Microsoft Office in the Browser: Growing Usage Despite Gaps With the Desktop Apps

Office for the web is the browser-based version of Microsoft's Office apps, and it lacks some capabilities the desktop apps have. How would you get more people to adopt it despite those gaps? ```hint Find where the gaps bite Sort potential users by the tasks they actually do in documents before assuming the missing desktop features are what holds them back. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does adoption mean more people trying the web apps, more people coming back to them, or more document work moving from the desktop apps to the browser? - Which users are in scope: people using the free version with a personal account, students, or employees on business plans? - Can the plan include engineering work to close some of the gaps, or should it assume the gaps largely stay? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A definition of adoption and why growing it matters to the business - Segments of potential users by how much the desktop-only capabilities matter to them, with a chosen focus and the reasoning - Where users drop off or bounce back to the desktop apps, and why - Prioritized solutions that weigh closing gaps against leaning on what the browser does well - Success metrics with guardrails, plus risks to desktop and subscription revenue ### Follow-up Questions - If more web usage reduced upgrades to paid plans that include the desktop apps, would you still push it? How would you decide? - How would you tell whether a user who switches from the browser to the desktop app mid-task hit a missing feature or simply prefers the desktop? - A browser-native rival suite is winning students. What would you change for that group?