By Sam | November 15, 2018
Are There Microsoft Office 365 Cost Savings for Credit Unions?

Office 365 for credit unions, cost savings

Microsoft Office 365 for credit unions offers many new and improved features over former versions, so making the switch is, on its face, a no-brainer for credit unions. But this is the financial industry we’re talking about here—let’s talk bottom line. Office 365’s best feature might be cost savings.

At the end of the day, your move to Office 365 shouldn’t necessarily be swayed by cost. Its strong security, disaster-resistant cloud-based platform, and drastically-simplified licensing is enough to warrant serious consideration on their own. Coupled with version control considerations, credit unions would be well-served by adopting the latest technology for their productivity suite.

But hey, if there are savings to be had? Yes please. Let’s put that cherry on top.

https://vimeo.com/289124471

Simplified Licensing Helps

One of the biggest factors in cost savings for credit unions involves licensing issues. Older versions of Microsoft Office had—we estimate—roughly one bajillion different open volume enterprise agreements and retail licenses.

Each kind of license had its own pricing and renewal commitments, which meant a little extra legwork for IT. Unfortunately for credit unions, each device required its own license. If one employee used a desktop, a home PC, and a laptop for work, that’s three licenses. That kind of licensing adds up quickly.

Office 365 utilizes per-user licensing agreements. With the above example, that would mean only one license needed for all three devices. While we can’t do the math without knowing specifically which kind of license your credit union would need, we can confidently say that you’d see a definite cost savings benefit.

Devices vs Users

Typically, a credit union with 50 employees will have somewhere between 75 and 90 desktops. Larger credit unions require even more. Licensing older versions of Microsoft office for all those computers was certainly a cost of doing business. But did it have to be?

With Office 365’s newer, per-user account licensing, credit unions like the hypothetically-sized one above would be on the hook for only 50 licenses. The cost savings and simplification of Office 365’s subscription model are immediately obvious.

What would have been an average of almost two licenses per user becomes only one. Not only that, but each user license extends to five devices. Not only is that generous enough for each user to install Office 365 on a desktop, a home PC, and a laptop, it also provides ample room for device upgrades. If one device is woefully out-of-date or gets crushed in a wild stampede, you’ll be able to install Office 365 on your new replacement device.

Fewer Headaches for Credit Unions

We don’t know what gives you headaches. For us, it’s needlessly-complicated licensing and renewal agreements, but sometimes trying to manage those across different productivity applications.

Well, if you’re anything like us, we’ve got good news: Office 365’s suite incorporates many additional resources in its subscription model. In addition to the usual fodder, mailboxes, inbound and outbound mail security, OneDrive, Teams, and Skype are all encompassed by one license.

With that said, yes, there are definite cost savings for credit unions using Office 365. Maybe money saved is just the cherry on top, but it’s a really sweet, juicy cherry. Click here to learn more about Hosted Office 365 Solutions for your Credit Union.