{"id":290,"date":"2011-04-21T13:02:29","date_gmt":"2011-04-21T19:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.idubbs.com\/blog\/2011\/office-365-the-new-business-essentials\/"},"modified":"2011-04-21T13:02:29","modified_gmt":"2011-04-21T19:02:29","slug":"office-365-the-new-business-essentials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.idubbs.com\/blog\/2011\/office-365-the-new-business-essentials\/","title":{"rendered":"Office 365 \u2013 The New Business Essentials"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently attended a conference session about resources and tools available for new business owners.  While a lot of the conversation what about raising seed and venture money, one topic was about the tools and services that are essential to a new business.  <\/p>\n

They listed a lot of the things that you would expect: A phone number, a good place to get business cards and a business address (see below). Being in the technology field, I was thinking along different lines. They didn\u2019t mention a domain name, email and a website, though I hope it was just assumed.<\/p>\n

I would argue that with the release of Office 365<\/a>, this is also going to be a small business essential tool.  Office 365 is going to be a simple, inexpensive tool that can meet the core email and website needs while being chock full of so much more potential.  <\/p>\n

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  1. Sign up for Office 365<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Get yourself a domain name and configure your Office 365 account to use it for email and public-facing site. You may need some guidance or assistance with this, but it\u2019s a lot less than setting up your own servers and there are a LOT of resources to help \u2013 online and other.  <\/li>\n
  3. Build your public-facing site.  This can be as simple or complex as you\u2019d like to make it, but with the template and tools available, you can be up in minutes.  <\/li>\n
  4. Now, go about your business.<\/li>\n
  5. In the meantime, start to look at all the other capabilities you have:<\/li>\n
      \n
    1. Lync Online \u2013 Conduct your online meetings without needing another services like GoToMeeting, etc\u2026<\/li>\n
    2. SharePoint Online \u2013 Store and share your documents and other content.  MUCH more later as you learn about SharePoint\u2019s capabilities\u2026<\/li>\n
    3. Exchange Online \u2013 Primarily your email, but so much more than the basic accounts you had in the past. Manage your calendar and resources and sync them from multiple devices.  <\/li>\n
    4. and so, much more\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n

      To be fair, during the session they did also mentioned DropBox<\/a>, and GoToMeeting<\/a>. Dropbox may still be a useful tool, depending on the devices you\u2019re using, though Office 365 is going to fill a lot of that capability as well.  GoToMeeting is fully surpassed by the Lync Online capabilities and integration that Office 365 offers.  <\/p>\n

      So, if you ask me \u2013 I wouldn\u2019t start a business without spinning up a Office 365 site as one of the first things.  <\/p>\n

      Notes and References:<\/p>\n