AT&T and Microsoft are joining forces to offer smaller businesses a mobile office suite based on Microsoft 365. The service will be bundled with AT&T’s wireless plans for small to medium businesses, and will work with iOS, Android and, of course, Windows devices.
The companies said the service will enable voice, video and Web collaboration from mobile devices. AT&T Mobile Office Suite will include access to Microsoft’s Lync, Exchange, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneDrive from a desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet.
“We’ve recognized that we’re not going to create all the best-in-breed software, whether it’s security solutions or collaboration software. That’s why we did the deal with Microsoft,” said Steve McGaw, CMO at AT&T Business Solutions, speaking at Mobile World Congress this week.
McGaw said AT&T Mobile Office is being marketed to companies in the U.S., but will work wherever the employees of those companies go throughout the world. AT&T also plans to add global audio conferencing later this year so that users can join Lync-based meetings from almost anywhere in the world.
Many small businesses are already mobile-first, and some employees even use their personal mobile numbers as their primary business phone numbers. Unified communications solutions like the one put forth by AT&T and Microsoft help companies assign one number to an employee that will be the same wherever that person goes.
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