GE chooses Microsoft Office 365 for its 300,000 employees

Microsoft Office is the best office suite on the planet. Nothing annoys me more than when someone suggests that LibreOffice is a comparable solution. If you are a home user, sure, you can get by with a limited word processor and spreadsheet offering. If you are a business owner, however, you are crazy to use anything other than Microsoft Office.

Today, GE -- one of the world's most respected companies -- announces that it chose Microsoft Office 365 for its 300,000+ employees. Not only is GE's decision very wise, but it is a huge win for Microsoft too.

“Microsoft and GE share many values in common -- openness, transparency, data-driven intelligence and innovation -- all of which are driving forces behind Microsoft’s own mission to help people and organizations achieve more. As one of the most innovative companies in the world, GE understands what it takes to unleash the potential of its employees. We’re delighted GE has selected Office 365 as the productivity and collaboration solution to empower its global workforce", says John Case, corporate vice president of Microsoft Office.

Microsoft explains, "GE’s IT organization, which is recognized as one of the most strategic and forward-thinking among large enterprises worldwide, selected Office 365 based on Microsoft's ability to deliver rich productivity experiences at massive scale across devices and platforms, as well as its ability to rapidly and reliably deploy to GE's large global employee population. Specifically, Office 365 will provide several key benefits to GE and its employees".

What are these benefits? Microsoft shares the following.

• A comprehensive and integrated set of productivity capabilities including email, Skype for Business calling and meetings, real-time document co-authoring, and team collaboration
• Extensibility of the Office 365 platform, which will enable GE to enhance the capabilities of critical line-of-business applications by connecting to Office 365 through open APIs
• IT controls and security capabilities that enable GE to provide employees with secured access to information and full productivity capabilities on a multitude of devices, while adhering to corporate policies, industry regulations and legal requirements

Easy collaboration and support of multiple device types are necessities in today's business world. No other solution can offer a more complete package than Office 365. Skype for Business -- formerly Lync -- is a brilliant way for remote users to share and work with office associates, while core programs such as Word, Excel and Outlook are second to none for productivity. GE should be happy with its decision.

Do you think GE was smart to deliver Office 365 to its 300,000 employees? Tell me in the comments.

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