As many of you have already discovered, working from home requires some upgrades in both hardware and software. Staff used to desktops are moving to laptops or tablets. Working with cloud-based documents or your consumer database may be new to you. Here are some resources for your consideration (brought to you by Tech Soup) through techsoup.org.
Gray-haired woman with glasses working at home on a laptop. (c) Can Stock Photo / photography33
Tech Soup is offering charitable nonprofits 10 free licenses to Microsoft 365 Business-$5 monthly for additional users ($12.50 monthly for each license for the business world). Having the same version of Microsoft across all your devices may be useful. Having the latest version of Microsoft Teams and other cloud applications can really help remote workers who need to collaborate regularly.
Microsoft 365 includes the collaboration tool Teams (a bit like Zoom but more secure and more sharing capabilities) and additional cloud and mobile applications.
This will allow you to compose, edit and share documents in the various Microsoft formats such as Word Excel and PowerPoint.
Security updates are automatic, and employee’s devices can be remotely updated.
This version of Microsoft allows up to 300 licenses. There are costlier enterprise versions but this version will serve most CILs and SILCs.
Each license allows a user to install Microsoft 365 Business on up to 5 devices – PCs, Macs, tablets, and smartphones.
The business version includes 1 TB (a lot) of file storage with Microsoft One Drive for Business. There are also social and video sites, a scheduling app, a customer manager, Mile IQ-a really neat business versus personal travel calculator, and invoicing.
Techsoup is also providing a “Microsoft Cloud Starter Kit” subscription for $3 per user monthly. This includes setup of your Microsoft 365 with help from their consultants, training courses and ongoing support including unlimited calls for support, help and questions.
When we get back to normal, it won’t be the normal we knew. Some changes will be permanent. This is the time to take advantage of technology and support that is being offered.