One of my favorite things about camping is that it enhances my appreciation of all the day-to-day luxuries I normally take for granted. After a few days roughing it in a tent, it’s easy to appreciate even the small amenities like turning on lights with the flip of a switch or filling a cup with clean water via a faucet. The beauty of these services is that they’re always there when we need them. The infrastructure already exists. To tap into it, we simply sign up and then pay as we go for the quantity we consume.

Microsoft Office 365 works much the same way. Organizations can access the enterprise-grade productivity software they’re already used to with Microsoft Office. No upfront infrastructure investment is required. Just like water, enterprises simply turn on the faucet whenever they need it – and pay for only what they consume.

The beauty of Office 365 is that it can increase productivity while also lowering costs. Employees can tap into the sophisticated messaging and calendaring features they’re already familiar with. They can also facilitate collaboration with features such as instant messaging, web conferencing, and document sharing. At the same time, organizations can significantly reduce costs by eliminating the need to purchase and maintain servers and software.

Take Patagonia, a global provider of apparel and gear, for example. Executives wanted to improve productivity by making it easier for employees to communicate with each other and with outside vendors and suppliers. Patagonia pilot tested Office 365 and found that it’s helping to increase efficiency. Says Casey Stoops, Network Operations Manager at Patagonia: “We believe Office 365 capabilities, like video conferencing, will help our employees drive real-time decisions, which will help us reduce problem resolution time and potentially accelerate our products to market.”

At the same time, Patagonia expects Office 365 to help it reduce costs. Patagonia anticipates saving $300,000 in server and software upgrades. It also expects to save thousands of dollars in administrative costs by reducing the need to maintain servers and install software updates. “If you look at the Office 365 price point, we could not provide this same level of IT service, at the same cost, ourselves,” Stoops says.

If you are looking for ways to increase productivity and reduce costs, please check out our Office 365 Cost Estimator and see the savings first-hand. If you’ve already signed up for Office 365, please share your experience. In what ways is it raising productivity and reducing costs? Your feedback is appreciated!