We normally don’t begin white papers with an “opening statement”, but we chose to do so for this paper to ensure that we make an important point right up-front: while the title of this paper may imply that we are dismissing Office 365 as an inadequate offering, nothing could be further from the truth. On the contrary, Microsoft set out in Office 365 to provide a robust set of communications, collaboration, security, archiving and other capabilities at a range of reasonable price points – they have succeeded and they continue to build on that success. However, because Microsoft never set out to include every possible feature, function and capability in Office 365 – instead offering only a strong foundation of capabilities – third-party solutions are necessary for mid-sized and large organizations (and some smaller ones) that have requirements that go beyond the intended scope of the various Office 365 plans. Consequently, our focus in this white paper is to discuss objectively what Office 365 does and does not do, and to suggest areas in which third party offerings will supplement its native capabilities.
Supplementing the Limitations on Office 365
