You use a lot of different tools to run your business. You have one for talking with employees, schedules, meetings, sharing documents, and another for keeping track of assignments. Running a business is a complex production.
Switching to a Microsoft Office 365 business subscription could save you from needing so many different types of software, saving you time and money while enjoying the peace of mind that comes from excellent customer service and enterprise-grade security features.
Once you are using Office 365 business essentials, you want to make sure you are getting all that you can out of it to make your business run as smoothly as possible.
Getting The Most Out Of Office 365 Business Premium: 16 Tips
Don’t let the features go to waste. Here are 16 tips to get the most out of your Office 365 business subscription.
OneDrive Cloud Storage
OneDrive for business keeps your files in one place and allows you to easily share them and collaborate. Files sync between OneDrive and your desktop so you can access them anywhere. Cloud servers and physical servers make for easy sharing and saving of company information. You can use the Share + function to attach files to emails as a shareable link. OneDrive for business is like that box of important things you have, but you can access it anywhere and everywhere with file sharing.
Online and Mobile Versions
Office 365 includes mobile applications, accessible through an email address, and constantly optimized by the developers behind Teams. If your staff needs to work from home or while traveling, they can open files and apps from any device with an internet connection. These mobile versions and additional services mean that there’s no excuse not to be productive!
Microsoft Teams
Teams is one of the coolest collaboration tools out there, and it just keeps getting better additions to smooth business operations. You can create teams and groups for specific projects, utilizing cloud storage. This helps you to maintain communication, share calendars, exchange files, and conveniently chat with the instant messaging tool on desktop and on mobile devices.
Microsoft is also working on ending Skype for Business and has upgraded Teams to include the Skype capabilities. This will let you have video conferences with teams. These online services give you more productivity tools in one place. Team management becomes much smoother through these connected experiences.
Microsoft Planner
Microsoft planner allows users to assign individual tasks and give out due dates. This is even more helpful because tasks are seen by all the members of a group. This curated access to company information allows for smooth communication making it easier for people to work together, whether in-office or business travelers working from mobile devices.
You can exchange online tasks and rearrange who is assigned to what. You get an accurate timeline of events and clear communication of what is being done. No more, “I thought you were doing that!” and other miscommunications.
Clutter Feature
One amazing business automation tool for active subscription customers is a clutter feature for user emails on Outlook. Microsoft will pay attention to unread messages in your inbox, and once the intelligent cloud services understand your email preferences, your mail will be sorted and your low priority messages will go to a clutter folder. This puts your important emails in a better view. It also eliminates those spammy, unwanted messages that you never open or want to see in your business email accounts.
Message Recall Function
If both you and the contact you are emailing have Office 365, then you can recall an email you sent from your business email address as long as it has not been opened yet. This is one of those advanced features that comes in handy when you accidentally press “send” on an email that could have used a little more thought, and will surely become a new business standard.
OneNote
OneNote is basically a window to your sticky note-covered fridge, from anywhere. You can take notes, build to-do lists, and access them anywhere. This cloud storage solution is crucial for business travel, and keeping all your notes connected.
Office Lens App
Now, this makes those notes you take even easier. You can use your smartphone to take a picture of a board or a sheet of paper, and turn it into a digital form. It’s an intelligent business application that turns the typical note-taking scramble into ease and organization. It also keeps you from losing important notes you might need later, a boon for business productivity.
Smart Look-Up
Users can highlight any word or phrase and use the Smart Look-up button to show a Bing search window to find out more about it. It makes it easy for the business subscriber to find out the meaning of “blitzscaling.” Got to keep up with office lingo!
Collaboration
You can share files to OneDrive or Sharepoint and instantly share them with business and enterprise co-workers on team sites. Edits will be shown to everyone in real-time, and you can keep tabs on all the changes. When you can’t be in the office together, this gives you no excuse not to join the party. Co-authoring documents and collaboration makes business growth a smooth process with Office 365’s collaborative features.
SharePoint Views
The current version of SharePoint Views allows you to sort lots of documents into folders with more specific frameworks. Then, you can view only documents within a particular criteria at one time. For example, if your business has multiple locations, you can divide documents up into those different locations. Information is organized, accessible, and actionable within this cloud storage framework.
Sway for Slideshows
Sway offers many templates, background photos, and bonus features to make your slideshows more appealing. You know when your team is falling asleep in the meeting and can’t tell that you have changed the slide six times, that you need a business product that will help you bridge the communication gap.
You can also import existing documents and start working with an outline to save a lot of time when using PowerPoint templates.
Pin Documents to Taskbar
The desktop version of Microsoft Office 365 allows you to create a shortcut to a document you regularly use. A quick click of a button and you have the important stuff front and center.
Microsoft Office 356 Security
Office 365 creates a safe firewall that protects your data from hackers. Microsoft has more security certificates than any other cloud service provider. It is important that you are protecting your company’s data with advanced security features, and Microsoft’s enterprise security features give you just that.
When you are sharing a document with others you can grant them access, and then take away that access at a moment’s notice. Imagine giving someone a USB stick with important data and instead of letting them run around with it for the rest of their life, you can make it go away. This keeps important information close to home, and provides an essential balance between security and sharing that allows businesses to operate smoothly.
Communicate Changes and Hold Training Sessions
Fear of new technology is common. We want to continue using familiar tools, and learning new methods and routines can be hard. Communicating the change to the new Microsoft software for both the online versions and desktop versions ahead of time makes the transition smoother. Plus, the built-in security features give a buffer of safety to the learning process.
Hold training sessions to dedicate time to teach employees how the new tools are used. That way they feel comfortable diving in with them and communications are smooth.
Lead by Example
You get employees excited about the software and its benefits by using it yourself. You need to show them how it’s done. Make your weekly conference calls on Microsoft Teams (the new Skype). Create a shared word document and have everyone make edits. Show them how effective the collaboration is.
You want to make sure you aren’t paying for any software that you don’t need when you already have Office 365. These features provide a cost effective solution that overlaps with a lot of popular software that you don’t need to be paying for.
Office 365 keeps updates coming so you always have the latest version available. You don’t need to have licenses to a new version every few years the way Microsoft software worked in the past, and you can find the perfect business subscription plan regardless of your business size.
You have all of these tools and features at your fingertips. So use them! Keep your business and employees running as a smooth organization. Enjoy the peace of mind while the Office 365 advanced security mitigates the cost of security risks.
The world has become a friendly place for remote work. Embracing technology and the Office apps can make for a flawless workspace. It also makes the time in the office more effective, increasing productivity.