Microsoft has launched its latest offering - Office 365 Home Premium.

It is being billed as "a reinvention of the company's flagship Office product".

It offers new capabilities to help busy people juggle their ever-increasing work load and family life.

Steve Ballmer is the CEO of Microsoft.

"This isn't just another version of Office. This is Office reinvented as a cloud service" he said.

"Together with the new Windows and Windows Phone, Office as a service gives you the freedom to do things when and how you want".

The company has also released Office 365 University for college students and updated versions of the traditional Office suites.

They say they will upgrade the Office 365 programme multiple times per year, ending the traditional 3-year release cycle.

Looking to technology to help

In a recent global survey, 75% of Irish people said they don't have the time to do the things they want to do and 37% were counting on technology to make things better.

Microsoft says the new Office is designed to help people be as productive on the go as they are at their desk and get more time to do the things they want.

It found that saving just 1.5 hours per day would allow Irish people to get back 547.5 hours per year, or nearly 23 days of untapped free time.

This could include, sitting down to 547 meals with family, watching 328 blockbuster films, playing 312 football matches or running 118 marathons.

Model and broadcaster Yvonne Keating was at the launch.