Written by Haydon Kirby, IT Account Director –13th February 2016
As Microsoft Gold partners we really know our stuff when it comes to Office 365.
Imagine you had recently upgraded your smartphone to the latest new model. It would be silly to upgrade and not make use of the new features right?!
Microsoft Office 365 – the most useful features
The opposite normally happens when businesses upgrade to Office 365. They subscribe to the latest and most powerful office communications platform on the market, but only use the same things such as Word, Excel and Outlook that they did previously.
However, the trick to getting the most from your Office 365 subscription is to release the full potential from the platform. So many businesses invest in Office 365 but remain unaware that they are missing out on the full features available within the platform itself.
Here are six features that are commonly under used by businesses:
1: Access Office 365 on the go
Employees can now connect directly to their business Office 365 environment from a iOS, Windows or Android device. The apps available within 365 such as Yammer, Delve and OneDrive are easily downloaded and fully responsive to all screen sizes for ease of use.
2: Real time document editing
The full Office 365 suite is cloud based and now available online which enables collaborative working to improve efficiency. Real-time document editing can be viewed by several staff members enabling them to collaborate – which is particularly useful for larger documents.
3: Clever content with Delve
Delve is a tool that surfaces personalised content to you from across Office 365. Powered by the Office Graph, Delve brings you information based on what you’re working on, who you’re working with, and the permissions you have.
Release the potential of Yammer, Power BI and Skype for Business.
4: Become business intelligent
Every Office 365 subscriber gets inclusive access to Power BI, Microsoft’s Business Intelligence tool. This tool makes it easy for all analytical abilities to understand and discover patterns and trends in business data. Users can easily build graphs and charts to visualise endless amounts of data, which deliver insights into your client trends, industry and overall business performance.
5: Break down Silos with Yammer
Yammer is also free with Office 365. It’s Microsoft’s private enterprise social network with similar features to standard social networks such as Facebook. Yammer includes a newsfeed, user profiles, like buttons and groups. Colleagues can chat naturally, learn more about other employees in different departments or offices, and collaborate and knowledge share which helps to break down those internal silos.
6: Unite using Skype for Business
Also part of Office 365, Skype for Business allows colleagues to easily chat with document collaborators and make changes. Even if you need to leave the document you are all working on, you can continue the conversation through Skype for Business on your mobile device or computer. Now that really is efficient working!
Don’t have 365 yet? It’s cheaper than you might think. Did you know that you can subscribe to Office 365 from £2.50 per user/month.
Please get in touch to find out how.
