Back in June this year, Microsoft released Office 365 and now has introduced the major updates in the version. As per the official blog of Office 365, more than 40% of the top 100 brands are now using Office 365 or related cloud productivity services from Microsoft.

As if now, Microsoft is escalating the availability of its office 365 service to 22 other additional markets, including Argentina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Estonia, Iceland, Indonesia, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine and UAE.

Keeping the main focus on the customer satisfaction, Microsoft has upgraded the Office 365 service with additional features on the basis of the customers’ feedback only.

Some of the highlights of the Office 365 updates are listed below:

• Support for SharePoint Business Connectivity Services – Businesses can now connect critical line-of-business applications, such as CRM or SAP software, in a familiar SharePoint interface.
• Windows Phone 7.5 Support – End users can access and update documents in SharePoint Online from anywhere using their Windows Phone.
• Self-Serve Password Reset – IT Admins gain easier security resets with our a Password Reset Tool.
• Lync for Mac – Mac users continue to gain features including full Lync client for instant messaging chats, and presence information in Office applications. They can now also host voice and video conferences with just like their PC based counterparts.
• Office Web App Preview in Outlook Web Access (OWA) – Users can now display Office document attachments in Outlook Web Access for easier on the go edit and review.

Moreover, Office 365’s SharePoint Online is also updated to facilitate access for external users via Windows Live ID, letting companies to invite external users to view, share and team up on the SharePoint sites. By default this feature is disabled and must be enabled by an administrator.