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The Future of Microsoft Office is Subscriptions

Microsoft recently began notifying users about its plans to end support for standalone versions of Office (aka perpetual licenses) in October 2020. This means that these versions of Office (2010-2016) will no longer connect to all of the cloud services that you know and love. Such as Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business and Skype for Business. Now if you have one of these old versions of Office you will still be able to access your apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, but you won’t be able to sync the files to the cloud.

If you are a user who is using an older version, you will need to move to the latest versions in order to access all of Microsoft’s Office Cloud services. Let’s use Office 2016 as an example, it was launched in September 2015 and its mainstream support end in 2020. So, if you are on Office 2016 and don’t cut over to a Microsoft Office subscription by then, you will no longer be able to connect to Microsoft’s cloud services.

So, now you might be asking yourself what does my company need to do to continue connecting with the cloud. Well, the answer could be as simple as updating yourself to a newer version of Microsoft Office such as the recently released Office 2019. But the better option is to subscribe to Office 365. O365 is always getting updated with a lot of cool new features that make use of the latest technologies such as AI. And because it’s a subscription you won’t have to update software versions! Isn’t that great. The team at Innovia is here to help you get started. Along with Microsoft Dynamics Business Central (NAV) we can also manage your Microsoft Office subscriptions. The cool part of making Innovia your partner is you get access to our experience, expertise and personal service should you ever need assistance.

This news has a major impact on the future of your Microsoft Dynamics system as well. As you probably already know, NAV is now known as Business Central. Well Business Central is based upon Cloud Services. It will always be available On Premise, but increasing services from web based portals, will require Cloud Services with Active Directory (AAD) authentication. You will need to upgrade to Office 365 to use Business Central to its full potential. 

Your company has almost two years until this change takes effect. This gives your IT department plenty of time to plan and budget for this change. But until 2020 when the change goes into effect, Office 2010, Office 2013 and Office 2016 will still be able to connect to Office 365 services.

If you are not already on Office 365, now is the perfect time to give it a try. We can get you a free trial of Office 365 so you can see all of the cool features available in the cloud. Call us at 800.834.7700 or email us at sales@innovia.com and we can get that set up for you. And through May 31, 2019 you can save 15% on the price of Office 365 for an entire year. See this page for more details on this limited time offer.  

Current Office 365 subscribers can add more value to their subscription by making the switch to Innovia Consulting. As your CSP partner you will have access to the award winning service that you have come to expect from Innovia. Follow this link to learn more about the added value of adding us as your CSP partner for Office 365.   

P.S. Here’s an important note about Office 2019:

The standalone version of Microsoft Office 2019 is exclusive to Windows 10. While it can run on Windows 7 and 8.1, Microsoft is not planning on providing any support for it. It is also very possible that Office 2019 could be the last version of Office available outside of an Office 365 subscription. When Microsoft officially announces the future of Office we will pass that information on to you.

Innovia Consulting

Innovia Consulting

Innovia is a multiple-award-winning Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Business Central consulting firm known for delivering innovative Microsoft ERP systems while providing exceptional client-focused service. With five project teams and a dedicated support team, Innovia has the resources to handle all types of ERP projects.

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