Forrester conducted research for Microsoft to reveal the financial impact and savings SMBs experience by using Office 365.

Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Microsoft, studied potential total economic impact (TEI) and return on investment (ROI) for companies using Microsoft Office 365. The goal was to provide SMBs a framework to use to evaluate the financial impact of Office 365 on their businesses.

Forrester interviewed four companies and surveyed 204 companies, all of whom had used or were using Office 365. Read the full study here. The data shown represents benefits to a composite organization. The composite was composed of the average experience of the companies gleaned from the interviews and surveys:

• Improved business continuity, avoiding lost billable hours totaling $15,000 annually. In short, the business was no longer disrupted by server or infrastructure issues. Hardware problems were avoided by using SaaS.
• Avoided $18,000 of hardware upgrades. Employees could use their own equipment and use older equipment because Office 365 works with older devices.
• Eliminated $8,100 of annual costs for third-party software and services. Most businesses had a combination of licenses before switching to Office 365. The switch allowed one license for all the business applications that they used.
• Reduced IT support effort by 19 percent. Because Office 365 operates in the cloud and most businesses choose a partner to oversee it, this allowed IT to reduce their support efforts.
• Improved mobile worker productivity, saving 45 hours per mobile worker. The ability to access, share, and sync files on the road saved each mobile worker 15 minutes per day. This particularly helped those who worked in sales and consulting.
• Redefined workspace, allowing employees to work from anywhere in the world with an internet connection or cell service. Workers can access Office 365 on up to 6 devices, keeping them better connected than ever from anywhere they happen to be.
• Reduced security, risk, and compliance costs by $4,929 over three years. Those interviewed saw value in the Microsoft brand and its trustworthiness with security concerns.
• Better collaboration, all while seeing improved partitioning of sensitive information. Customers reported the ability to collaborate easier. The ability to create permissions and silo sensitive information was seen as a key benefit.

Each business has to weigh the costs and benefits of Office 365 for themselves, but the study reveals many use cases where use of Office 365 pays off. Do you want to discover if Microsoft Office 365 is right for your business? Please contact us or call +1 (630) 786-5900 to arrange a demo.