How Does Microsoft Support Remote Work for SMBs

Remote working has become a major working trend for businesses all across the world. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many businesses were forced to re-evaluate their business infrastructure, and see how their current resources and practices would hold up to a fully remote working model.

We spoke to TechQuarters, who provided business IT support London companies needed during the start of the pandemic, because many of them simply weren’t yet equipped to support remote working in an effective way. They said that, as a Microsoft partner themselves, they had been working with the technology solutions needed for remote work for many years already. They have done a lot of work provisioning customers with services like Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Azure, which both fulfill several critical demands of remote work.

Microsoft 365

To start with, Microsoft 365 provides all the apps and services that a business needs to structure their average workday. For example, M365 features the whole Office Suite – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, etc. It also features the Outlook email client, and Exchange Server, so all your email needs are covered with Microsoft 365. Additionally, for other channels of communication besides email, Microsoft Teams is a communication platform that unifies instant messaging, telephony, and video communication.

Most IT support companies also recommend that businesses utilize Cloud storage within their company. Microsoft 365 fulfills this requirement with two services: OneDrive and SharePoint. OneDrive is similar to Google Drive and DropBox; it is a Cloud storage drive that is designed for individual usage, so it’s great for storing all your documents and files for work.

SharePoint, on the other hand, is a highly customizable file management service that is completely Cloud-native – it can be used for archiving, or creating shared storage for teams and departments; in fact, the list of uses for SharePoint is almost too long to detail, it is an excellent resource for businesses wanting to enable remote work.

Microsoft Azure

Azure is the name given to Microsoft’s Cloud services platform – it features several hundred different services, ranging from largescale archiving, to development operations, to virtual machines, server & application hosting. It is clear why providers like TechQuarters see it as a crucial platform for any business wanting to adopt remote working.

One of the key services TechQuarters provides in relation to Azure, is migrating their customers’ IT infrastructures to the Azure Cloud – this involves virutalising all of their servers and other network infrastructure, and hosting it in Azure’s datacenters. This means that businesses will no longer be bound by location. Additionally, it makes it easier to deliver IT support services, because providers like TechQuarters can request access to a business’ Cloud infrastructure to perform IT maintenance. It means businesses can receive support no matter where they are located, so long as they have internet connection.

So, this is why many IT support & managed service providers consider Microsoft to be one of the best tech brands to support remote working for businesses.