Written by adminPosted in Public SectorTags: education, office 365July 3, 2012
Microsoft has announced that it will offer it’s leading Cloud software, Office 365 at no cost to UK schools. This will be good news for Schools struggling balance the books, if you pardon the pun. Teachers and students will also have access to the very latest versions of software such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint as part of the deal. In addition there are a host of applications that Schools can use to modernise teaching practices and encourage collaborative working.
The vice president of worldwide education at Microsoft stated “The cloud and online learning are key trends transforming education today. Office 365 for education delivers a holistic collaboration platform that will change the game,”.
There is even more good news for Schools as many industry experts suggest that ongoing maintenance and support is reduced as the Microsoft Cloud provides an extremely reliable infrastructure.
For more information visit http://education.office365.com or contact us here
Written by adminPosted in Anywhere WorkingJune 26, 2012
Earlier this year Microsoft launched www.anywhereworking.org which is an online portal to help organisations adopt more flexible working practices. Providing resources for both employers and employees in the form of training, guidance, case studies.
The online portal is the first step in delivering tools and advice that will help organisations understand the benefits of flexible working and aims to drive greater productivity and efficiency, reduce employee stress and absenteeism, lower carbon emissions from travelling. The initiative aims to secure 30,000 supporters of this new way of working, with a total audience reach of 300,000.
Business in the Community Chief Executive Stephen Howard commented: “Business in the Community encourages its members as responsible businesses to reduce the amount of carbon generated by business travel as well as offering flexible working practices. Commuting accounts for around a fifth of all miles travelled to say nothing of the time lost to business and the impact on employees’ quality of life and work life balance. Supporting Anywhere Working is a way that responsible employers can save money and carbon and support their workforce.”
If you want to find out how much you could save then visit the online calculator click here
For anyone working in the Cloud the requirement for expensive hardware has diminished and the new Microsoft Surface Tablet seems to be the perfect mobile device to access documents and information on the move.
Whilst to many the tablet will become the defacto alternative to the ipad the Surface Tablet may win the race when it comes to Office 365 users.
It’s far too early to predict how successful the device will be but functionally the tablet may be the choice for business users.
The choice for start-ups is very simple when it comes to adopting cloud computing. Next to no capital outlay and simple deployment means the legacy approach really doesn’t fit for new companies. However for those who already have a complex IT infrastructure moving to the cloud may appear a daunting proposition.
Deciding on how cloud best fits with your business strategy and organizational structure is incredibly difficult. It changes the way business and IT interact at a strategic level. Businesses must change the way they think and adapt.
