Microsoft released Office 2013 this week. As Microsoft Partners we have been using it for 6 months already. Here here are my observations on how it will affect real estate and construction company users:
- The interface is “cleaner”. As usual with an Office upgrade it will take you a couple of days to get used to a few things moving around in Excel, Outook, Word and PowerPoint. For example the navigation for Outlook between mail, calendars and people (formerly “contacts”) is now in the bottom left of the Outlook program. Overall you’ll like the look and feel.
The Microsoft Surface Pro tablet will blur the line between tablets like the iPad and laptop computers. For construction and real estate users this finally means an ultra portable device that turns on instantly with the ability to save files in folders and work on construction documents and leases in Microsoft Word and Excel. You will also be able to run any windows program.
Many companies end up with more than one accounting system. It happens all the time – you acquire another company, merge with another company or end up with a division that is in different line of business that needs a different accounting system to function. Examples we see include: