All of the applications that you need for your business are now available in the Cloud.  So, all you have to do is just download whatever apps you may need in a matter of minutes, at an extremely affordable price (typical M365 pricing is around $10.00/user).

But while this is certainly advantageous, are you truly harnessing all of the power that you can get out of M365?  Meaning, have you truly discovered all those applications that you have not fully explored yet?  In this article, we examine some of those other apps that you should consider deploying for your business, so that you can get the most out of your M365 package.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a powerful and feature rich collaboration tool.  Here is a breakdown of some of the major components that reside within it:

  1. Teams and Channels:
    You can break up your Project Management team into virtual based channels, and even create specialized chat boards with your team members.  This can be all done very easily using the specialized “@function”, in which you can invite other relevant team members to join other conversations surrounding the workflow of your work-related deliverables. You also have various chat mechanisms that you can use as well.
  2. SharePoint:
    When make use of Microsoft Teams, you will also get access to SharePoint Online.  This is a mechanism to store all of your work documents in one easy-to-access repository.  It is a hosted platform, so you and your coworkers can access them at any time or any place where they may be in the world.  It already comes with a standardized document library folder, but you also have the ability to customize it to meet your specific requirements.  Any folders and files that you share in either M365 or Teams (or even both of them) will be automatically saved to SharePoint.  Of course, security will be one of your top priorities with your sensitive documents, and SharePoint allows  you to set up very granular permissions and rights for your team to access them.
  3. Online Meetings:
    This is probably one of the best and most widely used functionalities of Microsoft Teams.  Not only can you hold meetings with other colleagues that may be physically separated from you by thousands of miles, but you can even hold training meetings as well, especially if you are beta testing a new product or service that you are about to launch.  Probably one of the most powerful functionalities is that you can engage and hold conversations with up to 10,000 other people.  There are also other neat tools, such as screen sharing, a meeting scheduling aid, a note taking app and even instant messaging within meeting platforms. And, finally, Teams integrates many of the productivity apps you use every day, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
  4. Video conferencing:
    Ok, it is one thing to chat with your coworkers, but how about having a professional meeting environment for presentations and webinars? Of course, Skype and Zoom have this is as well, but there are certain limitations to them that Microsoft Teams can easily overcome, thus enabling increased productivity from your meetings.
  5. Audio conferencing:
    This is a package which not many other conferencing packages have.  For instance, if you need to have a meeting with your coworkers, and they are not anywhere in which they can have a reliable internet connection, they can simply dial in with their smartphone  with an audio quality that seems like you are just talking inches away from them.  With this particular functionality, you can quickly and easily create a telephone number that can be used across literally hundreds of cities on a global basis.
  6. Complete telephony:
    With Microsoft Teams, you can have telephone functionality built right into your M365 account at a low cost of $4-$5 per month, depending on your location.  Meaning, you do not have to scout out for separate VoIP based vendors; it is all bundled in one package for optimal access.  One of the key advantages of this is that you can even replace your entire existing telephone system that you currently have for your business and replace it with M365.

Microsoft OneNote

Are you one of those entrepreneurs that are constantly thinking of new ideas every waking moment, and are scrambling to find ways to write them down if you are away from your home or office? Well, look no further, as OneNote has you covered.  This is a hosted app that lets you type, write, or draw your innovative ideas as you are brainstorming on the fly, and on almost any platform that you have on hand.   To do all of this, all you need is a stylus or even your fingertip, and off you go!

Microsoft OneDrive

This is Microsoft’s online storage that comes with M365.  With this you can get up to 1Tb of free data storage, which is safe and secure.  Features of OneDrive include the following:

  • File Synchronization:  No matter what device you are currently using, all of the files that you save to it will also be automatically updated with other devices that you may be using as well.
  • Offline Access: If you need to access files when you do not have Internet access, no need to worry.  You can also access them offline as well. They will be synced back with other platforms when you next connect to the Internet.
  • Document Scanning:  If you are a road warrior and hate having to keep the physical copy of your receipts, you can just scan them in with the camera on your smartphone, and they will be automatically uploaded to OneDrive.
  • No more need to send attachments:  Instead of wasting extra keystrokes to send attachments as emails, you can send whatever you have stored in OneDrive as a link instead.
  • The Personal Vault: Your mission critical files can get an extra layer of protection when you store them here.

Other M365 Tools

Believe it or not, yes, there are more tools in M365 that you can make use of also, and here they are:

  1. Microsoft To Do:
    Tired of having to write down on a physical piece of paper what you need to get done every day?  Well, To Do has you covered.  For example, you can create all of the lists that you need to, and even break them down into smaller steps.  Best of all its hosted, so you will never lose your important lists, whether it is work related or personal.  You can even share this list with others as well.
  2. Microsoft Delve:
    This is a tool that instantly displays the content and information that is most relevant to you across all of your M365 apps that you use on a daily basis – all in one central location for quick and easy access.  This is powered by “Office Graph” that collects relevant information whenever you access your M365 apps.
  3. Microsoft Stream:
    This is an enterprise video service that is also available in your M365 account.  With this, you can quickly and easily create videos on the fly, wherever you may be.  Some key features of this include: speech to text, closed captions that are auto generated, and face detection functionalities.
  4. Microsoft Flow:
    With this feature, you can quickly build workflows that don’t require any special kind of programming usually provided by a software development team.  There are literally hundreds of prebuilt connectors that you can use to create even the most complex of workflows.  This tool alson has built in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automatic (RPA) functionalities to help automate the creation of those workflows that are redundant for your job and even your business.
  5. Microsoft Sway:
    This is a specialized kind of app that allows you to create content, such as newsletters, dynamic Web pages, and even presentations when you are on the go.  Best of all, all of the formatting is done automatically for you, thus not only saving you time, but also making your content look great as well.
  6. Microsoft Bookings:
    Are you a professional, like a lawyer or a doctor that takes on clients on an appointment only basis?  Are you tired of having to fumble through a paper calendar to see when your next appointment is?  Well, look no further.  Bookings has you covered.  With this tool, you can book all of these important meetings and appointments straight from your smartphone, as Bookings is both an online and mobile based app. With a specialized link, your clients can also book appointments on their own, and you can even manage the daily work calendars of your employees as well.

Conclusions

Well, there you have it.  All of those extra tools in M365 which you may not have even heard of before.  If you need some extra help in getting the most out of your M365 subscription, contact us at KAMIND IT today!

Sources

  1. https://www.compete366.com/blog-posts/microsoft-teams-what-is-it-and-should-we-be-using-it/
  2. https://www.onenote.com/?404&public=1
  3. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/onedrive/online-cloud-storage
  4. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-to-do-list-app?rtc=1
  5. https://support.office.com/en-us/article/what-is-office-delve-1315665a-c6af-4409-a28d-49f8916878ca
  6. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-stream
  7. https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/
  8. https://support.microsoft.com/en-ie/office/getting-started-with-sway-2076c468-63f4-4a89-ae5f-424796714a8a?ui=en-us&rs=en-ie&ad=ie
  9. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/publish-your-business-calendar-online-with-microsoft-bookings-47403d64-a067-4754-9ae9-00157244c27d