For D & L Representative Payee Services, security and reliability of information are critical. A small nonprofit that handles the disbursal of social security checks, the organization needs to preserve the confidentiality of its client information at all times.

Microsoft Office 365 provides the nonprofit with a robust suite of products at just $6 per user per month. And because the service is hosted within Microsoft data centers, the organization can assure the security of its information to a far greater degree than if it hosted data internally on its own servers.

“If a computer fails, our data is still accessible up in the cloud, with Microsoft safeguarding it,” says Paul Lovette, Vice President and Executive Manager, D & L Representative Payee Services. “That’s great for our peace of mind, especially because we’re handling sensitive, confidential documents.”

D & L Representative Payee Services is among a wide range of organizations that are obtaining greater peace of mind by adopting Microsoft Office 365. By subscribing to Office as a cloud-based service and storing their data within Microsoft data centers, many companies say they can obtain enterprise-level security that far exceeds what they could afford on their own.

Microsoft takes a defense-in-depth approach to security that includes a $2 billion investment in state-of-the-art data centers strategically located around the world. These data centers are built from the ground up to protect services and data from harm, whether natural disaster or unauthorized access.

In addition, Microsoft designed Office 365 specifically for secure access over the Internet. Office 365 provides secure access across platforms and devices, as well as premium anti-spam and antivirus technologies that are automatically updated to protect against the latest threats. The security features and services associated with Office 365 are built in, reducing the time and cost of securing one’s IT system.

Microsoft’s comprehensive security practices have enabled many companies to move to the cloud with confidence. Take All Saints’ Ilesworth, a family-oriented church located in West London. The church manages sensitive personal, financial, and legal information, all of which needs to be protected. By migrating this data into the cloud via Office 365, church officials believe their data will be safer than if stored within the church’s own four walls.

From a compliance standpoint, we’re going to be in a better position because our documents will be safeguarded in the cloud, rather than sitting around on someone’s computer, which can be lost or stolen,” says Mo Johnson, Parish Administrator for the church. “There’s a certain peace of mind in knowing that our sensitive personal and financial information is better protected.”

Likewise, the fire safety consultancy hhpberlin chose Office 365, in part, because it trusts Microsoft to host critical communication and collaboration services in the cloud. Says Stefan Truthän, the firm’s Chief Information Officer: “We are confident Microsoft has the resources to protect our data in the cloud and provide us with more robust security and reliability than we can do ourselves.”

To learn more about the security features of Office 365, check out this Office 365 Security video from TechQuarters, a Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Partner.