You have heard the expression “it takes a village” to get something accomplished. Likewise, it takes a team to run an efficient project, department or business. Yet many of us have been forced to quickly adapt to a new normal of working from home causing a number of challenges for employees. This abrupt physical separation can lead to miscommunication, poor execution and before you know it, your project can take a turn for the worse.
Microsoft understands this and has launched Microsoft Office 365 communication and collaboration solution that brings together people, information and content in a way that makes working online easier than ever before.
Let’s review some of the Microsoft 365 collaboration tools and how you can get the most from your Microsoft 365 subscription.
OneDrive is a simple, secure place for employees to store their files in the cloud. Think of it as your “My Documents” online. It keeps your desktop uncluttered while allowing users to easily share and collaborate with other employees on a document. OneDrive creates an accessible paper trail that cannot be destroyed by a spilled cup of coffee on a laptop. And with ANP’s setup of your OneDrive, your files will never fall off your laptop or fall out of the cloud -- we can ensure you will never lose a file again.
SharePoint takes OneDrive file repository to the next level. I like to think of SharePoint as a modern file server that’s included with your Microsoft 365 subscription. This is the first time Microsoft has really improved file saving, file searching, and even file security in an impactful way.
SharePoint is most frequently used for corporate and department data organization. It’s the back-end for your Teams environment and where you can begin to automate businesses processes.
Getting the most from SharePoint can include creating corporate, project or department-specific Intranet sites to engage and inform your employees about company news and events in a single location. You can store and share documents both internally and externally here, collaborate on documents in real-time, sync with Outlook calendars and much more.
ANP can help you move your on-premise file and print servers to SharePoint Online. You can keep your file structure intact as it always was but now securely access it from web browser, without the need of a clunky remote desktop solution. Even better, you’ll never have to buy another physical file server again.
Microsoft Teams is hub for team collaboration and where your employees will spend most of their time. Here you can set up various teams based on projects or departments – whatever makes sense for your business operations. Each team has built in chat, video and voice capabilities supported by Microsoft Phone System on the back-end. It’s integrated with your email, calendars to easily set up meetings as well as all the other Microsoft 365 applications. Teams is a secure alternative to Zoom and WebEx and is integrated with all of your other applications making it the ultimate tool for your remote workforce.
ANP can help you connect Teams and SharePoint and integrate it with call and video functionality.
Microsoft Phone System has been a great addition to the Microsoft 365 collaboration family with the recent announcement that Skype is being phased out as the legacy phone system. Microsoft Phone System is included with a Microsoft 365 E5 subscription and can be added a la carte to your E3 or Business Premium subscriptions.
Microsoft is quickly becoming a global telecom company that can provide a “Calling Plan,” with a specific DID phone number for each of your employees.
ANP has been installing VoIP phone systems for the last 2 decades and has deep technical knowledge to help you implement your Microsoft Phone system.
Is your legacy PBX that’s hanging on a closet wall ready to be retired? A Microsoft Phone System can do everything your current PBX can do, place people on hold, park calls, intercom, voice mail, music on hold. Plus Microsoft’s Phone System can do some spectacularly useful things that your old PBX can’t do, such as listen to a voice mail and convert it into text and place it in your chat space. No more calling into voicemail and having to listen to each message. With Microsoft Phone System, you can receive and make calls on your laptop, PC and your cell phone plus conventional desk top phones and conferencing speakerphones are also available.
Yammer is an Instant Messaging tool that can pool opinions from a group immediately. Here at ANP, Yammer is more of a fun tool, we use it to figure out where to go to lunch. We talk about client meetings or our kids last softball game.
Microsoft 365 Collaboration
When Microsoft launched Microsoft 365 the entire point was to create an easy-to-access universe of tools where one login could give a user everything, on a single PC, Laptop or Cell phone.
Not too long ago, a company had to use multiple tools with tool-specific sign-on, unique user interfaces – and many of them simply didn’t play well with each other. For instance, we had a separate phone system, a separate email platform, a separate IM tool; all not integrated into one easy to use interface. The result was a lot of busy work and lost productivity.
Microsoft’s collaboration tools were created to provide a seamless and efficient user experience. Each tool is already optimized to get the most from each application under the Microsoft 365 subscription. To find out how to streamline your communication and collaboration efficiency, contact ANP to discuss your options.
