Microsoft Office 365 is a powerful tool for businesses, offering an extensive range of features designed to improve productivity and connectivity.
However, the full potential of Microsoft Office 365 for businesses is often overlooked. Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook have been the go-to choice of program for more than 25 years; however, Microsoft Office 365 is far more than merely a cloud-based version of Microsoft Office.
We’ve put together a guide to help you navigate the potential for Office 365 to transform your business and help make your processes more efficient. Here are some of the ways that Microsoft Office 365’s features can be maximized:
OneDrive and SharePoint combine to create a robust filing system for users of Office 365 and create a cohesive data management system. These platforms make it easier to track down files and establish an audit trail of changes that have been made to them, which can have a huge impact on productivity.
SharePoint also enables you to set your own rules to define where a file should be stored, automatically classifying them according to the rules that you have set. Meanwhile, OneDrive can be set to automatically sync your files, so that you can work on them both online and offline, and will also track any changes made by any user with access to the files. These features ensure that files are safely stored, easy to access, and have a transparent audit trail.
Office 365 comes with several additional features that were previously only accessible as add-ons to the Microsoft Office suite. One of these features is Get & Transform (Power Query). Get & Transform enables Excel sheets to be enriched with data from web sources, making it the perfect tool for growing business intelligence.
There’s also an added email recall feature that makes sure communication gets vetted, even after it’s been sent. Forgot to add that all-important attachment before you hit send on your email? Office 365’s email recall function enables you to retract the email before it has been opened.
Microsoft Teams makes collaboration simpler than it has been on any of Microsoft’s other platforms, with more than 20 million daily users now accessing it. Teams acts as a one-stop hub to ensure that colleagues can communicate and collaborate quickly and efficiently.
You can use Microsoft Teams for advanced conferencing and video call features, including a new chat function. With the chat feature, you can create different chat channels for different departments, topics, or projects and add different users to each. This helps keep messaging focused and reduces distraction when communicating about a certain topic.
Additionally, Office 365 Groups enhances collaboration by allowing teams to set up shared resources that can be accessed by anyone with permission. Tools that can be used in Office 365 Groups include shared Outlook accounts, shared calendars, and shared document libraries.
Planner is another feature within Office 365 that enables everyone with access to see what each person is working on and the status of the work. In a few clicks, tasks can be allocated and managed, eliminating wasted time and resources.
SharePoint will provide your business with real-time collaboration across a range of devices. The ability to update a co-authored document from wherever you are via your PC, Mac, phone, or other device allows team members to have instant access to the latest version of a document, whether they are in the same office or on the other side of the world.
Clippy, the helpful animated paperclip, may be a thing of the past for Microsoft users, but Office 365 does offer 24/7 support online and via the phone. For additional access to support for Office 365, it’s wise to work with a Managed Service Provider who can consult you on the features that can be best optimized for your unique business.
As you work to discover ways to make your business processes and collaboration more efficient, the integration of Microsoft Office 365 tools is a great resource. By understanding the features offered, you can ensure you’re maximizing use of the platform.