Once upon a time, upgrading to the latest version of Microsoft Office was all about when, not if. While an organisation might hold off until its next scheduled desktop refresh, there was little question of switching supplier. But with the recent release of Office 2010, the question feels fuzzier.

The new suite undoubtedly offers a compelling set of features - advanced collaboration capabilities, a customisable navigation "ribbon" throughout and a host of other detailed advances - but to gain the full advantage of these requires an internal SharePoint server, ideally the latest 2010 version. Microsoft has also introduced a free cloud-based version to rival Google Docs, called Office Web Apps.

For users without a need for Office 2010's more advanced features, it may seem a better option to stick with Office 2007 if your organisation is already running it, or switching to a cheaper, cloud-based offering such as Google Apps - or even a free desktop alternative like the open-source OpenOffice package.

However, Mark Wilson, a strategy consultant at Fujitsu, believes Microsoft is still the best option for the bulk of enterprises. "Neither OpenOffice nor Google Apps have made serious inroads into the enterprise, and most customers are underwhelmed by the support options and feature sets offered by these products," he says.

He also advises taking into account the varying requirements of different groups of users. "Some may need access to advanced product features offered by full client Office 2010, while others might only need the functionality of Office Web Apps," he says.

"Where you need that mix, Office Web Apps running on an internal SharePoint server makes more sense than an alternative because they integrate seamlessly with the desktop apps. However, if you're upgrading from Office 2003, you will need to plan around the file format and user interface changes."

Data feed

New features of Office 2010 include:

• Real-time rich collaboration for co-authoring of documents and spreadsheets (as long as you're also running a SharePoint 2010 server)

• Customisable "ribbon" interface on all apps for quick and easy access to most-used features

• A big makeover for Outlook, allowing for quick access to social network tools and easy-to-view grouping of conversations

• Office Web Apps, a free, cloud-based option

• Full integration for Microsoft's free-form document creation and collaboration tool, OneNote