Meet Youssef El-Itreby! Office 365 Guru

1- Youssef, can you please introduce yourself to our readers?

It is almost my third year as a Microsoft Technology Solutions Professional covering the West, East and Central Africa (WECA) region. I have started as a Unified Communications technical presales and had the chance to be one of the first Microsoft Center of Expertise Office 365 specialists. This move from on-premises solutions to cloud solutions and embracing the future before it actually happens was mainly due to my passion for technology and its new trends.

2- What do you love the most about technology? 

It’s not secret that computers, the web, and social media have all dramatically changed the way we work. What we used to compose on papers and typewriters (remember those?), we now take care of completely electronically with just a few keystrokes and a click of the mouse button. What you used to do by writing, printing, folding, putting in an envelope, stamping and mailing, you can now do by simply composing and clicking Send - and the message reaches the other person almost instantly. Technology has transformed our globe to a small village where you can interact with anyone and anytime - this is what I love the most about technology.

3- Can you introduce us to Office 365?

Office 365 is Microsoft’s smart and simple answer to cloud computing. Using the various programs in Office 365, you can do all the tasks you’re used to doing in your favorite Office applications - write documents, create presentations, check email, manage your calendar, and more – and then share what you create in real time on a team site, design and publish a website, and even create and host live online meetings while you’re traveling on the train, sitting in a coffee shop, or simply moving around and connecting through your phone.

Office 365 enables businesses to create a cloud computing approach that offers just what their business needs require with the four main technologies – Office, Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync.

4- Can you provide us with any links that can help expand our Office 365 knowledge?

Never start learning a new technology before test driving it, follow this link and signup for your Office 365 free trial account.

After doing that, I recommend going through the Office 365 service descriptions, they will keep you busy for a while. The topics here provide detailed descriptions of the services and features that are available with Office 365.

5- What are the newest updates for Office 365 this year?

This year has been a busy one with almost all the different services across Office 365 seeing updates. The biggest news is the real time co-authoring across Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Web Apps, now you can see people working together on a document simultaneously. OneNote for Windows Store received a bunch of new features including better capture of documents, whiteboards and other physical text and bringing that directly into your notebooks. We enhanced Office Web Apps, so you can get things done more easily from anywhere.

And we added a new Partner Admin Center in Office for business, to help Partners manage their customers more efficiently. Partners now have a central place to see all their customers, monitor customer service health, administer a customer’s service, help manage and resolve support issues, and build their business with trial and subscription offers to send to their customers.

6- Away from technology, do you have any other hobbies or passions?

Hunting is my hobby. In winter, nothing is more exciting than spending the weekend in the middle of nowhere hunting wild ducks - check out my trophies :) I also have a passion for Africa and its natural beauty.

7- Any advice to anyone that wants to be an IT guru?

Be flexible because the world you know is changing faster than ever – you need to embrace new technologies and be flexible enough to not get stuck in the old ways of doing things and get rusty.

And definitely read a lot and stay up to date. But nothing replaces a hands-on experience… so go out there and start engaging!

8- How can people contact you for any technical inquiries?

Here is my email v-yoelit@microsoft.com, feel free to send through your questions/inquiries.

Thank you Youssef for the lovely interview :)