At the beginning of the month, Microsoft officially launched Office 365. What makes this Office different from the other Office suites that Microsoft has released is that Office 365 doesn't run on your computer, it runs on a cloud server. All of your data is stored securely in the cloud on Microsoft's servers. This is great for smaller Bedford businesses that need to access their files from anywhere but don't currently have the infrastructure in-house to make it happen.

Office 365 is designed to enable its users to share, collaborate, and communicate in the cloud. Office 365 takes the Microsoft Office program suite and combines it with hosted versions of Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync (Microsoft's robust business communication suite). While many Bedford business owners are wondering if Office 365 will be a reliable alternative to desktop office suites and if their information will be safe, Microsoft says that they will guarantee that Office 365 servers will have 99.9 percent uptime to make sure that you will always have accessibility to your work.

One of the more unique features of Office 365 is the ability to create Team Sites. Team Sites are collaboration spaces that are only available to users that the admin chooses. From the Team Site you'll be able to share documents for collaboration on projects and post messages to co-workers. You will also be able to create new team sub-sites for specific projects, plus you will be able to Check Out, such as at the end of a workday, for example, so everyone can know who is online and who isn't. The Team Site is also highly customizable with tools that you can use to personalize the look and layout of the Team Site.

Office 365 pricing is also scaled to the size of your business with different pricing plans. The basic plan for small businesses with 25 employees or less is $6 per month per employee. Larger businesses can choose from four other enterprise plans with prices ranging from $10 per user per month to $27 per user per month. These more expensive options also include advanced tools and options that are not available to the basic plan.

If your organization is an early adopter of Office 365, let us know what you think of it!