Office365 Considerations
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We're looking to potentially move our internal Exchange 2010 server (about 220 mailboxes) to being hosted by O365. We have an internal AD (working to get it to AD 2012) and are currently using only Office365 ProPlus (software subscription) partnered with the good folks at NTG. We have a hosted spam filter (SpamTitan, dual node) as well that also provides archiving of all messages. e-discovery, and PST exports. We have around 115 users on the ProPlus subscription right now, which we would move to a full O365 plan if we go that direction.
Most folks are on Office 2013 or 2016, but there are some users on 2007 and 2010. They would move to Office 2016 as part of a potential move.
We would have some users (maybe 15 - 20) who just need e-mail and not the full O365 suite since they may only have a tablet that is used for company e-mail and access to our company intranet. But we would still want their mail archived if that is an option.
I've been told there is a large amount of work that has to be done to AD to get O365 to work with it properly. We would not federate but would have folks authenticate to e-mail separate from their Windows credentials. Is that accurate?
It's also my understanding that you have to sign up for a minimum commitment of users for the length of term (easy to scale up but not to scale down). Maybe that's just how some O365 partners do it?
When folks leave the company, I think you can change their account to a shared mailbox to keep it live but save on the cost of having another full mailbox user. Is that accurate?
Is it more advantageous to go with a larger MS partner so you can get better support when there is a problem?
Do most folks go with a 3rd party spam filter in a addition to what you get with the standard O365 subscription (Exchange Online Protection)?
Are there providers who can guarantee internal e-mail for our mailboxes would not leave the US? That would be a requirement for us. I have spoken to one partner who says they will put it in writing (Navisite).
I have talked with folks who are super against O365 because they said random mailboxes go down pretty often. Others I have spoken with say it is great. I'd love to have feedback from those who have made the move, the effort it took you, how much you may have had to pay a 3rd party to help, and how you chose the right partner.
I'm not trying to undercut NTG on this one. I'm just trying to educate myself and really am just in the research phase.
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All partners are identical with Microsoft. There cannot be differences. Resellers have limits, different prices and huge risk. That's why you see differences.
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There is no way to undercut NTG. Prices are always the same unless you leave Microsoft protection. Then you have insane risk that no business should realistically consider. MS won't stand behind you then.
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No O365 provider can do anything technical that another can't. It's the same service under the hood always. Partners help you with O365 but you buy from Microsoft. If you don't pay MS directly, run away.
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@scottalanmiller said in Office365 Considerations:
There is no way to undercut NTG. Prices are always the same unless you leave Microsoft protection. Then you have insane risk that no business should realistically consider. MS won't stand behind you then.
Maybe I did not say that correctly. I'm going through NTG as my partner for the O365 subscription currently. I did not want you to think I don't consider NTG as a potential partner to help me get to the full O365 that includes e-mail hosting.
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No minimum commitments with O365. Any minimums are from a reseller.
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@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
@scottalanmiller said in Office365 Considerations:
There is no way to undercut NTG. Prices are always the same unless you leave Microsoft protection. Then you have insane risk that no business should realistically consider. MS won't stand behind you then.
Maybe I did not say that correctly. I'm going through NTG as my partner for the O365 subscription currently. I did not want you to think I don't consider NTG as a potential partner to help me get to the full O365 that includes e-mail hosting.
I was just pointing out that the prices are always the same. Partners don't resell, the price is direct from MS. So prices are always the same.
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@scottalanmiller said in Office365 Considerations:
No minimum commitments with O365. Any minimums are from a reseller.
And I suppose resellers tout they can get you better support so you'll sign with them. It makes sense.
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@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
@scottalanmiller said in Office365 Considerations:
No minimum commitments with O365. Any minimums are from a reseller.
And I suppose resellers tout they can get you better support so you'll sign with them too. It makes sense.
No. partners get better support. Resellers get less (or none).
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Resellers work by lowering the price, selling in bulk and not giving you the protections of real O365.
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@scottalanmiller said in Office365 Considerations:
@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
@scottalanmiller said in Office365 Considerations:
No minimum commitments with O365. Any minimums are from a reseller.
And I suppose resellers tout they can get you better support so you'll sign with them too. It makes sense.
No. partners get better support. Resellers get less (or none).
So if you had a technical problem you could get your partner to push MS to get your issue resolved quicker? That definitely helps.
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@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
@scottalanmiller said in Office365 Considerations:
@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
@scottalanmiller said in Office365 Considerations:
No minimum commitments with O365. Any minimums are from a reseller.
And I suppose resellers tout they can get you better support so you'll sign with them too. It makes sense.
No. partners get better support. Resellers get less (or none).
So if you had a technical problem you could get your partner to push MS to get your issue resolved quicker? That definitely helps.
Yes. Partners get additional support from MS that you can't get without a partner. It's a free upgrade.
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How do you like the built-in spam protection with O365? Does it do a good job to prevent spoofing and malicious links?
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@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
How do you like the built-in spam protection with O365? Does it do a good job to prevent spoofing and malicious links?
It does an excellent job here. The only spam I get is junk I signed up for, ha ha.
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@dafyre said in Office365 Considerations:
@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
How do you like the built-in spam protection with O365? Does it do a good job to prevent spoofing and malicious links?
It does an excellent job here. The only spam I get is junk I signed up for, ha ha.
Do you use eDiscovery functionalities of O365 at all? If so, how do you like it?
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@dafyre said in Office365 Considerations:
@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
How do you like the built-in spam protection with O365? Does it do a good job to prevent spoofing and malicious links?
It does an excellent job here. The only spam I get is junk I signed up for, ha ha.
I assume if something gets stuck that was legit you can go in and release it like with most spam filters?
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@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
How do you like the built-in spam protection with O365? Does it do a good job to prevent spoofing and malicious links?
It's not bad. I still get way too much though.
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It looks like you get Skype for Business with the E3 plan for meetings / video chats / screen sharing. Do I have that right?
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@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
@dafyre said in Office365 Considerations:
@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
How do you like the built-in spam protection with O365? Does it do a good job to prevent spoofing and malicious links?
It does an excellent job here. The only spam I get is junk I signed up for, ha ha.
I assume if something gets stuck that was legit you can go in and release it like with most spam filters?
Yepp!
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@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
@dafyre said in Office365 Considerations:
@NetworkNerd said in Office365 Considerations:
How do you like the built-in spam protection with O365? Does it do a good job to prevent spoofing and malicious links?
It does an excellent job here. The only spam I get is junk I signed up for, ha ha.
Do you use eDiscovery functionalities of O365 at all? If so, how do you like it?
I know we do use it, but I don't have access to it, so I can't help you there.
