Last year, when Microsoft announced Office 365, a cloud-based version of Office, the company said that it wanted to bring a new full-powered productivity solution to companies and educational institutions that would best the competition. Over the last several months, it has allowed beta testers to try out the service to determine if it achieved that goal. Now, after a long wait, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer plans to officially launch Office 365 on June 28. And when he does so, he will be ushering in a new era in Microsoft’s business. However, whether or not Office 365 will succeed is still an unknown. Unlike Windows or Microsoft’s standard Office product, its latest entry isn’t a sure bet. Channel partners are reluctant to push Office 365 because Microsoft plans to handle the billing itself. And enterprise and educational institutions will need to determine if Office 365 is even right for them. Will it have all the features it needs to be worth it? Can Microsoft take Office to the cloud successfully? Here’s a look at what Microsoft’s Office 365 will need to succeed in today’s increasingly competitive cloud-based productivity-solutions market.
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A Clear Vision
Microsoft must deliver a clear vision of Office 365 to customers. Why should they opt for its productivity suite over all others? What sets this apart from its standard Office and other solutions that can replace it? Without a clear vision articulated to customers, Microsoft will be unable to make Office 365 a success.
A Clear Advantage Over Google Apps
Currently, business users that want a full suite of productivity solutions from Google can have them by paying $50 per user per year. That offering includes Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar, and more—a value price. Now, the onus is on Microsoft to prove why Office 365 offers a clear advantage over Google Apps that enterprise users would want to capitalize on.
Solid Design
There’s nothing worse than launching a product that doesn’t work as promised. So far beta testers have been quite pleased with the design of Office 365 and how it allows users to quickly and easily perform tasks. Now Microsoft must make its case to the overall market, and only solid design can do that.
A Clear Necessity For Offline Office Users
Many companies use and are generally happy with their current versions of Microsoft Office. To sell Office 365, Microsoft will need to make those companies understand why it’s better than simply sticking with what they already have. Making that case might not be so simple—but it will be necessary.
More Simplicity
Customers who are considering adopting Office 365 might find themselves confused by the many different versions available with many different pricing schemes depending on what customers are after. Google, on the other hand, charges a flat $50 per user per year fee for its productivity offering. If Microsoft wants Office 365 to be a success, it will need to make it more understandable.
High-Powered Functionality
Enterprise view cloud-based applications with skepticism when it comes to power and performance. Microsoft will need to make it that performance is not an issue with Office 365. If Office 365 is more powerful than alternatives, as it appears to be, Microsoft must promote that.
Large Enterprise Support
Office 365 will simply not succeed without help from major enterprise organizations.The larger companies in today’s business world help lead charges when it comes to business-solution adoption. When big firms opt for products, eventually, smaller firms fall in line behind them. If Microsoft can’t find a way to attract large organizations with Office 365, it might lose out on the key small-business sector.
Long-Term Potential
When CIOs are considering adopting solutions in their companies, they need to believe that a particular product will succeed over the long-term. For now, there’s no guarantee of that when it comes with Office 365. But if Microsoft can appeal to large organizations after the product launches and show CIOs that the long-term potential of the platform is real it will have a much better chance of seeing Office 365 succeed.
A Microsoft Feel
By the looks of things, Office 365 will come with the well-known and decidedly appealing Microsoft feel. When users load up the solution and try out its many different applications, they will feel at home. That’s vastly important to Office 365’s success. Without that Microsoft feel, customers might run the other way. And that’s the last thing Microsoft needs.
The Right Sales Pitch
As with any other product, having a good sales pitch for Office 365 is integral to the platform’s success. As mentioned, convincing IT decision-makers on why they should opt for Office 365 over another solution won’t be easy. If Microsoft wants to see Office 365 succeed, the company will need to deliver a sales pitch not only that IT staff understand, but also causes them to think seriously about opting for the solution. A solid Office 365 sales pitch means everything.
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