With the official release of Office 2016 today, Microsoft is also pitching why it believes upgrading to this new version is a good idea. While Office 365 users will be automatically updated to the latest version, regular non-subscription based users of Office won’t be. Understandably, many people don’t see a reason to fork over the money to upgrade when older versions of the program do most of what they need. Microsoft is looking to change that more traditional mindset people have in regards to Office upgrade. In a recent blog post, the company focuses on key elements of Office 2016 that should get governments to change their outlook on upgrading to Office 2016.
In the aforementioned blog post, Microsoft talks about how millennials will make up 75 percent of the workforce in just a decade from now, and the company knows that this generation of users utilize various devices to get its work done. Increasingly, millennials are taking up employment in government and Microsoft would like to be among their choices of software and services. To cater to that market, this version of Office allows for an expanded mobile experience across multiple form factors (PC, phone, etc.) and platforms (iOS, Android, Windows).
The new Office increases productivity, allowing governments to improve outcomes like economic growth, social inclusion, environment sustainability, and good governance.
According to Microsoft, Office 2016 brings with it these benefits for governments:
Teamwork – Office 2016 has real-time co-authoring and Skype in-app integration that allows for communication from within documents. The new Skype feature has the potential to make intergovernmental agency communication more efficient.
Insights – Power BI (Business Intelligence) is another big new feature that Office 2016 has in its arsenal. Now customers have a one click forecasting solution that can help to enhance government policy.
Security – Typically, the latest version of most software is more secure than prior iterations. For Office 2016, Microsoft has added better ways to protect sensitive data with multi-factor authentication (Windows Hello).
Office 2016 also introduces a new update model called the Current Branch for Business. This allows for only three cumulative feature updates a year for enterprises while at the same time delivering monthly security updates.
Government and the enterprise, in general, are critical markets for Microsoft and the Office division. With Apple seemingly ceding the market to Office with support for it during its recent keynote, it seems Microsoft’s domination with Office is relatively in hand. However, that is not to say Office isn’t susceptible to other forms of competition such as Slack, Google Docs, or a company such as Salesforce. As Office increasingly becomes Microsoft’s new platform of choice, the company will need to stay nimble while continuing to add value propositions for customers.
Further reading: Government, Microsoft, Office 2016, Upgrade
