This is a commonly asked question. There is a lot of confusion about exactly what it means. Here is a simple and practical description of What is Office 365 – primarily for non-technical users. See what you need and then find the right tool.
|
Business Need |
Product |
|
Create Documents – |
Office on PC or Mac – all features |
|
Create / Edit Documents – quick editing or viewing |
Office on devices (Android / iOS) or Office Online (browser editing) |
|
Create SCORM compliant learning content and Quizzes |
Office Mix (add-in to PowerPoint) |
|
Store my own documents |
OneDrive (one person’s documents) |
|
Store documents for department: long-term usage |
Site (SharePoint) |
|
Store documents for time-bound projects – short-term usage |
Groups |
|
Manage cross-functional teamwork – Files, Discussion, Notes, Calendar |
Groups |
|
Manage team tasks |
Planner |
|
Manage team communication – Chat style (like Slack) |
Teams |
|
Discover files used by you and your team |
Delve |
|
Communicate urgently |
Skype for Business |
|
Communicate slowly |
Outlook – Mail |
|
Time Management |
Outlook Calendar and Tasks |
|
Personal Contacts |
Outlook Contacts |
|
My own tasks and delegated tasks |
Outlook Tasks |
|
Ask, inform, discuss, debate |
Yammer |
|
Create Interactive Reports. Handle millions of rows very fast. Share on browser or mobile. Independent of Excel. |
Power BI |
|
Create mobile apps without programming |
Power Apps |
|
Create professional looking content / presentations without manual formatting |
Sway |
|
Simple process automation |
Flow |
|
Prevent others from forwarding your mails |
Information Rights Management |
|
Keep an audit trail of mails, chats and document activities as per regulations |
Compliance Center |
|
Prevent employees from sending (leaking) confidential information to external parties |
DLP (Data Loss Protection) Works with Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint |
|
Store important documents, contracts, agreements |
Records Center (SharePoint Sites) |
There are many features / products which I have NOT included because this list is already very long. I don’t want to scare off people! More features / apps are getting added regularly. The listing above is accurate as on 15th Dec 2016.
