Microsoft has made major changes to its Office software by renaming the Office suite, and adding major chat features for everyday customers. Influenced by the Coronavirus outbreak, the additions are a result of millions of workers around the world working from home and looking for great software to do it with.
As of the 21 April, Office 365 is now Microsoft 365, showing a timeous move away from the Office brand towards a more personal platform.
Along with the change of name, Microsoft has included the suddenly hugely popular Microsoft Teams software within the 365 suite. Until now, Teams has been primarily designed as a communication app for large and small organizations, similar to Slack. The software saw significant growth over the last year, from 20-million business users in November to 44-million in April, with about 12-million users joining between 11 – 18 March. This number will only grow as more people around the world are forced to work from home due to Coronavirus lockdowns.
Liat Ben-Zur, Microsoft CVP of consumer and Edge and Bing marketing, told Yahoo Finance that the company’s decision to make Teams more broadly available came after consumers said they wanted a single app to be able to chat with family and friends, make plans, access their calendars, and share files rather than dealing with multiple disparate apps.
If you would like to know more about Microsoft Teams and how to use it, check here
You will notice changes to your invoices with regards to the naming of your licensed products:
- Office 365 Business Essentials is now Microsoft 365 Business Basic
- Office 365 Business Premium is now Microsoft 365 Business Standard
- Microsoft 365 Business is now Microsoft 365 Business Premium
- Office 365 Business is now Microsoft 365 Apps for business
- Office 365 ProPlus is now Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise