If you’ve been holding back from upgrading to Microsoft Office 2010, I just saw a demo that would change my mind as a business owner if I wasn’t using it yet.
Almost everyone in today’s modern office uses Word; they also works in teams which are probably remote. If the team has been tasked to collaborate on a document, such as a proposal, it can become cumbersome if the document is flying around everyones’ inbox with multiple comments, edits, and changes. Who knows which version is the most up to date? Where is the final document stored? Who might have sensitive pricing saved information on their home computers?
With Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server, and Microsoft Lync, secure, productive collaboration just became a breeze. Imagine the team is working on one single document together. The single document is stored in a SharePoint server and is checked out when team members want to work on it. Sally could be working on the pricing section, while Joe is working on the Executive Overview. Anyone on the work team can read their work and make comments. When any paragraphs are final, they can be locked so no further changes can be made.
But then Bill looks at the file, and he sees that a locked paragraph contains an error. In the old days, he’d have to send an email or leave a voice mail message alerting the author to the error and hope that the problem will be fixed by someone. In today’s modern office, with Microsoft Lync installed, he could see directly in the proposal document who is on line working on the document because it contains presence information. Sally’s editing bubble would be green and Joe’s would be red. Bill can right click on Sally’s name and open a chat with her right then and there and alert her to the problem. She can unlock it and fix it immediately. Talk about being productive!
What does it take to run your work teams like that? Here is the network environment required
1. Microsoft Office 2010 licensing for all of your users.
2. Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Server for collaboration with Office Web App co-authoring functions. This can also be accomplished using the free web version and a free Microsoft SkyDrive account, but requires that potentially sensitive data be stored in users’ personal deb-based accounts.
3. Microsoft Lync 2010 server for inter-office communications and integration with SharePoint and Office WebApps. This could also be accomplished using the free Windows Live Messaging tools, but the same security and compliance caveats apply.
Helping your business be more productive is what Corporate Network Services specializes in. Contact us to learn more about the tools mentioned above!
