Today, businesses are presented with boundless opportunities, thanks to modern technology. And in our current marketplace, performance is everything. Your employees’ efficient completion of tasks and responsibilities contributes to your overall growth and success.
Building an awareness around the ins and outs of the software you use daily in your business is important. It can allow for smarter, faster and more cost-effective deliverables produced by you and your team.
In this article we’re discussing Microsoft Office 365, and how to get the most out of it.
An Introduction to Office 365
Microsoft Office 365 is Software as a Solution (SaaS). It is made up of Microsoft Office and a range of other services from their cloud server. It provides desktop operations and can be utilised via subscription.
It is far more beneficial for businesses than the traditional Microsoft productivity suite. Office 365 is an ecosystem that hosts many relevant business apps and services.
Getting the Most Out of Office 365
Businesses tend to be familiar with the basics of Office 365. But they are far from maximising its potential. Read on to learn about some of the fantastic things this software has to offer, including some of the lesser-known features that will surprise you!
Assuming your organisation already makes use of Office 365, the features discussed below will be dependent on your level of subscription. This can be checked in your “app launcher” once logged into your office 365 environment.
If your organisation doesn’t currently have access to Office 365, we hope this article will help you decide if it is something it would benefit from.
Comes Stock with Office Apps
All levels of Microsoft Office 365 subscription come with the usual suspects: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access (PC only). Most businesses are up to speed with these apps and utilise them, as is, on a daily or weekly basis.
Emails & Calendar Management
As well as Outlook, Microsoft Office 365 has the added service of Exchange Online. Exchange is a hosted messaging app. It allows businesses full-feature access to the Exchange Server. This is inclusive of access to email, calendars, contacts, and tasks. And this is for any end point device.
Connect & Collaborate
Office 365 makes keeping your team on the same page easy with Teams. This app is a chat-orientated workspace that encourages teamwork. Built into Teams are SharePoint and OneNote. This allows members of the team to work on documents inside the app.
As well as a messenger feature, Teams supports video call and team meetings. This allows simple and effective collaboration. Team members can easily search people, chats and files – anywhere, anytime.
Another tool that fuels teamwork and facilitates seamless collaboration is Planner. Microsoft Planner provides a visual way for team members to organise their work. They can develop new plans, assign and organise tasks, share files, set due dates and update task/job statuses. It also facilitates conversations regarding tasks and the editing of associated documents.
Storage Made Easy
Microsoft has its own online cloud storage product, OneDrive. It is available, free of charge, to anyone with a Microsoft account. It offers an easy method of storing, synching and sharing files with third parties, online.
OneDrive forms the centre point for hosting and sharing files when using Office 365’s applications and services. Microsoft Office 365 for Business comes complete with 1TB of OneDrive storage!
Streamline Customer Feedback
Microsoft Forms allows you to develop personalised surveys, registration forms, questionnaires, quizzes and more! After creation, others can be invited to respond, using any web browser. It has inbuilt analytics through which you can evaluate responses.
You can also export the results to Excel easily for further analysis.
Automate Processes
Microsoft Flow is a cloud-based service. It makes simple work of workflows. These workflows can automate tasks across apps and services that would otherwise be time-consuming. Flow can connect email to IM notifications and can synchronise or copy files from one app/service to another.
Protect What Matters Most
An often-overlooked feature of Microsoft Office 365 is the security that it offers. It has several intelligent security measures that proactively keeps your employees, your data and your customer information safe.
Information Protection helps you ensure that only authorised people have access to key bits of information. It has a high-level defence against malware which protects you from spam, viruses, phishing attempts and other security threats.
It gives you full control. Even once an email has left your inbox, you can withdraw access to attachments with Cloud Attachments. And you have the capabilities to safeguard your information, regardless of whether it’s on your business’s or employees’ personal devices.
Wrapping Up
Learning how to maximise Office 365’s potential will add value to your business. It will provide you with the tools necessary to help your business succeed in today’s challenging and competitive market conditions. It will increase your employees’ productivity and allow them to command their roles.
Businesses need to provide their team with up to date tools and the appropriate training to meet evolving business needs like mobility requirements and digital workspaces. Microsoft Office 365 is the real deal when it comes to productivity platforms and provides businesses with the opportunity to do their best work.
If you’re looking to implement Office 365 into your workplace, contact us, your Microsoft Gold Partner, to see how we can make it happen for you!