du and Microsoft have announced a new partnership, under which du will become the first telecom service provider in the UAE to offer Office 365
cloud-based productivity applications and services directly to its small and medium business (SMB) customers in the country.
This announcement leads to the availability of the modern office on the cloud to be provided by a telecom service provider for the first time in the UAE by further expanding the various channels available to SMBs to obtain Office 365, and provides additional value-added services that complement the offering. In-line with both companies’ commitment to providing businesses with technology that empowers them to be more productive in a mobile-first, cloud-first environment, the offering provides SMBs with increased accessibility to cloud-based productivity tools starting from just 20 AED/month.
The Office 365-enabled packages introduced support the services offered by du for SMBs, allowing them to now be able to purchase all the services they require from one supplier, through one support center, and in one consolidated monthly bill. Microsoft Office 365 packages are offered by du across all their mobile, device and broadband portfolio from as low as 20 AED/month, added to the customer’s du monthly bill. The offering also provides a simple and easy on-boarding for customers to start using the Office 365, as well as providing a choice of support packages giving the customer complete peace of mind while he focuses on running his core business. More information can be found on www.du.ae/office365.
The Office 365 business plan packages to be provided by du offer a variety of services, including business-class email, shared calendars, instant messaging, conferencing, and access to 1TB of storage in the cloud, which is due to become unlimited over the course of 2015. This is all in addition to the Microsoft Office suite. SMBs can benefit from Office 365-hosted solutions with no infrastructure setup or costs on up to 15 devices per user with any operating system, and remain productive on the go without having to pay any IT infrastructure costs.
Speaking at the press conference, Hany Fahmy Aly, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Business, du, said: “SMBs represent the fastest growing segment for us, and we believe that this segment has huge potential for growth. We completely understand the needs and challenges of SMBs, and from our experience we have seen that they are early technology adopters, if products are packaged right. By offering the Office 365 suite of packages across all our core mobile and broadband services through our new collaboration with Microsoft, our SMB customers will benefit from yet another incredible effort to bring value-packed, enterprise-grade solutions to this market. We are excited to launch the UAE’s first modern office in the cloud.”
Commenting on the news, Ihsan Anabtawi, Regional Director Microsoft Office Division at Microsoft Gulf said: “Nearly three years ago, we made Office 365 available in the UAE. Today we are continuing our efforts by providing an offering with du that is designed to meet the needs of SMBs, with a focus on those with up to 100 employees, providing easy, low-cost access to cloud-based technology with no infrastructure costs. Office 365 is transformational for businesses of all sizes, but levels the playing field for SMBs in particular because it makes enterprise-grade tools affordable and easy to set up and manage. We are pleased to work with du to provide the UAE’s SMBs with communication and collaboration tools which have been designed to enhance productivity, promote collaboration and reduce operational costs. I would like to take this opportunity to thank du for their partnership and commitment as we work together to provide the UAE’s SMBs with access to the latest cloud collaboration and productivity solutions.”
Office 365 is one of the fastest growing businesses in Microsoft history. Microsoft recently increased the amount of cloud storage that it provides to Office 365 accounts to 1 terabyte across the service, bringing more capacity to anyone who pays for Office.
