At SeedSpark, saying that we are fans of Office 365 is an understatement. Throughout the years, Microsoft has grown its simple collection of office apps into a powerhouse of productivity that provides businesses around the world with the tools they need to thrive in their industry. While you may have an Office 365 subscription, you likely aren’t using the software suite to its fullest potential. Taking time to explore some of the lesser-known features available in Office 365 can revolutionize your workflow – because it’s so much more than just email.
Microsoft Work Trend Index 2021 - How Work Itself Has Changed
Talking with Your Team
Communication is key in every relationship (even at work!) With Microsoft Teams, co-workers across the entire company are able to touch base on projects, stay connected with one another, and build rapport in a way that simply isn’t possible when sticking to email or brief in-person interactions.
While the benefits on the business side are clear, being able to have a constant line of communication with your team is invaluable for developing deeper team cohesion and working closer together to stay on the same page throughout a project.
With a flood of new applications taking over our devices, note-taking applications aren’t in short supply by any means. For Office 365 users, OneNote provides additional value in a variety of ways. By saving data in the cloud, notes are immediately accessible from any devices with the native applications or with web browsers. Integration with the Office 365 ecosystem simplifies the sharing of Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint slideshows, and Outlook emails to keep all of your most valuable information in one central, accessible location.
By implementing co-authoring, Microsoft has allowed entire groups of people to collaborate within one specific file – Word, Excel, and PowerPoint included - simultaneously. By enabling multiple people to edit simultaneously, Office 365 eliminates the need to schedule multiple meetings to edit, collaborate, and then re-edit for the final product. Real-time collaboration allows teams to work with each other in-person or remotely to develop ideas with a joint effort just as easy as if they were working solo.
Whether on your personal or professional accounts, it's likely that you receive dozens (if not hundreds) of emails every day. While a select few of them include valuable information, many of these messages can be addressed at a later date or even completely ignored altogether. By implementing a "Clutter" folder, Microsoft's AI combines insights on content and your trends to immediately move low-priority messages to your Clutter folder. While not deleted, these emails stay out of sight until you're personally ready to get a more granular handle on your inbox.
External hard drives large and small have been relied on to not only transfer data from one machine to another, but also to keep that data secure and safely stored. The reality is that countless flash drives are crushed, lost, and sent through the wash on a daily basis. Instead of relying on physical media, cloud storage via OneDrive and SharePoint allow both personal and professional files to be safely stored and then saved onto any computer or smartphone. Never again will you get to a meeting and realize that your PowerPoint presentation – the one you spent weeks research and designing – is at home next to your long-forgotten morning coffee.
These are just a select few examples of the power of Office 365 and the miracles it can work to optimize workflows and increase productivity. Interested in getting started with Office 365 to take advantage of these features and more for yourself? Contact our top-tier team of Office 365 integrators to get started today.