Cloud Solutions

Microsoft 365 (formerly called Office 365) is Microsoft's expanding line of client productivity software and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft 365 apps and Azure services are available in a selection of packages, or subscription plans, aimed at markets ranging from students and households to global corporations.

The most popular Microsoft 365 applications can be installed on multiple computers such as PCs, Macs, iPads, and iPhones and Android smartphones. Multi-device applications include versions of Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook. PC-only applications include Microsoft Access for database management and Publisher for desktop publishing. To address users who have multiple computing devices, many bundles permit you to run Microsoft 365 apps on more than one device. For example, Microsoft 365 Business and ProPlus subscriptions allow each Office application to be installed on as many as five devices.

Progent can provide fast and easy online access to consultants with expert knowledge of Microsoft, Mac, iOS, and Android technology. Progent can help you to understand the many options available with Microsoft 365 and configure your IT network with Microsoft 365 in a way that delivers maximum strategic advantage. Progent has experience supporting multi-vendor networks that include Windows, macOS or OS X, and Linux based products. Progent can also help you to deploy and manage hybrid environments that seamlessly integrate local and cloud infrastructure.

Microsoft 365 Apps and Cloud-based Services
Microsoft 365 subscription plans are available to serve a wide selection of users including businesses, education, state and local government, and home. Some plans, such as Microsoft 365 Business Essentials, has no apps but only cloud services. Other plans, like Microsoft 365 Business, offers applications but provides only the OneDrive cloud-based service. The high-end Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5 plan includes seven apps and seven cloud services. Progent's consultants can help you to pick an Microsoft 365 package that's right for your situation, help you to migrate from legacy versions of Office apps, and show you how to unify the management of Microsoft 365 and other network resources to build an efficient, protected and reliable IT environment.

Major Microsoft 365 Apps
The most obvious difference between Microsoft 365 apps and their associated Microsoft Office versions is that Microsoft 365 apps are rented instead of sold. Also, traditionally licensed Office applications are supposed to be run on just one PC or Mac at a time and are not updated automatically or replaced for free when a major version is released. As an example, moving from Office Word 2013 to Word 2019 requires you to buy a brand new copy of Word. Minor releases of Microsoft Office titles are made available to Microsoft 365 subscribers sooner than to owners of permanently licensed versions. Also, Office suites purchased with a perpetual license do not come with any of the Azure-based services that are bundled with Microsoft 365.

Apps offered with various Microsoft 365 plans include:

Microsoft 365 Word includes the ability to edit and review Office documents across Windows, Android, Mac, and iOS computers while maintaining a consistent look and feel. You can also co-author documents, see which colleagues are editing shared documents, and see updates made by others in real time. As with Microsoft 365 Excel and PowerPoint, you can easily share without leaving your documents. In addition, you can review who has rights to access a specific document and who is currently working on it. For documents you own, you can easily change edit permissions. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Word consulting expertise.

Microsoft 365 Excel now allows subscribers to use the standard Exponential Smoothing algorithm to build forecasts for projecting trends using past data. New linked data types that access current online sources include Stock and Geography. Stock downloads the latest stock price, price change, and other equities information. The Geography data type enables you to designate a region and extract current online demographic or economic information like population or gas price. As in the case of Microsoft 365 Word and PowerPoint, Microsoft 365 Excel also can handle Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) images. These can be rotated, colored, and scaled instantly with no loss in quality. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Excel consulting services.

Microsoft 365 PowerPoint supports three dimensional objects and provides an enhanced selection of animation functions such as jumping and rotating. Like Office Excel and Office Word, Microsoft 365 PowerPoint enables you to convert drawings into uniform shapes for flow charts, diagrams, and other objects. Microsoft 365 PowerPoint for Mac adds the ability to embed and format movies from inside PowerPoint. The Media Browser utility provides convenient access to a broad selection of media sources like iPhoto galleries, iTunes playlists, and iMovie libraries as well as standard shapes, Clip Art, and other graphical content.

Microsoft 365 Outlook provides important improvements to prior versions of the Outlook email client app by adding useful features such as audio cues, transparent downloading of OneDrive attachments, visibility of responses to a conference invitation for people who are not conference organizers, simplified email organizing, plus more intuitive group creation and calendar sharing. Additionally, Microsoft 365 Outlook users can have their messages read audibly as the sections being read are visibly highlighted. Microsoft's Office intelligent services, when enabled, allows Microsoft 365 Outlook subscribers to dictate messages. Microsoft 365 Outlook for Mac includes push email, online archiving, the ability to propose an alternative meeting time in response to a meeting request, and multiple calendar visibility. Full Screen Mode allows multiple open messages and permits subscribers to run two Outlook sessions in split-screen view. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Outlook and Outlook on the web configuration and troubleshooting services.

Microsoft 365 OneNote for Windows 10 is included in most Microsoft 365 product bundles, pre-installed in Windows 10, and available for download as a no-cost mobile application. The earlier OneNote 2016 release, which has some features not initially provided in OneNote for Windows 10 such as Record Video, is still available for free but is no longer being updated. OneNote for Windows 10 introduces a fresh customizable look common for Windows 10, Apple Mac, iOS, Google Android, and Web. Other functionality offered exclusively on OneNote for Windows 10 include improved ink-to-text, a notification center that shows modifications in your open and recent notebooks, automatic conversion of drawings into standardized shapes, and a virtual ruler to draw straight lines and measure distance.

Microsoft 365 Access, offered only for PCs, enables you to use Visual Basic for Applications and a rich library of templates to automate business processes and create advanced forms and management reports. Microsoft 365 Access comes with the connector library to extract data from a wide selection of popular business applications and data sources for creating quality reports from within the time-tested Access interface. The ability to store Access data in both Microsoft SQL Server as well as Microsoft Azure SQL provides an enterprise-class back end plus SQL syntax for Access apps deployed either locally or in the Microsoft Azure cloud. Microsoft Access 365 now includes an enhanced Linked Table Manager, lets you include a wealth of new charts and management reports, and enables you to link or extract data from Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Access development and troubleshooting expertise.

Microsoft 365 Publisher, available only on Windows PCs, is a popular entry-level desktop publishing tool that leverages the familiar Microsoft Office interface to provide an intuitive program for creating and sharing professional-looking documents such as mailers and newsletters that call for exact object placement. Because documents can be saved to the cloud, you can distribute a document simply by providing a link. Publisher's popularity and ease of use make it possible to meet deadlines on time-sensitive projects without needing depend on instant access to a desktop publishing specialist for implementing last-minute edits.

Microsoft 365 Cloud Services
Microsoft 365 cloud services allow organizations to take advantage of Microsoft's extensive cloud resources to host business-critical servers like Exchange, Teams and Skype for Business. This provides enterprise-class levels of reliability and security while saving the significant investment costs and management effort associated with setting up and supporting robust on-premises computer facilities. For situations that call for some servers to be kept onsite for regulatory compliance, throughput, or other reasons, most Microsoft 365 virtual server platforms can be implemented using hybrid network models that seamlessly support on-premises and cloud-hosted resources.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides email hosting and supports user mailbox sizes from 50 Gbytes to unlimited. Important features include custom email domain addresses, shareable calendars and contact lists, the Outlook Web app, single-click archiving, and easy creation of collaboration groups. The web-accessible Exchange admin center lets you manage email settings for your company and provides full control over critical areas such as user rights, security and compliance, mail flow, making mailboxes and defining limits, team work, contact lists, Voice mail, monitoring and reporting, and backup/recovery. Learn about Progent's Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and administration consulting.

Microsoft 365 OneDrive is Microsoft's popular file synchronization and share platform. Microsoft 365 packages usually come with 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage, enabling you to save, retrieve, and share files across Windows, Mac, or iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. By automatically synchronizing your files to your desktop, OneDrive lets you edit documents even when you are not connected to the Internet. OneDrive simplifies sharing and co-editing, keeping track all changes to prevent versioning issues. You can initiate a team project on any device and switch smoothly to another device at your convenience. For enhanced collaboration, a variety of utilities allow you to annotate and highlight documents. Advanced discovery tools help you to find files quickly, and tracking tools provide useful information such as how many people viewed or shared a file.

Microsoft 365 Skype for Business Online provides cloud-hosted IP voice, video, and conferencing. Online Plan 1 includes IM, real-time presence, peer-to-peer VoIP, and HD video, plus federation and directory search. Online Plan 2 includes scheduled and ad hoc conferencing with audio and video calling plus screen and app sharing on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, PCs, and Mac computers. For hybrid environments that combine an on-premises Skype for Business Server with Skype for Business Online services, you can deploy a seamless solution via a Split Domain deployment. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Skype for Business planning and configuration expertise.

Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online combines information management with intranet publishing to allow businesses to distribute and share information and to promote teamwork. The SharePoint admin center has been enhanced with interactive usage reports, Message Center posts, and a Service Health dashboard intended to simplify administrative tasks. Also, you can now connect current team sites to Microsoft 365 Groups, enhancing SharePoint sites with shared conversations, calendar, and project planning. Features to support cloud coexistence now include hybrid taxonomy and auditing plus an updated development architecture for building SharePoint environments locally, in hybrid deployments, and in Microsoft 365. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online integration and development expertise.

Microsoft Teams is the successor of Skype for Business, offering a unified portal for discussions, contacts, and information with persistent threaded chat, file sharing, and integrated voice and video conferencing. Microsoft has designed the cloud infrastructure that hosts Teams to deliver faster meeting join speeds than Skype for Business and to enable integration with Microsoft Cognitive Services such as transcription, language translation, speech recognition, and machine learning. Progent's consultants can help you to try out Microsoft 365 Teams to assess the benefits of migrating to this next-generation communication technology. Learn about Progent's Microsoft Teams migration expertise.

Microsoft 365 Yammer is a social network product designed to be used inside an organization and restricted to users who have a verified corporate email address. Postings can be files, links, media, PowerPoint presentations, and SharePoint pages. The Discovery connection helps you locate content that relates to your job or concerns as indicated by the groups you are a member of, discussions you follow, and colleagues you interact with. You can find discussions, files, interest groups, participants, and other items related to a specific co-worker. Group Insights inform you how events such as publishing, viewing, and liking are trending historically. Notifications tell you about relevant events like updates in your groups, comments in your conversations, and new followers.

Microsoft 365 Power BI is a set of online services integrated with Microsoft 365 that enables you to build sharable dashboards and on-demand management reports that provide real-time insights into key facets of your business. Microsoft 365 Power BI dashboards can consolidate information from a broad array of local and outside repositories like Microsoft Excel, in-house SQL Server Analysis Service, Azure, or popular sources such as Zendesk, Google Analytics and Salesforce. Dashboards and reports created by Power BI can be updated in real time via data streaming. You can store and share your dashboards in the cloud using OneDrive. Power BI mobile apps are offered for Windows computers as well as Apple iOS and Google Android smartphones and tablets. Find out about Progent's Microsoft 365 Power BI Online development consulting services.

Key Planning Services for Microsoft 365 Migration
Progent can provide the services of a Cloud Solutions Architect to help your company to design a smooth move to Microsoft 365 customized for your IT environment. Prior to proposing this migration project, Progent's cloud expert will carry out a series of investigative tasks that include running utilities like IdFix, the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer (ExBPA), and specialized scripts for reviewing your Active Directory, messaging, and Mobile Device Management (MDM) environment. Critical information that cannot be discovered with these techniques will be determined via interviews with your IT staff.

Key activities performed by Progent in developing an optimal Microsoft 365 migration strategy can include:

• Hold a Project Kickoff meeting with your IT team to agree upon project objectives, services to be utilized, client and contractor roles, timelines, etc.
• Create a Risk and Issue Tracking document.
• Create an Exchange Hybrid migration plan explaining how new services and necessary modifications to the ecosystem will be implemented.
• Review the existing Azure Active Directory Connect Identity Management setup and identify any gaps.
• Identify and develop a plan for mail-enabled applications such as multifunction printers, monitoring systems, and other systems that currently submit SMTP messages.
• Develop end-user alerts to be published by your Help Desk.
• Identify existing Exchange mailbox volume and item counts to help strategy for email migrations.
• Examine your network bandwidth reports to make sure there is adequate throughput and nominal latency to support Microsoft 365.
• Assess your current Mobile Device Management solution to make sure it will function with the Microsoft 365 services and features.
• Utilize Microsoft's IdFix Tool to identify possible Active Directory problems and uncover reused email (SMTP) addresses and UPNs, invalid formatting for object attributes, and UPNs with non-routable domains.
• Lead an Architecture Review session with your IT team to determine issues that could block a successful migration.
• Develop a plan to allow email to be sent to Dynamic Distribution Groups.
• Provide a list of ports and IP ranges for creating firewall rules.
• Work with you to find mailboxes that have been granted elevated rights to another mailbox.
• Develop an implementation plan that details the tasks associated with your migration to Microsoft 365.

ProSight Remote Management and Monitoring (RMM) Services
Progent offers a selection of low-cost, flat-rate managed services intended to allow small and medium-size organizations to utilize the same best-of-breed IT solutions used by some of the industry's top corporations. Progent's ProSight suite of IT management outsourcing services addresses all critical facets of information technology including email protection, threat defense based on machine leaning, cloud-based backup and disaster recovery, network infrastructure monitoring and management, VM cloud hosting, and network asset documentation management. Learn more about Progent's remote management and monitoring (RMM) services.

Contact Progent for Microsoft 365 Expertise
If you are trying to find a Microsoft 365 consultant, call Progent at 800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.

Public Cloud Integration Solutions from Progent
The options available for public cloud services are increasing rapidly, making it a serious challenge for IT managers to select the best cloud strategy for their business. Progent has in-depth experience assisting businesses of all sizes to design, deploy, and maintain hybrid networks that combine multiple cloud products and services from major public clouds. Progent's cloud integration experts can assist you to evaluate the comparative benefits and pitfalls of different public cloud offerings and can help you create a cloud-based or hybrid network that delivers maximum business value.

Public cloud products and services supported by Progent include:

Progent's Azure cloud planning and integration consultants can assist you with every aspect of Microsoft Azure integration including needs definition, prerequisites evaluation, system design, pilot testing, implementation, centralized management, performance tuning, license controls, disaster recovery preparedness, security policy enforcement, and compliance assessment. Progent can assist you to set up and debug firewalls and VPN connections so that your clients can securely connect to Azure services, and Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can assist you set up critical Microsoft technologies to run in Azure including Windows Server, Exchange, SQL and SharePoint. Progent can also help your organization to set up a hybrid ecosystem that transparently combines on-premises datacenters with Azure services.

Microsoft allows you to create seamless hybrid environments that integrate Microsoft 365 Exchange Online and local Exchange deployments. This allows you to have some mailboxes hosted on your on-premises datacenter or private cloud and other mailboxes resident on Microsoft 365. Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can assist you with any facet of planning, integrating and debugging your hybrid Exchange network. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide as-needed expertise to help you resolve stubborn technical problems and also offer extensive project management outsourcing to ensure your hybrid Microsoft 365/Exchange initiative is completed on time and within budget. For more information about Progent's online consulting services for hybrid Microsoft 365 Exchange and on-premises Exchange environments, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration solutions with on-prem Exchange.

Progent's Amazon AWS cloud integration consultants offer cost-effective remote support to assist businesses to integrate Amazon AWS cloud services including Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for virtual server hosting, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for scalable high-performance storage, and Amazon Glacier for value-priced long-term archiving. Progent can assist you with every aspect of Amazon AWS integration including needs analysis, readiness assessment, architectural design, testing, configuration, administration, performance optimization, licensing management, backup/restore solutions, and security and compliance. Progent offers advanced expertise with firewall configuration and VPN technology and can help you create cloud-centric or hybrid environments that efficiently integrate Amazon AWS resources. Progent offers occasional expertise or Progent can deliver comprehensive project management outsourcing to help you migrate efficiently to the Amazon AWS cloud.

Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) is a library of APIs that enables Amazon sellers to streamline their operations by automating key sales activities including listings, orders, payments, fulfillment, and finances. By leveraging Amazon's vast online selling environment and automating their sales processes, vendors can broaden their market, lower their cost of sales, accelerate reaction time to customers, and add to their bottom line. Progent's Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) consultants can collaborate with your development team and provide programming, workflow integration, project management support, and training so you can shorten development time and costs and expedite your ROI.

Progent's Google Cloud Platform (GCP) planning and integration consultants offer cost-effective remote and on-premises support to assist businesses of any size to migrate any part of their critical IT resources to Google Cloud Platform services. This can save management hassle and hardware expense and enable the use of Google's cutting edge machine learning tools. Progent can help you with every aspect of Google Cloud Platform migration and troubleshooting including requirements analysis, readiness assessment, system design and review, pilot testing, deployment, administration, performance optimization, software license management, backup/restore solutions, and security strategies.