My Dream Business With Office 365 - Human Consultancy

People have different needs and wants. They harbor aspirations, which change with time, depending on situations and experiences. Each individual is different, and as such, every human being has his/her own unique perspective towards life. However, there are times when a person is left stranded on the crossroads, pondering over his/her dilemma, not sure which paths to follow. All of us have been through this stage at some points in our lives when we felt the need of external help to guide us through. This is exactly where my dream business comes into play.

Well, let’s not just call it a business; rather I would prefer the term ‘venture.’ We have heard of consultancy firms that provide business solutions to companies that want to grow and prosper in the competitive market. However, the market is just another part of this society, which again is comprised of people. Since people make up the society, I aim to start a Consultancy serving common people.

“People Consultancy” is what I call my dream venture. A child grows into a teen, an adolescent, an adult, and finally an elder member of the society. Each of these phases has different wishes and ambitions. A person undergoes several physical and emotional changes through out his/her life as he/she passes through these phases. Wouldn't it be great if he/she is provided with proper guidance whenever required?

The below points summarize the operation of this venture:

1.  The Consultancy will comprise of expert Doctors, Educationists, Psychologists and other Learned members of the society.
2.  Parents enroll their child to “People Consultancy”. The child then becomes a client of the Consultancy.
3.  All medical records of the child are shared with the Consultancy.
4. Details of child’s academics, his performances and activities are provided to the Consultancy periodically.
5. After carefully observing the child over a period of time, the Consultancy comes into play and offers regular guidance to the child and parents whenever they require.
6. The Consultancy plays the role of a mentor once the child is in his/her teens, guiding him/her in different phases of life.
7. The Consultancy assesses the child’s aptitude and provides its recommendations on career paths which are best suited to his/her aptitude.
8. As the teen grows into an adult, the Consultancy makes sure his/her goals are clear and helps him/her with his/her choices.
9. The Consultancy helps the person with the financial and personal aspects of his/her life, often acting as a friend who provides the right advice.
10. The Consultancy provides a much needed companionship to people. Over time, the Consultancy takes on the diverse roles of friend, philosopher and guide.

To implement such a venture into action requires right people and appropriate resources and tools. There will be a team of Experts as mentioned in #1 who will form the core of this venture. However, to make them feel at ease and derive the maximum benefit out of their skill and knowledge, proper software packages should be used. After scanning the current market, I realized that there could not be a better productivity suite than Microsoft Office 365. The reasons are many. Some of the primary ones are listed below:

Office

Office as a subscription service provides with latest version of popular applications like Word, Powerpoint and Excel. We can also access the documents when and where we need them. Since this type of venture will require constant documentation and updating of existing data, a cloud based data storage is the most preferred choice. Thankfully, Office 365 provides just that.

Email and Calendar

Communication is of supreme importance in this venture. Office 365 provides the option of accessing emails anywhere and everywhere. The Experts can check their mails and reply quickly through PC, Mac, web browser, Windows Phone, iPhone, Android Phone, Symbian Phone and Blackberry. There is 25 GB of dedicated email storage space for each user, which would enable them to preserve important emails. Built-in antivirus and anti-spam filtering will protect the email from external unwanted threats. The best thing is that we can set up email accounts with our personalized domain name.

Calendar too can be accessed from anywhere and through multiple devices. Calendars are needed since the Experts have to constantly monitor and maintain communication with the clients and arrange for meetings and counseling sessions with them. Office 365 Calendar provides the Experts a useful utility to manage their dates and memo effectively.

Website

To run any business one needs a website that would attract people and make them aware of the products and services on offer. Same can be said about my venture. Office 365 provides me with the option of building my own website with easy to use tools and then publishes it within seconds. I can customize the layout and contents according to my need. What I really liked is that there are no website hosting fees. Do-it-yourself updates make the suite quite flexible and user friendly.

Office Web Apps

This feature provides businesses with business class email, file sharing, conferencing, and other productivity services in the cloud plus the desktop version of Office. The Experts associated with my venture can create and edit office files via web browsers whenever they are accessing their computers, and save the documents on cloud using the SkyDrive channel. They can then access these data through mobile phones and tablets as well.

Sharepoint provides Experts with easy to use intranet portals, document and file management, collaboration and social networks, extranets, websites, enterprise search and business intelligence. The Experts upload the client data on Sharepoint, which can also be viewed by other Experts. Thus Experts can refer to other files and data and share their knowledge with each other. This will enhance the productivity of the Experts and help them work better with the clients.

File Sharing

Sharepoint can be used to share and view data of different clients. As a result, different Experts can work together for a single client and provide numerous solutions which integrate into one effective suggestion. Due to the central repository, data is always present and can be accessed from anywhere. The high integrity and security feature of Microsoft Office 365 prevents data loss, thus maintaining every necessary record in the system and the cloud.

Web Conferencing

Lync provides Experts and employees with the option of multi-party HD video conferencing. Online meetings and web conferencing can be held with the clients. One click screen sharing and real-time note taking make meetings more effective.

Also, the Experts can chat with each other in real-time and discuss best practices and effective ideas that they have used. The Experts can also chat with their clients and vice-versa using Lync through compatible devices. What is interesting is that as many as 250 participants can be invited for a web chat/conferencing on Lync at the same time.

Let us imagine a situation where Client A was registered with the Consultancy by his parents when he was a child. Over time, an Expert (let’s call him X) maintains his records – health, medical, academics, extra curricular, hobbies, personal discussions – in the form of several sub-folders under a main folder named Client A on Sharepoint. Now, it may happen that Expert X may not be able to give attention to Client A due to some critical reasons. In that case, another Expert (let’s call him Y) comes into the picture. Through the data stored on Sharepoint, Expert Y can know about Client A in detail and perform the necessary role.

There can be another instance where the client and the Expert are in different cities, but need to communicate real time. In these circumstances, Lync can be used effectively for instant messaging, voice calling and video calling. The Expert and the client can discuss online and find solutions. OneNote can be used to jot down the crucial points that come up in the meeting. These can then be structured in a Word Document which is uploaded on Sharepoint. Excel and Powerpoint can be used to represent the data in graphical and pictorial manner. Through cloud, the data can also be made available across different devices.

Often, an Expert needs to check the reports and data of other clients to gauge the situation of his/her client better. Sharepoint serves the purpose as it provides a well maintained repository where authorized personnel can view and update data, and learn accordingly.

Every human being is special. However, it is important to nurture his/her talents and abilities so that they are useful to him/her as well as helps in the growth of the society. We all live in a world which witnesses numerous unwanted ugly behavior from mankind day in and day out. Don’t we all deserve to live in peace and harmony? Betterment of society can happen if its people know the value of their lives and identify the purpose of their existences. My dream venture is all about providing people with proper guidance and support so that they move towards the right path. True, I am talking of an idealistic world, but with passion and determination, and powered by Microsoft Office 365, I am sure the impossible can be achieved, at least to a certain extent.

Let’s all work together for a happier society, join hands and make Human Consultancy a success.

Trust me, the effort will not go in vain. A better tomorrow waits for us.

This is my official entry to the "Your Dream Business With Office 365" contest organized by Indiblogger in association with Office365.