Office 365 vs Office 2016 – What’s best for you?

What is the Difference Between Office 365 and Office 2016?

What is Office 2016?

IT refers to the latest suite of productivity desktop Microsoft office 2016 suite version with Access to OneDrive cloud storage for easier collaboration and sharing. It is a type of Microsoft office suite, which is installed manually, and offline after purchase and it can be installed into several computers depending on the type of version purchased.

Office 2016 System Requirements

For improved productivity, any consumer needs a smooth-running office for faster editing and data manipulation. For office 2016 smooth running and installation, here are some of the system requirements to consider before purchase:

• 1 GHz processor
• A screen resolution of a minimum 1280 * 800
• 2GB RAM
• Windows 7 SPI or above operating system
• At least .Net 3.5 preferred 4.5 LCR
• A 3GB of available disk space or extra space for temp files

What You Get With Office 2016

Every Microsoft office application is developed to perform different tasks; hence before purchasing any office package/plan, you need to know which applications are included, putting into consideration what type of projects you are working on. Here are Microsoft Office 2016 applications:

• Excel 2016
• PowerPoint 2016
• Outlook 2016 (Home and Business plans version only)
• Word 2016
• OneNote 2016

You get to purchase Outlook 2016 and Access 2016 separately in the Microsoft store, as well as OneDrive storage space.

Microsoft Office 2016 Plans

Microsoft Office developed different office 2016 plans to meet all of its consumer’s demands. Every consumer can choose the type of Office 2016 plan, which meets his/her work expectations. Below are the five traditional editions which were released for Windows:

• Home and student– it contains core applications only.
• Home and business– it contains core applications and outlook application.
• Professional plus– it includes the core applications, skype for business, outlook, publisher, and Access.
• Standard– it contains the core applications, publisher, and outlook.
• Professional– it contains the core applications, publisher. Access and Outlook.

For Mac three editions were developed;

• Standard– An office 2016 plan that includes outlook and core applications, and it’s available through volume licensing.
• Home and business– an office 2016 plan that includes outlook and core applications.
• Home and student– An office 2016 plan that includes core applications only.

Here are the Benefits of Using Office 2016

Why as a consumer do you prefer working with office suite 2016? Microsoft office suite 2016 is developed to meet the consumer’s expectations as it aspires to achieve data accuracy and efficiency. Here are some of its benefits:

1. Smart attachments

Before the office 2016 version was developed, attaching documents was cumbersome because one had to navigate through the file location. While working with Office 2016 you can still do the same, however, if the file or document in question was recently worked on it will show up on the recent files while attaching with Outlook 2016.

2. Better history version

While working on any document using Office 2016 application, it facilitates an extra advantage of keeping past document versions and making them easily accessible for sharing or attachment.

3. Document sharing–

Office suite 2016 comes up with an added feature of document sharing by adding a share button to its applications. On the upper right top corner of all applications, there is a share button that facilitates one-click Access to share the file/document with anyone.

4. Outlook clutter folder feature

Every day you probably receive many emails and you had to manually, prioritize the emails to work faster. Office 2016 outlook application adds up a clutter folder where you can designate emails as low priority to work on them later.

5. Data visualization with better chat types

Microsoft office 2016 version comes with new chats versions, which include a waterfall, Pareto, Treemap, Histogram, Sunburst and Box, and whisker which help visualize raw data with new diagrams in very simple ways.

6. Tablet friendly

As compared to previous office suite versions, Microsoft office suite 2016 is tablet-friendly and can be used efficiently without any inconveniences.

7. Cloud integration

Older office versions had no cloud integration advantage, making it hard for consumers not to access data online. Microsoft Office 2016 is completely integrated with OneDrive meaning you can be able to access and edit your files from anywhere once saved on the cloud.

What is Office 365?

It refers to a cloud-based up-to-date modern productivity tool from Microsoft that is accessed online through subscription plans (the subscription can either be on a monthly or yearly basis). Its main reason for development was for Microsoft while still offering its existing services to be able to embrace cloud technology. Microsoft is slowly diverting towards Office 365 and moving away from the physical media installation to achieve voluntary diversion by its consumers. You can always access its services (Microsoft Office applications on macOS, IOS, Android, Windows 10 Mobile, and Windows) from anywhere as long as you have internet access, office 365 login credentials, and an active subscription.

What are the Office 365 System Requirements?

Office 365 having been hosted on the cloud, for any of its subscription plans to run smoothly and efficiently  and never to miss any update on your desktop computer or laptop, the following are some of the system requirements you need to consider for easy compatibility:

• Computer and processor

For windows operating system, a 1.6(GHz) or faster and 2-core at least is required where else for a macOS an Intel processor is preferred.

• Memory

For windows operating system, 4GB RAM, or a 2 GB RAM (32bit) where else on MacOS, a 4GB Ram is preferred.

• Hard disk

Since Office 365 is hosted on the cloud, it only needs a disk space of 4GB for Windows operating system where else for a macOS a disk space of 10GB; HFS + hard disk format (MacOS Extended) is required.

• Graphics

For an attractive User interface a Graphical hardware acceleration of DirectX9 or later, with WDDM 2.0 or higher for Windows 10 (or WDDM 1.3 or higher for Windows 10 Fall Creators Update) and Skype for business requires DirectX9 OR LATER, 128 MB graphics memory, and 32 bits per pixel capable format is recommended.

• Operating system

Office 365 can run and operate efficiently on either windows 10, 8.1, 7, and windows server where else on MacOS it is supported on the three most recent versions and office supports also

• .NET version

While running Office 365, some of its features may require .NET 3.5 or 4.6 and higher for ultimate performance not to miss any important feature or upgrade.

Microsoft Office 365 plans

Every consumer is different from each other and has different desires and requirements on the type of subscription plan he/she might need to work with. Hence Microsoft decided to develop different plans to achieve the fulfillment of every consumer’s desire. All of its developed subscription plans are different from another, each meeting its objective and goal of improved productivity. Below are the Microsoft office 365-subscription plans you can choose from:

• Home and personal use– it is a convenient plan, which lets you share the subscription with up to 5 family members each User with equal privileges.
• Small and midsized businesses– it is preferably used by startup businesses.
• Schools- developed to meet schools’ desires and meet the school’s routine workforce.
• Large enterprises- it is mostly used in big organizations due to the large workforce.

What do you get With Office 365?

Microsoft office is diverting all of its consumers to Office 365 subscription plans for improved productivity and better working convenience. Having developed different subscription plans following subscriber’s desires all of its plans are equipped with the following applications:

• Excel 2016
• PowerPoint 2016
• Outlook 2016
• Word 2016
• OneNote 2016
• Access 2016 (PC only)
• Publisher 2016 (PC only)

Additional features

For the Home office, 365 subscription plan Microsoft equipped the plan with additional features, which applies to each of the five users using the subscription plan. The features include:

• 1hour of skype credit per month
• 1TB of OneDrive storage

Discover the Benefits of Office 365  

Why subscribe to any of the office 365 plans? If you might be wondering as to why here are some of the benefits of clicking to that office 365 subscription plan you desired:

1. You’re always up to date

Office 365 is housed in the cloud; hence all updates done by Microsoft are received on a real-time basis at no extra cost for the subscribed consumer.

2. Reduces Capital Spend

Every consumer needs to save on cost and needs to have a convenient budget plan before buying or subscribing to anything. Microsoft Office 365 offers consider by allowing the consumer to either consider a monthly or yearly subscription in which you only pay once hence eliminating leasing or software update cost  (in case of newly developed Microsoft feature updates).

3. Installation on up to 5 devices per User

keeping up with the current technological change, you find a consumer has more than one device, and all on different locations project (maybe at home, workplace, travel destination point) or maybe on the same location, but each is working on a different project. Office 365 home plan enables you to run the office on five different computers indecently and also offers an auto-syncing advantage, which means you can access and update files on any of the devices and have real-time updates.

4. Work anywhere

On any of the subscription plans, as long as you have an internet connection, you can access and use Office 365 services from anywhere and get real-time changes. This is super beneficial for companies with remote employees and multiple locations.

5. Easy collaboration

Is your company having a set up at different locations and having employees working on the same document at times? If yes, Office 365 is the best package for you since it facilitates real-time updates upon editing a document.

The Difference Between Office 365 and Office 2016

Day in day out, technology is growing and Microsoft had to grow with the technology by adopting cloud computing through office 365. Before cloud computing which facilitates online installation, Office 2016 version was been installed offline into the machine. Microsoft office wants to divert its consumers into the online office 365 version, but then is it worth it? Here are some of the differences between office 365 and office 2016:

1. Updates on office 365 and office 2016

The software update is important to achieve the consumer’s desire. For Office 2016 to receive updates the consumer has to download updates and install them offline which is an extra cost where else for office 365 updates are automatically done on the cloud and for free.

2. Technical support in office 365 vs office 2016

While having an office 365 subscription, tech support is normally 24/7 support on any technical, billing, and usage support where else on Office 2016, you only get free Microsoft support on the installation level.

3. Payment and subscription

Microsoft office 2016 purchase is normally done once where the consumer gets a license key and several machines to be installed validation without expiry, where else for office 365 it is normally accessed via monthly or yearly subscription.

4. Usage and Access

Microsoft office 2016 applications are accessed offline since they are locally installed where else Office 365 can only be accessed online.

5. Storage

Microsoft office 365 subscription offers a 1TB OneDrive cloud storage while Office 2016 offers no extra storage unless you pay an extra fee for online cloud integration space.

6. Pricing

Comparing office 2016 and office 365 in terms of price, you find that Microsoft office 2016 is expensive with fewer packages.

7. Flexibility

Office 365 is an online-based application that is hosted on the cloud making it easily accessible anywhere by a subscriber as long as you have an internet connection (document editing changes are real-time). As compared to office 2016 which is installed offline into a machine, it can’t be accessed by another machine from a different location.

8. Features and programs

Office 365 subscription has additional features of 1TB cloud storage and MS Access 2016 and MS Publisher applications for free where else for the Office 2016 offline purchase, you have to purchase cloud storage, MS Access, and MS Publisher applications at an extra fee.

Factors To Consider Between Office 365 And Office 2016 Purchase

Consumer’s question always remains; will office 365 satisfy my desires or office 2016? Before concluding either to have an office 365 or office 2016 plan, here are some of the factors to consider:

1. Price

As a consumer what is your budget? Would you rather buy an office once or pay for a monthly or yearly subscription? Office 365 offers a subscription plan of either monthly or yearly depending on what the user can afford to pay where else on office 2016 you buy once the whole package.

2. Accessibility

Office 365 is the best if you need to access your information remotely from multiple devices where else files in office 2016 can also be saved in the cloud but accessed from one computer.

3. Desired features and programs

Which applications as a consumer are you mostly to use a lot? Choose a plan which has all the applications you need for your use.

4. Plans upgrade and degrading

Office 365 offers real-time updates at no extra cost where else office 2016 the User has to download the updates and install them at an extra fee. If you are interested in purchasing a Microsoft product feel free to reach out and we would be happy to help!