EHosting DataFort (eHDF), a leading managed hosting and cloud infrastructure services provider in the region, has partnered with Microsoft to provide ‘Office 365’ in the Gulf region, offering customers a complete cloud-based office software.

Office 365 is a cloud-based service that enables organisations to access Microsoft’s office collaboration and productivity tools from anywhere and at any time, said a statement.

It integrates familiar desktop applications such as business-class email, shared calendars, instant messaging (IM), video conferencing and file sharing, it said.

The software, guaranteeing 99.9 per cent uptime, allows data accessibility and visibility to organisations, is easy to use and has strong shields against malware, spam and viruses.

EHDF offers a comprehensive solution for migration to Microsoft Office 365 which includes implementation and configuration of this cloud-based software and ongoing proactive support on a per-user per-month subscription plan.

Yasser Zeineldin, chief executive officer of eHDF, said: “Organisations are constantly looking at innovative ways to save operational expenses. Microsoft Office 365 is a great way to optimise their business efficiency.  A managed service provider like eHDF not only offers a hassle free migration to Microsoft Office 365, but the overall setup is taken care of along with post-implementation support.

“This allows customers to truly enjoy the benefits and features of Office 365 which include easy access to office across multiple devices and locations, allowing employees to share, view and edit files and documents with co-workers, partners and customers. It also enables proficient management of teams and projects with online conferencing and screen sharing.”

“There is a growing demand for this service, from large enterprises as well as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Start-ups that need to keep initial investments and long-term administrative overheads low are also investing in such services,” he said.

Haider Slalom, small and medium business lead at Microsoft Gulf, said: ”SMBs represent over 90 per cent of the UAE's private sector. Recent research commissioned by Microsoft reveals that SMEs that use Microsoft cloud services grew revenue 15 per cent points faster than non-cloud SMEs and they managed to grow jobs nearly two times faster than those who do not.

“We are confident that through our partnership with eHosting DataFort, SMEs in the Gulf region will be able to leverage Office 365 to reduce costs and increase their productivity.”

EHDF offers organisations three distinct migration services - the ‘Remote Move’ will enable convenient switching from Exchange 2010 and later versions; ‘Staged Migration’ will facilitate migration from older Microsoft versions for customers wishing to establish a permanent email coexistence with Office 365 and their on premise environment; and ‘Cutover Migration’ for customers opting to completely transition to a cloud environment.  - TradeArabia News Service