Best-Kept Secret for Small Businesses

With all the excitement around Office 365, we asked a few of our customers to share their thoughts and experiences thus far. You can read more guest posts like this one here.

By Karen Kotzen, Owner, Love My Lessons, Hollywood, Florida

In my business, I teach people how to make friends with their computers. My services include training in computer skills, such as email basics and Microsoft Office programs, creating blogs, setting up Facebook and Twitter pages, or whatever my clients need. Most of my clients are other solo entrepreneurs like me, and I hate seeing them pay high prices for software they can get for very little a month, and, in some cases, free.

I’ve been testing a new service from Microsoft called Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, and I can really say that it’s positively the best-kept secret for small business owners that don’t have a lot of money to spend on technology or much computer know-how.

For only U.S. $6 a month, you get email, website design software and hosting, a place to share and manage documents, a videoconferencing program, instant messaging software, screen-sharing software, and Microsoft Office Web Apps.

Everything you need is in one place. I would pay $6 a month just for the screen-sharing software alone (Microsoft Lync Online). It’s a lifesaver for me. My clients are busy people, and with Lync, I can help them out or give them a lesson wherever they are. Plus, I’m looking to expand my business so that I can take on customers across the country, and Lync can help me do that.

I also love Microsoft OneNote, one of the Office Web Apps, because I can make notes, add pictures and clip art, and then send the whole layout to a client right from OneNote.

I like the fact that people don’t need to have Microsoft Office to use Office 365. That’s important because so often people can’t open the documents that you send them in an email message. With Office 365, anyone can open and edit an Office Web Apps file, like Word or PowerPoint.

I tried Google Docs first, because it was free, but found that it wasn’t easy to use. I didn’t like the fact that you had to create a Gmail account first, which I didn’t want, and it took time to set up. Office 365 gives me everything Google Docs did plus a lot more—and it’s much easier to use.

Another great benefit is that Office 365 doesn’t live on your computer; it’s completely online. That means all these programs, plus my documents and email, are available to me anywhere. I was recently with a client walking her through a presentation, but one slide was missing. I was able to go into Office 365 and find the presentation in my Exchange Online inbox. My business is not even affected if I don’t have my computer with me, because I can use any computer to get to my materials.