Microsoft Partners Foresee Gain in Office 365 Use

A vast majority of Microsoft partners expect an increase in their customers' adoption of Office 365 in the next 12 months, and most expect this increase to be significant, according to the findings of a recent survey from Harmon.ie. The report reveals that these partners are looking to open new revenue streams through cloud/Office 365 and many plan to build new service offerings for customers. In turn, customers are adopting Microsoft's "always-up-to-date cloud service" in hopes of cutting costs and expanding collaborative capabilities and access to current business apps. To satisfy these demands, partners will need to raise their visibility in this market. "The simplicity of deploying cloud services creates a significant opportunity for partners to build multi-vendor cloud solutions for customers that bring best-of-breed solutions together to meet unique needs," according to the report. "Integration of these solutions into single work streams will be imperative to maximize their potential and return on investment." Here are key takeaways from the survey, which is based on input from more than 110 Microsoft partners.