Weekly #WhyMSFT Round-Up 6/24/2011

Each week, we round up industry news and articles that you may have missed. Enjoy this week’s selections: 

Small Business Focus:  

Easy, Professional and Reliable

For some clients, the big win in Office 365 will be the ability to easily synchronize email across the desktop, mobile devices, and the cloud. For some, it will be the ability to share documents by using Microsoft SharePoint Online. For others, it will be the ability to create a website in SharePoint Online. Others will be quite excited about Microsoft Lync Online. By initiating one-click videoconferencing or sharing documents through Lync Online, you can virtually “be there” with clients—and reduce the need to commute to off-site meetings.

Technology Solutions drive SMB’s to Push Growth Ahead of an Expected Economic Downtrend

According to a recent survey SMB/Partner Insight Report conducted by Microsoft, SMBs are concerned about issues such as cost cutting, cash flow and improving performance. The report indicates that SMBs are more likely to increase their IT investments by adopting technical trends that can be managed centrally for improving existing infrastructure and business processes.  

The Microsoft Advantage:

Microsoft and Google: 3 Misconceptions That Microsoft Wants You To Know About

While Google Apps is cheaper, dollar for dollar, there are many reasons why businesses have not switched to Google Apps and opted to continue with Microsoft. Microsoft believes that many businesses have some misconceptions about Microsoft vs Google and in this guest post from Bhavika Thakkar, Product Manager of Microsoft Unified Communications (US BMO), clears the air on some key issue

Atlanta Hospital Looks to Cloud For Email Fix

"The issues with email were in the forefront of everyone's mind," said Cancilla. "The servers weren't stable. The filters weren't working correctly. We had configuration problems.... We had constant downtime. This was almost a weekly occurrence. We didn't have the depth or experience for this. And people have an expectation that email is a given and stable and it works. And it just didn't in this environment."

Security in Microsoft Office 365

The data centers in which Office 365 cloud servers are hosted are protected through physical as well as logical security. Physical security controls include physical controls, video surveillance and access controls. Logical security has been provided through data isolation, federated identity, single sign-on, hosted application security, identity and access management, etc.

Have a blog post or article you want to see in next week's round-up? Tweet a link to us at @whymicrosoft or post it in the comments below!