Office 365 now available for corporates, SMEs, public

NEw Office comes with number of new tools, features that allow integration across multiple devices such as phones, PCs while remaining on the cloud

In an aggressive bid to deepen the penetration of cloud-based Office service in India, Microsoft on Monday announced the general availability of the next generation of the Office 365 for enterprises, corporate accounts, SMEs and consumers in the country. The new Office comes with a number of new tools and features that allows integration across multiple devices such as phones and PCs while remaining on the cloud.

The Office 365 suite for business is priced at $4 per user per month and goes up to $22, depending on level of features and tools that are availed of by an enterprise. Office 365 for small business is  available in retail for INR 9,119 for a 12-month subscription, while Office 365 Home Premium  - targeted at families- is pegged at Rs 4,199 annually.

The launch is followed by one of the biggest marketing and promotional campaigns for any Microsoft product in India, says Ramkumar Pichai, head of Office division. “It will help us to increase our penetration of Office product in the Small and Medium Business segment,” said Pichai.

By running their back end on the cloud, the subscription-based model help businesses to reduce their capex spends  on IT infrastructure, while increase productivity of employees by allowing them to work, share and collaborate across multiple platforms, he added. Social computing features come integrated in the latest version that has been optimised for use through touch, mouse and keypad.

”The next generation Office 365 unlocks social and mobility scenarios that will allow businesses and individuals to take full advantage of the cloud,” said  Bhaskar Pramanik, chairman, Microsoft Corporation India.

The next generation Office 365 comes bundled with Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Access, InfoPath and Publisher), Project and Visio. It includes updated Microsoft Lync Online, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Yammer. Office 365 can be installed on up to five devices for a single user under the Office 365 licensing.

Since its launch in mid-2011, Microsoft claims that Office 365 is one it’s fastest growing businesses globally.