-
Home
-
Knowledge Base
-
James Haywood
- How Microsoft 365 and Azure Can Help Your Non-Profit Organization
Knowledge Base
How Microsoft 365 and Azure Can Help Your Non-Profit Organization
OVERVIEWMicrosoft 365 and Azure stand out as vital resources for non-profit organizations, providing a suite of tools to enhance productivity, collaboration, and cost management while ensuring high levels of security and compliance. Through features like cloud-based communication, document sharing, scalable cloud infrastructure, and advanced security measures, these platforms offer solutions tailored to the unique challenges faced by non-profits. Additionally, with Microsoft's commitment to affordability for non-profits through significant discounts, these technologies become accessible tools for organizations aiming to increase their impact and efficiency in achieving their missions. |
Non-profit organizations face many challenges today, such as limited resources, increasing demands, and complex regulations. To overcome these challenges, non-profits need to leverage the power of technology to streamline their operations, enhance their impact, and achieve their mission. That's where Microsoft 365 and Azure come in. Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based productivity and collaboration tool suite that includes Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and SharePoint. Azure is a cloud computing platform and infrastructure that provides various services and capabilities, such as hosting, storage, backup, security, and analytics. Together, Microsoft 365 and Azure can help your non-profit organization in many ways, such as:
Improve Communication and Collaboration
 |
Communication and collaboration are essential for any non-profit organization, especially if you have a distributed team or work with multiple partners and stakeholders. Microsoft 365 and Azure can help you improve your communication and collaboration by providing you with tools and features such as:
- Email, calendar, and contacts with Outlook
- Instant messaging, video conferencing, and online meetings with Teams
- Document creation, editing, and sharing with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneDrive
- Team sites, intranet, and document management with SharePoint
- Integration with other cloud services and on-premises systems with Azure
With these tools and features, you can stay connected and productive with your team, partners, and stakeholders, regardless of their location or device.
Reduce Costs and Complexity (see non-profit pricing section below for exact costs)
Costs and complexity are two of the biggest challenges for non-profit organizations, especially when managing their IT infrastructure and software. Microsoft 365 and Azure can help you reduce your costs and complexity by providing you with benefits such as:
- Pay-as-you-go pricing, which means you only pay for the resources you use, and you can scale up or down as needed (Microsoft 365 also has annual and monthly plans available. Azure is pay as you go.)
- Automatic updates and patches, which means you don't have to worry about keeping your systems and applications up-to-date and secure
- Access to the latest technologies and innovations, which means you can take advantage of the best features and capabilities that Microsoft has to offer
- Support and training, which means you can get the help and guidance you need to make the most of your Microsoft 365 and Azure solutions
With these benefits, you can save money, time, and hassle and focus on your core mission and activities.
Enhance Security and Compliance
Security and compliance are two of the most important aspects of any non-profit organization, especially when protecting your data and applications. Microsoft 365 and Azure can help you enhance your security and compliance by providing you with features and capabilities such as:
- Data encryption, which means your data is protected both in transit and at rest
- Multi-factor authentication, which means you can add an extra layer of security to your accounts and devices
- Advanced threat protection, which means you can detect and prevent malicious attacks and breaches
- Data loss prevention, which means you can prevent unauthorized access and sharing of your sensitive data
- Audit and reporting, which means you can monitor and track your activities and compliance status
- Compliance with industry standards and regulations, such as ISO 27001, HIPAA, FedRAMP, SOC 1, and SOC 2, as well as country-specific standards like Australia IRAP, UK G-Cloud, and Singapore MTCS
With these features and capabilities, you can ensure that your data and applications are secure and compliant and that you can meet the expectations and requirements of your donors, beneficiaries, and regulators.
Case Study
An accounting company Intrada works with recently upgraded its infrastructure. Their server needed to be replaced. The customer was not ready, nor did they want to switch to the cloud versions of their current software, like Quickbooks. Moving all their software programs to their respective cloud platforms would cost them roughly $1400 monthly in individual subscription fees.
Instead of pushing everything to individual cloud plans, Intrada set up an Azure Virtual Machine to host the Quickbooks program/database and their other software programs. The Azure instance costs them roughly $250 per month to operate. This is significantly cheaper than the $1400 per month they were anticipating. Additionally, the customer did not have to purchase or maintain server hardware. Servers require electricity, anti-virus, monitoring software, updating, and patching each month.
While Microsoft Azure accomplished a solution for their Quickbooks and other pieces of software, they still needed a solution for their email services, file storage, and security. Microsoft 365’s Business Premium package provided them with:
- Exchange (enterprise) emailing services
- OneDrive and SharePoint file storage services that can be accessed anywhere, securely
- Email and device security
- Domain services and device management
- Multi-factor authentication
- Single sign-on
Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 are powerful and versatile cloud computing platforms that can help businesses of all sizes achieve their goals. Whether you're looking to save money, improve scalability and flexibility, enhance security and compliance, or take advantage of the latest cloud technologies, Azure has something to offer. With its wide range of features and capabilities, Azure is the perfect choice for any business looking to move to the cloud.
Pricing
Microsoft offers significant discounts to qualified 501(c)3 organizations.
Microsoft 365:
- Business Basic > Free
- Business Standard > $3.00 per user per month
- Business Premium > Free for the first ten users; $5.50 per user per month
Microsoft Azure:
- Up to a $2000 per year grant
Conclusion
Microsoft 365 and Azure are powerful and versatile solutions that can help your non-profit organization achieve its goals and make a difference. Whether you're looking to improve your communication and collaboration, reduce costs and complexity, or enhance your security and compliance, Microsoft 365 and Azure have something to offer. With their wide range of features and capabilities, Microsoft 365 and Azure are the perfect choice for any non-profit organization looking to move to the cloud.
About the author
Contact Us
|
Contact Information: |
Hours of Operation: |
OUR FOCUS
Intrada Technologies is a full-service web development and network management company with a focus on creating ongoing, trusted partnerships with each of our clients.
We make sure our clients have what they require to run their businesses with maximum efficiency and reliability, as many of their needs are mission-critical.
Our unique, collaborative partnerships allow us to provide our clients with the assurance that we will be there when they need us.