Better ways to use Office 365

Posted on Thursday July 04, 2019

With Office 365, your business can gain a lot, but you won't benefit from it if you don't know how to use this service. Do you want your employees to be more productive? You can't go wrong if you follow these simple steps to boost your business.

Get the staff aboard

To maximize your company's productivity with Office 365, make sure that every employee with a computer uses it. While this may be easier said than done, you can easily promote the service by encouraging the officers of your company to use it first. When your executives, managers, and top employees use Office 365, others will be persuaded to do the same.  

Train employees

If your employees don't know how to use Office 365, they won't be productive, and the cloud service becomes a wasted investment. This is why training is vital. Teach your staff the ins and outs of the platform so they can take full advantage of it. 

One way to train your staff is to make or assemble short training videos. These are easy to digest and will be remembered by employees. They can be viewed over and over again and used anytime. This saves management the trouble of training people. 

Utilize core tools

When you first used Office 365, what did you like about it? You were probably sold on the idea that it increases staff productivity since it allows employees to work and collaborate anywhere. If you're not utilizing this service for that purpose, now is the perfect time to do so. 

Some of the tools that increase productivity are OneDrive for Business (OD4B), SharePoint, and Skype for Business. OD4B and SharePoint allow employees to upload and save documents to a virtual drive, share that document with another group or user, and edit it at the same time. This gives everyone the ability to access that document and work wherever they want. 

Because it is a flexible communication channel, Skype for Business also enhances productivity since employees, colleagues, and customers can communicate easily. From online meetings to conference calls, video calls to instant messaging, you have a wealth of options for instant communication. 

Be more secure

Not only can a security breach cost you money, it can also destroy your business. While Office 365 already has built-in security with Azure Active Directory, it's always wise to be cautious of the files you add and share on the service. If you upload files with sensitive company information to the platform, make sure you control them.   

These four productivity tips can help your business grow. If you'd like to learn more, or need additional training on Office 365, give us a call. We are happy to help you!