In years past, Microsoft Office was known for being a go-to office staple. You could write reports with Microsoft Word, make financial spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel, and create fancy PowerPoint presentations. Today, it has rebranded itself as Office 365, featuring the original applications that made it the go-to platform for many businesses, along with advanced features for office collaboration and cloud capabilities.
Staying connected is paramount considering the rise in the human cloud, remote, and hybrid workforce. And as cliché as it might sound, time is, in fact money. Companies can’t afford interruptions in their workflows because a team member is stuck in traffic or is sick at home with essential documents. A team member’s absence shouldn’t grossly affect a business’s operations. Today we can stay connected through the cloud and shared project management and work applications.
There’s not a shortage of collaboration platforms such as Google Suite, Asana, and Monday.com; however, Office 365 leverages its legacy and brand equity as a formidable option for businesses looking to work strategically and efficiently among their teams.
Another thing to note about Office 365 products is the option to pay monthly for different packages with unique features and services. (There is also a free option with limited capabilities.) Gone are the days when your only option to install Microsoft Office into your Mac or PC was through a computer disc.
Let’s look at some of the collaboration tools for Office 365.
Teams Rely on Microsoft Collaboration Tools To Stay Connected and Increase Productivity
Outlook Groups
Outlook is a trusted email platform for many companies looking to send and receive emails without the threat of spam and cyber breaches. Outlook created Outlook Groups in pursuit of helping teams communicate in centralized areas. Team members can share email inboxes and send messages to clients and other departments. You can also schedule meetings and events using a shared calendar. With Outlook Groups, teams can safely connect third party apps such as Mailchimp, Twitter, and Trello and receive notifications.
One major drawback with Outlook Groups and most collaboration tools is email and information overload. Teams might feel inundated with emails since they are all sharing inboxes. Perhaps companies can limit the number of groups staff members can join to help mitigate collaboration fatigue.
Microsoft Teams
Saying “I’ll Microsoft Teams you” doesn’t sound as hip as “I’ll Slack You,” but using Microsoft Teams is a great way to chat between your team members. It also features a video conferencing capability that rivals one of its biggest competitors, Slack. This proprietary product of Microsoft is designed for a high volume of collaboration, making it a great tool for completing tight deadlines and getting feedback from team members.
OneNote
OneNote is a digital notebook and productivity tool, where team members can brainstorm ideas and contribute swipe files, screenshots, research, and insight on projects. One cool feature is the ability to record notes that can be shared amongst your team. This application, which can be used on Windows, Mac, ISO and Android devices, can be used offline once it’s synced with OneDrive, another collaboration tool. OneNote is even used by teachers to help them create lesson plans. It’s an invaluable investment with qualitative returns.
Yammer
Yammer is a professional social network that can be used company wide. Yes, there are Outlook Groups and Teams where team members can connect and collaborate in small hubs; however, Yammer considers everyone at a company when it comes to communication.
With Yammer, important files and announcements can be posted on a virtual bulletin board for the entire company to see. Users can treat this platform like the popular social networks,Facebook and LinkedIn, to provide feedback and comment on posts seen on their timelines.
SharePoint
Need a storage place for important documents and files? SharePoint Document Library is the proper place for that. SharePoint is an Office 365 product. It’s a cloud-based storage center that team members can use to share meaningful, sensitive documents as a collaboration tool for file sharing. Team members can create profiles using My Sites. Also, there are hub sites for mass collaboration.
One Drive
One Drive is another cloud-based storage center for document and collaboration tools. It’s similar to Google Drive, where you can access documents offline and make changes that update in real-time, notifying all your team members.
Shifts
Shifts is a mobile app and project management tool where managers can create and assign different tasks to team members. A great feature is a reminder notification that updates teams and individuals about pending deadlines.
Flow
All puns aside, Flow is a process and task management tool that does let you go with the flow by allowing your team to automate specific workflows. It works seamlessly with applications like Outlook and OneNote.
Zoom for Office
Zoom is not necessarily a collaboration tool; however, it is used for video and phone conferencing and it can easily be integrated into Outlook. With the use of a plug-in, your team can schedule meetings right from your email platform. Go to your app store in search of “Zoom Plugin for Microsoft Office,” download and install it. Once you open up your Outlook calendar, you’ll see the Zoom icon with the options to schedule a Zoom meeting or have an instant meeting. Adding and removing people from your meetings is simple and self-explanatory.
Google Calendar
While using Outlook is the corporate standard, there are companies that use other programs such as Google Suite for project management and workflow processes, more specifically Google Calendar. Did you know that you can integrate Google Calendar with Outlook? It’s simple. Open your Outlook calendar and search for “Add Personal Calendar.” Once you find it, you’ll see the Google icon allowing you to add your Google calendar.
Security with Office Collaboration Tools
A platform like Microsoft 365 can’t exist in a vacuum since the average smartphone user has 40 or more apps on their phone or uses several desktop or browser-based programs with the common goal of working smart, not hard.
While it’s great to stay connected, it’s imperative that all team members adhere to the best cybersecurity practices to help mitigate cyber breaches. Even Microsoft strongly advises to set up multi-factor or two-step authentication to add an extra layer of protection against cybercriminals. Another great practice is scrutinizing Office file attachments that contain macros (sets of automated tasks). Ransomware can live in macros undetected. Emails to clients should be encrypted or set to “Do Not Forward” for privacy reasons. Also, suspicious emails shouldn’t be forwarded or opened without first consulting with an IT professional. One of the many services ClearFuze offers is onsite and 24/7 remote support. We help teams identify instances where cyber breaches such as phishing and trojan horses are likely.
Along with recommendations for hardware and software updates, ClearFuze’s team of consultants provide IT network and cloud support for integration of project management, collaborations, and workflow tools.
Contact us today for a complimentary consultation if you would like to learn more about collaboration tools that can exponentially increase your team’s productivity and how ClearFuze, a cyber network security firm in Los Angeles, can be a great partner in managing your IT network infrastructure.