Office Applications

Office Applications

Office software applications or apps, also known as productivity suites, are collections of programs for the use of information and knowledge workers. Generally distributed in packages, they have a consistent user interface and provide both independent and integrated functionality.

Typical office suites include one of each of the following components: word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, database tool, graphics suite, communication tool, email client, personal information manager app, note-taking program, groupware tool, and formula editor.

Historically office applications are purchased for every personal computer and run on local installations, thus allowing software users to fully exploit the abilities of local computing power and storage. With the decreasing value of local storage and “one user-one computer” paradigm, important office app functionality, like email and document management, has been increasingly moving online. Online office or online productivity suites are types of office suite offered in the form of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

They can be accessed online from any Internet-enabled device running any operating system, which allows people to work together worldwide at any time, to international collaboration and virtual teamwork. Also called the Office 2.0, it is associated with the Web 2.0 paradigm, with vendors offering both the commercial and open source software products as online services.

The benefits of online office suites

With online office suites, there is no need to download or install software, including updates or upgrades. All functionality is available via Web from almost any computer with an Internet connection. Because of that, online office suites have minimal hardware requirements and are excellent for netbooks.
Most importantly, though, there is no need to purchase or upgrade software licenses. Licensed, genuine software can be used as a service.
The online workspace is hosted and maintained by the SaaS vendor. If the user’s computer fails, the documents are still safely stored on remote servers.

The limitations

The key limitation for a corporate and widespread use of online office suites is connectivity – if the remote server or Internet connection is unavailable, the content will also be unavailable. Vendors address this issue by letting the user regularly back up data or even synchronize documents with a local computer.

The question of data security when storing it outside companies’ firewalls is a general criticism of SaaS services, including document storage in online environments. However, SaaS service providers’ infrastructure and backup processes by far exceed those of most business environments, let alone most home systems.

Microsoft® Office is the leading office software suite of interrelated desktop applications, servers and services. Most well-known for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases and graphics, the newest versions of the product include new applications for enhanced team communication and collaboration, either via Web sites and shared document storage or online meeting places and tools. Available in different deployment models, Microsoft® Office is fully equipped to meet the Office 2.0 challenge and offer the well-known and loved Office applications via Web.

We offer the following office applications:

HD SaaS | Microsoft Office

HD SaaS | Microsoft SharePoint