Today’s workplace changes every business day. The cubicle is out, telecommuting is in. Hallway collabora-tion no longer suffices, international teleconferencing is mandatory. Cloud and online applications are surging. And the 12.8 million young workers entering the marketplace in the next decade need a new way to work1 — one that draws heavily on consumer products, social networking, and other rapid chang-es in technology.

It’s no surprise to learn that IT infrastructure complexity is mounting. Yet many enterprises still spend as much of their IT budgets maintaining inflexible, siloed systems.2 To move forward, busi-nesses such as yours are looking at the promise of cloud-based IT services to give them a competi-tive edge. A recent Gartner poll found that by 2012, 80 percent of Fortune 1000 enterprises will be using some form of cloud or off-premise computing services. Twenty percent of businesses plan to own zero IT assets.3

Microsoft recognizes the technology challenges faced by your business. We know that successful businesses must find new ways to harness the expertise of their employees, maximize team relation-ships, and use information to drive both profit growth and reduced costs. And we know that busi-nesses are wrestling with such issues as:

• ConsumerizationofIT: The line between enterprise and consumer technology is blurring. How

can IT keep up with changing user preferences while maintaining governance?

• TheRiseoftheCloud:The benefits of the cloud are compelling, but is public cloud, private cloud,

or hybrid cloud/on-premise the right answer for your business?

• InfrastructureCostandComplexity: Keeping expenses down while reducing the environmental

impact of a datacenter is a tough challenge. How can an IT department reduce its environmental

footprint, while still keeping costs down and implementing advanced technology?

• Multi-GenerationalWorkplace: Boomers, GenXers and Millennials have distinct workstyles when

it comes to technology. How can IT support their diverse modes of interaction?

1 US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009. http://wherethejobsare.org/WTJA/analysis/usworkforce.shtml2 “Focus Your I&O Budget On Three Key Initiatives,” Forrester Research, July 16, 2010 by Robert Whiteley3 Gartner, Dec. 2009: http://my.gartner.com/resources/173400/173482/gartners_top_predictions_for_173482.pdf

Meet Today’s Enterprise Business Challenges with the Cloud

© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft Lync are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

• DiverseandDistributedWorkforce: Today’s businesses often rely on far-flung virtual teams. How can

technology keep office workers, teleworkers, contingent staff, and partners on the same page?

• MobileComputing: Mobile devices are bringing enterprise data to new roles and new industries.

How can IT support a seamless mobile experience?

MicrosoftOffice365 helps you meet the challenge of today’s evolving workplace by combining cloud-based versions of our most trusted communications and collaboration products with the lat-est version of our businesses desktop suite.

Microsoft Office 365 can help you deliver robust security, outstanding reliability, and improved user productivity. Office 365 brings together online versions of trusted communication and collabora-tion solutions, including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online as well as Microsoft Office Professional Plus and Microsoft Office Web Apps. With these solutions, your business moves forward, from virtually anywhere and virtually any device.

With Office 365, there’s no need to worry about costly server deployment or time-consuming server maintenance tasks. Because it’s designed to work with the Office applications your people already know, Microsoft Office gives workers the best productivity experience across the PC, phone, and browser—without heavily investing in retraining.

Make the Leap to the next Generation of Computing

Microsoft offers Office 365 subscription plans designed for a variety of needs. Learn which plan is right for your organization here: http://office365.microsoft.com

Learn about flexible on-premise and cloud enterprise deployment options with Microsoft’s Produc-tivity Platform Solutions. Visit http://microsoft.com/productivity