1. Streamlined Knowledge — Sharing Through Cloud Document Management
For all document management, many organisations are already utilising Microsoft SharePoint or OneDrive. As a result, they are streamlining company knowledge by freeing up business data from file shares, improved searchability, and employees can utilise the necessary tools for managing document versions and user access. These capabilities just on their own help to improve productivity and knowledge-sharing. But Microsoft takes them a step further with the introduction of cloud-based SharePoint Online in Microsoft 365. In other words, the addition of SharePoint online makes the user experience even better with:
- improved user interface and interconnectivity
- easy to manage documents in cloud-based libraries
- seamless document sharing
Employees can also communicate efficiently during document creation and management tasks since Microsoft 365 integrates SharePoint Online with Microsoft Teams. For instance, using the instant message system in Teams, a colleague can give feedback about a document. And in the Teams channel news feed others can join in the conversation and comment about changes or updates to the same document. Whilst each person can see the latest version of the document.
2. Enhanced Mobile Access for Anywhere, Anytime Productivity
Making it easier for employees to stay productive while working remotely, traveling or onsite, Microsoft 365 combines the power of cloud computing with a full suite of mobile apps. Microsoft 365 apps are free for small mobile devices and focus on individual applications such as Word, Excel, Teams. But for a truly mobile digital workplace you many want to contemplate more than just the standard apps, depending on the needs of the company. For example, to allow any mobile device to have access, you can create an application built with PowerApps to allow for accessibility. Other applications also allow for company teams to stay connected and productive as they interact nicely with each other. These include Planner, SharePoint, and OneDrive.
3. Social Capabilities That Support Innovation
Since most employees are familiar with using tools like Facebook and Twitter, in our age of social media. In other words, using the social tools from Microsoft enable business content at the speed and fluidity of social media. In addition to minimal training since Microsoft 365 should present no real learning curve for the social media regular. Firstly, staff can easily comment on site contents, have a forum-like threaded conversation or simply like a content piece. Secondly, Microsoft apps like Teams and Yammer (Yammer is mostly reserved for large enterprises) allow conversations threads between groups and teams specific to what’s happening in the department, with clients, interests or post on the office notice board about social occasions. Meanwhile, in an informal way members can ask questions either one-on-one or share knowledge with a larger group. But the beauty of Microsoft social apps is when compared with emailing, is it faster with its pops up messages and thumbs ticks. Certainly, messaging on the go.
If you not sure which application suits you Check out our Communicating with Employees post
4. Intelligent Process Automation
When it comes to managing and updating processes, many enterprises have difficulty. While Microsoft 365 along with Power Platform has up to the minute online forms, workflow management and data storage abilities that enable businesses to streamline their processes for simplicity. Solutions such as Microsoft Teams and Dataverse expand across all departments to serve all of the workplace. In addition, Microsoft 365 has the benefit of being able to integrate with many external tools. For instance, you can pull actions from email as an integrated piece of execution within your workflow.
5. Efficient Communication Platforms
If you are a part of a larger organisation a major part of communications can start with a corporate intranet or another similar type of model. Most importantly, an intranet allows a business to build company culture, and brand via service delivery and information. In other words, it is a central hub for employees to find resources and new initiatives.
Microsoft 365 can help to facilitate this type of communication using SharePoint online as a platform to develop a corporate intranet. But without the added cost and technical burden of managing your own server and on-premises infrastructure. In addition, integrated solutions such as Teams can supplement the ability to communicate outside of the corporate intranet for all general communications. And in turn this increases the communication between colleagues and optimises interactions.
6. Internal and External Collaboration
The benefits of Microsoft 365 communication tools enable employees to communication and collaborate effectively between each other as well as with external partners and clients. Email is great for certain communications such as recording information, sharing official docs and many more. But it is an inefficient tool for other collaboration activities and is a lot slower in conversation threads and tracking.
On the other hand, Microsoft Teams workspaces and SharePoint Online sites offer better ways to share information and talk amongst teams quickly and easily. For example, instant messaging. In other words, Microsoft 365 creates the multidimensional collaborative environment that enables workers to be productive no matter where they are working from and knowledge in an actionable context. In addition to ensuring the highest security and compliance standards. For exampleRights Management with encryption (Azure Information Protection)
Integrated Data Loss Prevention
Content expiration and other common ways to restrict access.
- Rights Management with encryption (Azure Information Protection)
- Integrated Data Loss Prevention
- Content expiration and other common ways to restrict access.
7. Powerful Enterprise Search
As a rule, users must find documents and information by browsing through file shares & folders. But this proves inefficient and often frustrating as files get lost in the numerous amounts of disorganised folders. Whereas Microsoft 365 enterprise search functions that have been developed over a long time and integrated within a platform enable users to find what they are looking for easily.
In other word, the search capability enriches document management, social content, communication, and collaboration and helps users to find content quickly and easily. In turn this improves productivity and reduces duplication of efforts, and therefore is cost-effective. As Microsoft continue to be innovative, they’ve just released the integrate external content source through built-in connectors and custom options.
8. Employee Experience and Engagement
Studies identified workers were affected by too many systems and the rapid increase of the Teams uptake and it slowed down the productivity and increased worker disruption. So, Microsoft introduced Microsoft Viva a unified employee experience platform. It comprised of:
- Viva Connections – keeps everyone in the workforce connected to each other and makes it easy for people to contribute. It unites your organization around the company’s vision.
- Viva Insights addresses this issue as it:
- provides visibility into how work is happening and the impact on productivity and wellbeing
- delivers personalized and actionable insight and helps address complex business challenges with data.
- Viva Topics builds on Microsoft 365 and applies Artificial Intelligence to identify knowledge and experts from across your organization and categorize them into shared topics which are organized into pages.
- Viva Learning does just that: it allows employees to easily discover formal and informal learning when and where it’s needed, making it easier for people to learn while working and develop the skills the organization needs.
9. Continuous Updates
With Microsoft 365, Microsoft is providing an ever-evolving platform, “evergreen”, with new capabilities being released regularly. In other words, less of the traditional on-premises software that requires regular maintenance, patches, and upgrades.
Therefore, your IT team doesn’t have to upgrade your platform. By using Microsoft 365, your IT team can focus on more important areas like providing key business services.
10. Increased Return on Investment
Microsoft 365 removes the headache of managing the day-to-day as it has one Cloud suite that would rules them all. So, no matter your type of business, when you’re looking to deliver the best customer experience, Microsoft 365 has you covered. In other words, with one suite fully integrated organisations can replace many of their teamwork, process automation, compliance, and security solutions. As a result, fully integrated solution can drive individual and organizational productivity at a lower cost, with proper adoption and change management. Estimate your ROI here.
11. Enable and Foster Innovation
Being innovative is what every company wants for their business. Therefore, fostering innovation in the workplace is important to most. And with Microsoft 365, teams are better equipped with all the tools they need to drive innovation in the workplace. For instance, meetings are streamlined with digital whiteboards and note keeping easy with areas to do this as well as you can record interaction. Once the meeting is over, information can be shared with others are kept. In other words, employees are empowered with all the right tools to be engaged, and connected from wherever they are.
Not sure where to start with Microsoft 365?
