Last week, Microsoft ended their support for Office 2010 and Office 2016 for Mac. They will no longer provide any technical support or security updates for those products.

Organizations may continue to use the outdated Office software; however, they will face increased security risks and compliance issues.

The end of life support was announced in 2017. Especially now given recent events, Microsoft is aligning to their commitment to providing tools for the new world of work, in-person and remote. Given that the majority of the US workforce is still working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses must stay agile and utilize cloud-enabled resources.

For businesses still running Office 2010, Office 365 is the solution. Office 365 is a subscription-based plan that gives organizations all the Office products they are familiar with, with the added benefit of being cloud-hosted. It also offers real-time collaboration, enhanced security, AI-powered insights, and 1TB of storage.

If you are considering a move to Office 365, there are a few steps you can take to make the transition easier.

  • Consult an Expert: The first step before you begin your migration to Office 365 is to consult an expert. An IT vendor can conduct an initial assessment of your current IT infrastructure and provide an estimate of the amount of work that needs to be done, duration of the project, and price of the migration.
  • Planning and Migration: There are three migration types to consider.
    • – Stagged Migration – moves everything over in batches.
    • – Cutover Migration – the immediate transition from on-premises to cloud
    • – Hybrid Migration – uses both on-premises and online mailboxes to gradually migrate users
  • Have Communication Ready for Employees: Along with on-going support and maintenance, it is important to have training materials ready for your employees. Delivering timely, informative messages throughout the entire process is key for a successful migration. After a migration, have how-to guides ready to make it easy for employees to learn about the new platform.

Office 365 is an important tool to support the global and remote workforce. If you’re interested in making the switch to Office 365, Inner PC has a team of experts ready to help.