Tag: the one time purchase or subscription model?
Microsoft Office 365 Tips
Microsoft Office 365 Tips
Hi Folks! I decided this past week to create a quick blog series about Microsoft Office 365 for end users and for new technicians to learn. The first blog is about tips on buying Office 365 (from who, how). The second blog is about what version to buy and the third is best support options. I also created a pricing page so you can get an idea how pricing can go for vendors, migrations, support. Of course I can help with my partners, but this blog series is intended for you to learn and make better decisions with your Office 365.
https://callthatgirl.biz/tips-on-how-to-buy-office-365
https://callthatgirl.biz/tips-on-microsoft-office-365-support
https://callthatgirl.biz/microsoft-office-365-pricing
Tips on Microsoft Office 365 Support
Tips on Microsoft Office 365 Support
Office 365 Microsoft vs Vendor vs Your Local Tech
Well folks, this ends my 3 part series of Office 365 tips. I’ll close with discussing support which is a very important part of your Office 365 experience.
So you want to buy, you read my tips and now you have to decide what to do. Buy from Microsoft directly? Go through a vendor or buy through your local computer tech (Me or your tech of choice).
Many folks get so excited about getting into O365, they buy direct from Microsoft and then learn some lessons right away. There are no instruction manuals on how to use the products and Microsoft will not migrate your email from your current email host to their Exchange product. They don’t have easy instructions to follow to setup OneDrive correctly or how to use SharePoint. Teams is pretty easy to figure out as well as Skype for Business, Bookings and other new add-ins, but the first three I mentioned usually requires help from an experienced technician. If you buy from Microsoft, you will have to use their support for everything if you don’t have a vendor or technician.
Now let’s say you are about to buy and decide to work with a bigger vendor on your own. They should handle the migration work and will help with first level work, but any detail work is not their sweet spot. This is when I start getting calls, when issues arise outside of their knowledge range.
If you have now decided to work with your local technician or myself, this is what you should expect. Experience and Managed Expectations.
Plus you are supporting someone who owns their own business, has pride in their work, usually answers calls quickly and you are their client, so you and should expect faster service and never have to call Microsoft yourself.
I am one of the local techs (*remote counts) and use AppRiver as my vendor. So I have 24×7 backup for my clients. When I set up a client with AppRiver, they pay Appriver, call them for basic first level needs and I help with the rest. I don’t have contracts but sell prepay tickets. Each local tech company will have their own setup, some might have a monthly managed service plan that includes support and some like me, might use another vendor. And there are some that work straight with Microsoft and you still should only work with the local tech company.
With so many ways to support Office 365, what is best option? Consider your budget before making any decision. While it may appear to be a bit more heavy on the budget to pay a smaller company, you usually get better support and customer service. Remember you get what you pay for and downtime can be costly for you.
Below is a link to check out my pricing for migration work and my Office 365 support. Feel free to compare with other companies while you are searching for your next support company.
https://callthatgirl.biz/microsoft-office-365-pricing
Contact me if you want to discuss your Office 365!
Tips on which to buy for Office 365 Home, the one-time purchase or subscription model?
Tips on which to buy for Office 365 Home, the one time purchase or subscription model?
Tips on which to buy, the one-time purchase or subscription model?
Hi folks! in my last newsletter I covered a lot about buying Office 365 but some of you who are old school and like purchasing it one time might want to know the differences on buying or subscribing. I’ll fill you in!
There are benefits to using the subscription, if you don’t need the “extras” then you are looking at this…buying will is about equal to 2 years of subscribing. Then you own it for life or until it no longer works (Office 2007 still works for some folks!) so you might get 8 free years of your purchase.
The Office 365 Home subscription offers 5 installations for any 5 members of your family for $99. One computer is $69.00. Reminder, this is not your business computers. Some of my clients do buy this version not knowing it’s for “family” only. I let them know when renewal time comes around to purchase the correct version.
This is what MS states on their website about Office 365 Home
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/office-365-home
- Best for households
- For 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets including iPad, Android, or Windows, plus 5 phones Fully installed versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote, plus Publisher and Access for PC only
- Exclusive upgrades and new features
- 1 TB OneDrive cloud storage per user, for up to 5 users
- Microsoft support via chat or phone at no extra cost Your subscription will automatically renew.
- Cancel anytime.
- Compatible with Windows 7 or later and Mac OS X 10.10. All languages included.
Here is my extended description!
- Their tech support is pretty good for help with the applications. They do not help with email account setup and other 3rd party apps (that’s what I do) but I have counted on them to help clients with really messy installation issues. They are helpful and it saves me and the clients time.
- You can also use OneNote and those notebooks are saved in OneDrive and can sync across all computers and phones/devices. Many of my clients LOVE OneNote so this is important for them.
- You also get 60 minutes of Skype time.
Benefits of buying just the software one time
- You buy it once and it will last for a long time. Look at Office 2003, it still works technically but the upgrades and features are out of date. I no longer can add an exchange account to 2003, Outlook 2007 still works but only one account per profile.
- It’s for one computer only and only the Office desktop applications.
- From my experience, you can still get Microsoft support on this purchase even if you bought it from Amazon or a Best Buy, etc.
Be careful!
- When buying online, be mindful. If it’s cheap, you might be in for cat and mouse game of “will this activate” and “has it been pirated” many times. This is common. Remember, saving a few dollars might cost you time!
- You might experience an activation issue or logging in problem. These usually can be resolved by calling Microsoft.
- Best purchased right from Microsoft.
- Be careful when setting up a new Windows 10 computer with your Office 365 accounts, I am seeing folks having issues with this.
- I have a feeling that Microsoft will not offer free support for this product after some time, just keep this in mind. Right now I think they are though supporting at no cost. I am not 100% sure!
Final reminder:
- I do not sell Office 365 Home to clients, I will help you purchase and install/configure.
That’s it folks! My next and final newsletter for the Office 365 series will be supporting Office 365, mostly business.
To schedule time on my calendar http://bit.ly/1C2IoEO or fill out the form below.
To read more about my prepay tickets https://callthatgirl.biz/pricing-expectations
