Sprint Looking To Push Enterprise Services With Office 365 Integration

Sprint? Getting into the enterprise space even deeper? You may call it curious, but with Windows and Office emerging as huge buzzwords for the latter half of 2012, perhaps it's a wise move. The carrier has just announced that it'll bring Microsoft Office 365 to small and mid-sized businesses this year. What's that mean? Well, Sprint's network will be used to bring Office to the cloud, and it'll "reduce costs and collaborate with customers and partners while also extending the cloud-based communication tools to mobile workforces." That's according to Sprint, of course. It's not the first time we've seen a carrier tout its waves as useful for business; AT&T has even been running small biz ads of late showcasing the ability to track goods on the road and keep a tighter grip on logistics thanks to its network.

Office 365 pulls together much of the Office you've grown to know and pops it into the cloud. Anywhere-access to email, cals, Office Web Apps, IM, etc. Where Sprint comes in is here: "When Sprint makes Office 365 available, it plans to bundle it with value-added services to create solutions that further increase productivity and unleash the power of today's mobile workforce. Small and mid-sized companies will be able to access some of the most comprehensive enterprise- class solutions available today, and Sprint will make it easier for them to take advantage of cloud services and experience the cost savings, scalability and flexibility needed to help them grow."


Sprint's push into software services may end up being a smart move given its struggle to compete on the postpaid cellular market. And given that Sprint is still clinging to unlimited data, businesses may indeed switch their accounts to this for more cloud usage without the worry.