When Microsoft Office was first introduced, it was a robust program for the needs of a modern office in the 90’s. As the digital age advanced and the needs of businesses changed, Microsoft Office has kept pace. Today, Office 365 offers a wide variety of tools to help meet the demands of increasingly mobile modern offices.
Office 365 is far more than a powerful word processing and email program – it is a fully integrated business building powerhouse. To produce greatest results, you have to know what you can do with them.
Here are 5 ways you can leverage Office 365 to turbo-charge your business.
1. Analytics
Power BI might be one of the least known tools in the Office 365 arsenal and yet also one of the most game-changing. BI stands for Business Intelligence and that’s exactly what Power BI offers.
Think of Power BI as your own personal spy for business.
While you may not notice a sudden 18% increase in orders coming from a certain region, Power BI will. Not only can Power BI alert you to the change, it can help you track down the reason, so you can take full advantage of it. Power BI offers next level analytics to help you understand what is happening with your business at any moment.
Whether you experience a sudden or unexpected increase or decrease in sales or a sudden inability to meet demand, Power BI can help you identify and isolate the causes of changes and fluctuations in your business.
Whether you experience a sudden or unexpected increase or decrease in sales or a sudden inability to meet demand, Power BI can help you identify and isolate the causes of changes and fluctuations in your business. Not only does Power BI offer key analytical insights, but it also helps you publish comprehensive reports that are easy to read, understand and disseminated across a wide range of platforms.
2. Boosted Security
Data breaches are problematic for many businesses and for small businesses in particular. While a corporate giant may possess the resources to weather a digital storm, small businesses are increasingly at risk for data breaches, which they may not weather so well.
While smaller businesses often have less data to protect, they also have weaker security systems which make them prime candidates for hacking. Small businesses may also lack the budget for expensive security software, but luckily, Microsoft actually built protection right into Office 365. When you use Office 365, you have the resources to protect not only your business information but all of the information your clients and consumers entrust to you as well.
3. Better Communication
Wars have been won and lost on the basis of good or bad communication and the same goes for your business. Office 365 offers a range of communication platforms that all integrate seamlessly. From file sharing to email to instant messaging,
Office 365 can help your teams stay in better communication with each other and ensure that important messages don’t fall through the cracks. For important meetings, Skype for Office can connect up to 250 employees around the globe. The information contained in Office 365 can also be accessed securely from anywhere, which can keep your teams on the same page around the globe. Office 365 can help run things more smoothly within the office.
The rise in popularity of open office plans brings with it a need for more conference rooms and smaller breakout rooms. If these rooms are not carefully managed, chaos can ensue. Office 365 has all the tools you need to keep things scheduled, organized, and managed within your office. Learn more about Office 365 to Office 365 email migration service and SharePoint Migration.
4. Full Integration
There are many apps and programs that do all of the same things that Office 365 does and some of them are even less expensive. With Office 365, however, all of the programs are fully integrated. This not only saves time, it helps ensure that information flows smoothly and seamlessly.
We’ve all had that experience where we know we sent or received information but can’t remember whether we sent or received it via email, text or instant messaging. Office 365 offers powerful search tools that allow you to find information throughout multiple platforms no matter what method it was sent.
Office 365 can also pull information from emails to create appointments in the calendar or send an email using information pulled from Microsoft Teams. Office 365 is also compatible with both PC and Mac and works on Android, iPhone and even Blackberry devices. No matter what type of device or platform your team prefers, Office 365 works across them all.
5. It Grows with You
As businesses grow, so do their needs. Most times, this means abandoning one type of software for another. Training employees on a whole new system can be costly and time-consuming, which means many businesses continue to use inferior products just to avoid a headache and hassle of switching or upgrading.
Microsoft Office has been delivering cutting edge business tools for nearly 3 decades now and with a subscription service, you never have to upgrade. In addition, most Office 365 products have similar user interfaces, which means the learning curve is low if you add a new tool to your arsenal.
Subscription based services also offer reasonable upfront costs. They are also customizable according to your needs. You can add products or tools as your business grows or your needs change. As your organization expands, you can buy more subscriptions when you bring in additional personnel. If you experience a downturn, you can decrease the number of subscribers. This makes it suitable for seasonal businesses.
Office 365 has come a long way from its humble beginnings. For the last three decades, however, it has remained the go-to office product for businesses for a reason. In a digital world, it offers powerful tools for increasingly mobile offices.
No matter what type of business you run, Office 365 has the tools that will take your business to the next level, and beyond.
