Office 365: An epiphany in the cloud

By Lanway CBS Ltd

29 Jan 2014

Sometimes it takes something to happen in your personal life to help work things out in your business life. In business sometimes we have a tendency to needlessly overcomplicate things to get to the right answer.

by Andrew Henderson, managing director of Lanway CBS.

You agree on the process, and what the success factors are, but sometimes you can’t ignore the feeling that it’s not right, it’s overly complex and convoluted and whatever it is actually just won’t work.

Take cloud for instance, what is it all about? what does it mean? who’s definition is correct? why is it so complex?

Well, I urge you to not even get hung up on this, forget who’s definition is right, which industry veteran or Harvard professor is telling you what it should mean to you – the concept (as with most things) is really simple and like I said at the beginning, it hit home to me in my personal life – when I was moving house.

Packing up the house was not as hard as I thought, we’d prepared weeks in advance. One of the last things (that I was putting off) was to go round the house and the cars to extract all the CDs lying around and get them back in the collection, a lot of them were scratched and scuffed – many of them had no boxes, and many of the boxes had no CDs.

I managed to get them all away in a couple of boxes, and when the van came I struggled with the weight of about 300 CDs in each box.

At the other end we unloaded, and I dropped the CDs off in the garage thinking I’d get them moved into the house later. As it happened, two years later they are still in the garage. Why? Because all my music is now streamed from the cloud for a very low monthly fee.

I used to spend £100 per month on CDs only for them to be scratched, disregarded, lost and now I pay less than one-tenth of that figure to have access to all the music on earth (so they say) – and on reflection this was the exact moment what the cloud was to me really hit home.

Why do I need to own the music ? So I could stare at it in the cabinet every day admiring where all my hard-earned money went ? Or so I could show off to my mates the latest CDs I’d just bought?

Don’t get me wrong, I still miss the experience of buying the music, taking it home and playing it but the benefits of paying less and having access to all music going back years, and new music as soon as it’s released far outweighs this.

Recently I used this life event (I call it a life event because it did feel like an epiphany) when in a customer meeting who shuddered at the very prospect of the cloud, and do you know what, that client is now running Office 365 in the cloud and wondering why he did not make the “leap of faith” sooner.

So what did this mean in simple terms? We saved the client from investing in server hardware £10,000 We saved the client from investing in Office Licences £30,000 We increased exchange uptime (0.999 availability) We enabled them to use SharePoint (part of the 365 subscription) The client is seeing further efficiencies using Lync Most importantly, looking at technology through a simplified lens, we were able to not only save the client money, but we saved two senior business leaders approximately 20% of their working week each through the use of modern technology.

Their business is growing at a rate never seen before which they are enjoying and through the use of new technology they are finding that existing staff can cope with the increased workload as IT has simplified processes and increased productivity.

Job done, I’d say. I’m off now to sell all my CDs on Music Magpie (a cloud-based site to sell your obsolete music media).

Enjoyed this? Read more from Lanway CBS Ltd

Latest news

1

Chiptech announces major innovation initiative at high-profile reception with the New Zealand Prime Minister in London. The Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds, the Rt Hon Christopher Luxon and the Rt Hon Steve Reed (L-R Front Row) David Hammond, and Daniel Knowles

Chiptech announces major innovation initiative at high-profile reception with the New Zealand Prime Minister in London.

30 Apr 2025

2

Northstone secures full planning permission for 50 new homes in Edenfield Edenfield housing development

Northstone secures full planning permission for 50 new homes in Edenfield

29 Apr 2025

3

Ring Stones Maintenance and Construction celebrates completion of Dovestone Gardens Dovestone Gardens launch

Ring Stones Maintenance and Construction celebrates completion of Dovestone Gardens

29 Apr 2025

4

PHX Training welcomes new business leader to drive learner success Louise Kirby

PHX Training welcomes new business leader to drive learner success

29 Apr 2025

5

Lidl to invest half a billion pounds in its expansion as it eyes sites in Lancashire Lidl

Lidl to invest half a billion pounds in its expansion as it eyes sites in Lancashire

29 Apr 2025

Pc Prestonmacan Gif980x120 March
Background image for hub sign up block

LBV Hub

Leverage Lancashire Business View platforms

Post your news
Post your events
Post your offers
Build your network
Improve your SEO
Gain coverage in the magazine
Sign-up
Events
LBV122 May/June Launch Event
121 Lancashire Business View Magazine Launch
Networking
21 May 2025

LBV122 May/June Launch Event

Lancaster and Morecambe College, Lancaster, LA1 2TY

08:30 - 10:30

Sub36 Networking
Networking
11 Jun 2025

Sub36 Networking

British Jewellery School, Scorton, PR3 1BA

15:00 - 17:00

Lancashire Net Zero Carbon Conference
Net Zero Carbon Social 1200px 2
Networking
18 Jun 2025

Lancashire Net Zero Carbon Conference

Crow Wood Hotel & Spa Resort, Burnley, BB12 0RT

08:30 - 13:00

Lancashire Built Environment Conference 2025
BEC 315 X 315 Px
Networking
25 Sep 2025

Lancashire Built Environment Conference 2025

Blackpool Football Club, Blackpool, FY1 6HX

08:30 - 13:00

CMI Level 5 Management and Leadership Course
UCLanAerialCampus.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
21 Feb 2025 - 21 Feb 2026

CMI Level 5 Management and Leadership Course

Preston Campus, Preston , PR1 2HE

09:00 - 17:00

CMI Level 5 Project Management Course
UCLanAerialCampus.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
21 Feb 2025 - 21 Feb 2026

CMI Level 5 Project Management Course

Preston Campus, Preston, PR1 2HE

08:00 - 17:00

RISE - The Academy for Female Leaders and Managers
WENDY BOWERS RISE Illustrstion copy.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Seminars
02 Apr 2025 - 08 Oct 2025

RISE - The Academy for Female Leaders and Managers

East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, Clayton le Moors, BB5 5JR

09:00 - 15:30

Planning for the future + navigating Inheritance Tax changes
Planning for the future + navigating Inheritance Tax changes for website.png.png
LBV Hub Seminars
01 May 2025 - 01 May 2025

Planning for the future + navigating Inheritance Tax changes

Stanley House Hotel, Mellor, Blackburn, BB2 7NP, Blackburn, BB2 7NP

08:00 - 10:30

Advantage: AI – A Workshop for Business Leaders – May 2
EV-land-2025-05B.png.png
LBV Hub Seminars
02 May 2025 - 02 May 2025

Advantage: AI – A Workshop for Business Leaders – May 2

Door4 Office, Burnley Wharf, Manchester Road, Burnley, BB11 1JG

09:00 - 11:00

A night at the races
1.png.png
LBV Hub Dinners / Balls
02 May 2025 - 02 May 2025

A night at the races

Morecambe FC, Morecambe, LA4 4TB

19:00 - 23:59

Innovating business solutions through PhD Partnerships
30478 Skills Bootcamp open day setting.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Networking
07 May 2025 - 07 May 2025

Innovating business solutions through PhD Partnerships

University of Central Lancashire, Preston , PR1 2HE

14:30 - 15:30

Celebrating 50 years of KTP
UCLanAerialCampus.jpg.jpg
LBV Hub Networking
07 May 2025 - 07 May 2025

Celebrating 50 years of KTP

University of Central Lancashire , Preston, PR1 2HE

16:00 - 18:00

Advertise with us

Reaching 50,000 members, our print, digital and event platforms offer a fantastic way to raise your business profile and help you grow.

Find out more Lbv121 Online Graphic
Subscribe now

Weekly news bulletin