If you see Office 365 as simply a way to get your entire workforce using Microsoft Office at a favourable price, the chances are you aren’t making the most of its full potential. Office 365 subscriptions come with several genuinely useful services, tools and applications that you may not be taking advantage of, even though you have already paid for them.
Secure online storage with OneDrive
As part of Office 365, you get secure online storage for all of your users. OneDrive lets users access their files from any device using their Office365 login, something that’s particularly useful if you don’t yet have a remote access feature on your own network. While you shouldn’t rely on OneDrive as your sole back-up tool, it can be used as an alternative storage option, freeing up valuable space on your local server. Unlike some online backup tools, Office365 gives you a whopping one terabyte of storage for every user, making it suitable even for multimedia files.
SharePoint for easier project collaboration
SharePoint has always been an application where the full potential has gone unrealised because of confusion over what it is and how it works. The easiest way to think of it is a central file repository that enables your staff to effortlessly work and collaborate from anywhere on any device. If you’ve ever tried to get staff working together over your network and thought “there must be an easier way to do this” then SharePoint may be that way. With Office 365 your organisation gets 20 GB SharePoint storage plus 500MB per subscription. If you require further capacity each additional GB is just £0.13 per month offering flexibility and great value compared to alternative cloud storage providers.
Face to face messaging with Skype For Business
The dedicated Skype for Business application in Office365 brings several key benefits over the standard Skype setup or the original Microsoft Lync communication tool. For example, it makes it simple to split the screen so that you and a colleague can see each other and also view a document for real time collaboration. Skype for Business also includes enhanced conferencing management tools and lifts the maximum number of participants from 25 to 250, making it a viable company-wide presentation tool. What’s more Skype for Business is fully integrated with Microsoft Outlook, making it easy to schedule and host online meetings, even if the other party doesn’t have Skype for Business, in which case they can join the meeting via a web browser.
Delve, your intelligent assistant
The unsung hero of Office365, Delve is like having an ultra-intelligent assistant who works 24/7 without claiming overtime. It’s based around the idea that the sheer amount of data you can access in Office365, particularly if you’re in a manager role, can be overwhelming. Delve sifts through the information and brings you a summary of the latest updates and document edits that are most likely to be of immediate importance. The selection is based on numerous factors including how widely a document has been shared, your office and project hierarchy, and which related documents you have been viewing recently.
Office 365 Mobile App
When it comes to Office software, Microsoft’s mobile applications can be a confusing picture. You may have read that Microsoft made the Office 365 mobile apps free of charge for everybody in late 2014. This is true, but it only applies to the basic, consumer-oriented edition. With a business Office 365 plan you get access to a version of the app that allows premium features such as track changes in Word and Pivot Tables in Excel. The Office 365 mobile app displays a list of documents that you recently accessed, providing instant convenient access to your files while you are on the go.
Getting the most out of Office 365
At M2 Computing, we have extensive experience migrating small to medium sized organisations to Office 365. We understand the complexity of email and server infrastructures and have successfully delivered cloud migration projects in business critical environments for clients across London, Surrey and Sussex. As an accredited Microsoft Silver Partner, we can help you choose the right package to fit your business requirements and provide the necessary training and IT support to make the most of your Office 365 subscription.
