Our recently-launched SkyOfficeis gearing up to be a major game-changer for small and mid-sized businesses looking to profit from the many advantages of cloud-based computing.

But what exactly is SkyOffice and what will it do for your business? And what does this “Office 365 by SherWeb” have that others, including Microsoft Office 365, don’t?

Quite a bit, actually. So we sat down with Rima Hatoum, SherWeb’s SkyOffice Product Manager and guru to cut through the marketing lingo and get right down to the nuts & bolts that make SkyOffice such an interesting option for SMBs struggling to compete with limited resources and budgets.

Q: What is SkyOffice?

RH: SkyOffice is not a standalone product but a complete business solution that bundles all the different hosted email and collaboration tools businesses need to be more productive and competitive. SkyOffice has everything Office 365 has, such as Hosted Exchange 2010, Lync 2010 and SharePoint 2010, but then goes beyond Office 365 to include SherWeb’s full migration services, customizable plans and great customer care. SkyOffice is the only solution to do all that. What’s more, some of our SkyOffice plans cater more to large organizations, while others address the specific needs of SMBs that traditionally have been ignored.

Q: What makes SkyOffice so different from Office 365?

RH: SkyOffice is Office 365… with service. And that’s important for SMBs because most of them have limited IT resources and cannot afford subject matter experts. SkyOffice offers all the same features you’d get from Office 365, but also includes VIP customer service, flexible plans and full migration services. These are important benefits that SMBs won’t get from elsewhere.

Q. What migration services do you offer?

RH: SkyOffice comes with a complete migration solution provided by our dedicated MIDAS migration team. Our team has developed an advanced propriety migration solution with a well-defined process. It has already successfully migrated the data of over 20,000 businesses working on virtually every possible platform, so they are true experts in migration. Customers can continue focusing on business while our MIDAS team provides migration customized to their specific needs.

Q. What do you mean by VIP support?

RH: Our VIP customer service is where we really shine when compared to other Hosted Exchange providers. Customer service doesn’t always seem so important… until you actually need it, and that’s when it makes all the difference. And sooner or later, we all need customer support. SherWeb is one of the few providers to offer personalized, 24/7/365 customer support by phone, email and chat. And all our support is in-house; we don’t outsource our support. Our team responds within an average of 30 seconds and makes sure questions are answered with courtesy and knowledgeable professionalism. Customers can see that we value their business and will do everything we can to keep it. I doubt many companies out there could make this claim.

We also provide dedicated Executive Account Managers and Technical Service Managers, and high-priority support for businesses with more extensive needs. Business and general service issues go through the customer’s dedicated EAM, while all technical issues are handled by the TSM. Basically, you benefit from their dedicated expertise without having to add them to your payroll.

Q. How is SkyOffice so flexible and affordable?

RH: SherWeb has been a hosted services provider for over 10 years and that’s old for the cloud! Because of this experience, we really understand the needs of small and mid-sized businesses when it comes to cloud computing. They need personalized support, lots of flexibility and really competitive prices. We also know that different users have different needs. So we took extra care to build flexibility into our SkyOffice plans so that customers can mix and match plans to better meet the needs of individual users, such as adding specific features for certain users only. Virtually, ANYTHING is possible! And because we have one of the most technically skilled teams around, we had the know-how to make this possible, while keeping the cost as low as possible.

Come back next week when we’ll publish part 2 of our interview with Rima Hatoum, SherWeb’s SkyOffice Product Manager. She’s promised to explain SkyOffice’s system requirements and different plans in more details. In the meantime, you can find more information on our SkyOffice page.

Or better yet, try SkyOffice today with SherWeb’s no-questions-asked 30-day money back guarantee. Let us know what you think.