{"id":26410,"date":"2021-01-25T15:22:34","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T23:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nimble.com\/blog\/?p=26410"},"modified":"2025-01-20T13:29:40","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T21:29:40","slug":"managing-customers-in-microsoft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nimble.com\/blog\/managing-customers-in-microsoft\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Manage Customers In Microsoft 365 [formerly Office 365] for SMB"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you read this article after having found it through Google search, chances are you’re a Microsoft products user: you may have Word and Excel programs installed on your desktop, use a personal Outlook email account or have an Outlook email account at work.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On the other hand, there\u2019s some confusion going on with the <\/span>Microsoft 365 line of products<\/span> and how they are different from <\/span>Office 365<\/span><\/a> for the most experienced of users. Not only do we explain which products have been discontinued, renamed, or dropped altogether by this tech giant, we are also delighted to share a few tips on <\/span>how to manage customers in Microsoft 365.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why do we feel in the position to talk about this suite of software solutions for your family and business needs? Because <\/span>Nimble CRM is Microsoft’s partner<\/span><\/a> handpicked to cater to small business’s CRM requirements.<\/span><\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s post-COVID stats & attainments: WFH evolution\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Microsoft reported <\/span>258 million active monthly users<\/span><\/a> of the then <\/span>Office 365 products<\/span> by the end of the Q3 of FY 2020, which ends on March 31<\/span>st<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Satya Nadella<\/span><\/a>, the company\u2019s Chief Executive Officer noted when speaking about the Q4 results of the FY 2020, ending on June 30th:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“The last five months have made it clear that tech intensity is the key to business resilience. Organizations that build their digital capability will recover faster and emerge from this crisis stronger. We are the only company with an integrated, modern technology stack \u2013 powered by cloud and AI and underpinned by security and compliance \u2013\u00a0 to help every organization transform and reimagine how they meet customer needs.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Microsoft managed to close the fiscal year 2020 with flying colors, having reported total revenue of $143.015 billion vs the FY 2019 results of 125.843, making a net income of $44.281 vs 2019 $39.240 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Summing up the segmentation of the Q4 of the FY 2020, Productivity and business processes are of special interest in this piece, as they include <\/span>Microsoft 365 Products [formerly known as Office 365<\/span>], LinkedIn and Dynamics products. This segment managed to bring in $705 million more in the 3 months, which is a positive variance of 6% compared to the same period last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"number<\/p>\n

Office 365 company users<\/span><\/i><\/a> by country November 2020<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It is only natural that as a company that embraced change brought about by the pandemic in such an agile manner, saw impressive positive returns in the second half of FY2020. WFH mode and learn-from-home trends have strengthened its position even though advertising spend went down due to COVID.<\/span><\/p>\n

After a somewhat dry financial intro, let’s deep dive into how this big prosperous IT tech giant can help small businesses like yours to manage customers<\/a> in Microsoft 365.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Microsoft 365? <\/b>What is Office 365<\/b><\/a>? How are they different?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Due to perpetual improvements of their offering, Microsoft keeps evolving, rebranding, renaming their products to be more pertinent to the market, demand, clients, and era.<\/span><\/p>\n

Office 365<\/i><\/b> used to be a set of programs and applications that were available as a cloud solution for online usage or desktop download at a monthly subscription fee. The programs included were Word, Excel, PowerPoint, One Note, One Drive, Teams, Outlook. They grew to include AI and productivity tools at a later stage.<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As of April 21st, 2020, consumer and small business plans of <\/span>Office 365<\/span><\/a> have been renamed Microsoft 365. In other words, the cloud-based part of what has been formerly known as Office 365 has now become Microsoft 365. So let\u2019s just sum it up under the new name.<\/span><\/p>\n

Microsoft 365<\/i><\/b><\/a> is a set of cloud-based services by Microsoft company available on monthly subscription plans, that include AI and productivity tools alongside classic Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While there still exist downloadable desktop Microsoft Office programs, it is important to realize that Office 365 is only available in the form of an Enterprise-level line of products, and Microsoft 365 is only available for home plans and business plans on monthly subscription plans and include productivity tools and AI.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"microsoft<\/p>\n

Microsoft 365 for home, business, and enterprise<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

Microsoft 365 Business Pricing plans<\/b><\/h2>\n

There are three key business plans available for Microsoft 365: Business basic, Business Standard, and Business Premium, that range from $5 per user per month with an annual commitment to $20 per user per month.<\/span><\/p>\n

Microsoft 365 Business Basic\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

The business’s basic monthly subscription is $5 per month, includes web and mobile<\/a> versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, secure cloud service, and access to Teams, Exchange, One Drive, and SharePoint products.<\/span><\/p>\n

Microsoft 365 Business Standard\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Business Standard monthly subscription is $12.5 per month, includes all 6 premium Office Apps: Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Publisher; secure cloud service and access to Teams, Exchange, One Drive, and SharePoint products.<\/span><\/p>\n

Microsoft 365 Business Premium<\/b><\/h3>\n

The business Premium monthly subscription is $20 per month, includes all 6 premium Office Apps: Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Publisher; secure cloud service and access to Teams, Exchange, One Drive, and SharePoint products; plus Intune and Azure Information Protection.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"microsoft<\/p>\n

Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Teams for Business pricing<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

How to manage customers in office 365<\/b><\/h2>\n

Task endpoints: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Cortana<\/span><\/p>\n

Task hubs: Teams and Outlook<\/span><\/p>\n

Task engines: Planner and To Do<\/span><\/p>\n