showcased for the Indian market. Microsoft 365 aims to combine Windows 10, Office 365 and Enterprise mobility as one complete package for enterprises, small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India. The idea with Microsoft 365 is to allow enterprises to have more control over their data, ensure seamless setting up for employees and streamline the IT management system as a whole.

According to a Microsoft study called Workplace 2020, more and more employees are using their own devices and also checking personal emails on company-issued devices, which increases potential security risks. Additionally the study showed that many IT based device manufacturers (67 per cent) felt there was a need to reduce complexity of managing of IT security.

The idea with Microsoft 365 is to provide all tools from the company under one package to an enterprise and SME. Microsoft 365 can allow for one solution to ensure setting up of company-issued devices with the right data policies, as well as deploy these policies to personal devices.

“As the workplace is transforming—from changing employee expectations, to more diverse and globally distributed teams, we are seeing a new culture of work emerging. We are incredibly enthusiastic about Microsoft 365 and how it will help customers and partners drive growth and innovation to embrace this modern culture of work,” said Alok Lall, Partner Technology Lead, Microsoft India.

Microsoft will offer this tool in three SKUs: Microsoft 365 Enterprise is geared for bigger companies, Microsoft 365 Business is meant for SMBs, while Microsoft 365 Firstline is meant for the firstline worker, those in customer service or those on the production line. The company plans to charge Rs 661 per user per month from companies that opt for the Microsoft 365 product.

“Most enterprises or SMEs don’t have resources that are plenty. So then how can we help people achieve more, no matter what the device be it Android or iOS or whatever browser you are using. So we have something called ‘Always-on’ Security which goes beyond traditional security like say a firewall at work. We also offer simplification of business, where a company can set up/ onboard their employee in just 10 minutes,” explains Lall.

The idea with ‘Always-on’ security is that with Microsoft 365 the IT admin can simply enable policies for even personal devices and protect important company data. So even if the device is lost or stolen, the company data will get wiped automatically, thus ensuring less data risk for companies. The policies can also allow for restrictions on copy-pasting of company data.

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Microsoft 365 can also be used to deploy Windows 10 via a new Windows Autopilot capability. This would allow the company’s policies, settings to be deployed on a new employee’s laptop and of this is done via the cloud server. “The advantage with this is that I can just ship the laptop to my remote worker in say Ghaziabad. He just logs in with this employee id and the settings are automatically applied. So the person does not even have to come to office to set up. Now any Windows 10 device can be ready with this feature,” explained Lall.

Microsoft 365 Business will include the Office 365 suite as well with access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; and Microsoft Teams. Microsoft’s clients in India for Microsoft 365 include enterprises like HCL Technologies and Mindtree Consulting and VirtusaPolaris.