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Monday, 12 August 2019 15:07

The Hidden Treasures of Office 365

React Computer Partnership tell us about the hidden treasures of Office 365.

Written by Francis Pledger, React Computer Partnership

Office 365 is so much more than just the Office programs like Word and Excel. For the monthly fee you get a treasure trove of products designed to let you work more effectively.React

If you opt for Business Premium, the flagship of the small business product range, you get MileIQ to automatically track and calculate your business mileage. Bookings, which manages your diary and lets your clients book appointments online, and an invoicing package to simplify that tedious, but oh so important task. And those are just a few of the applications available. 

React articleThere is a simple project management tool called Planner to let you track tasks for any projects you are running. Planner lets you create a project then sub-divide it into sections and assign tasks to people. You can then clearly see which tasks are due and so can keep the project on track.

Teams, one of Microsoft’s new flagship products offers a constant chat facility with the option of audio and video meetings. You can easily create a team to let people collaborate, and within the team you can sub-divide the conversations by activities. Staying in touch and up to date in Teams becomes far easier and everything you need is in one place, so time isn’t wasted looking for information. 

These products are all included in the same subscription together with the standard Office apps, and is under £10 per month per user, making it incredible value for money.

The real power of Office 365 however comes when you start to use the integration, workflow and program builder tools. These options give you the ability to create your own programs, turn paper forms into digital versions and automatically write the data to a supporting system.

For many organisations tracking and managing paperwork becomes onerous and creates work. Usually data on the form needs to be entered into a computer system somewhere, meaning an extra activity, and in busy periods this can lead to delays. Using the features of Office 365 means once the electronic version of the form has been completed it will automatically update the back-end system. This not only saves time, but also means errors are avoided.

When the data has been entered the workflow program can take over and start assigning tasks and monitoring any deadlines to ensure things happen when they should. Management becomes easier too because outstanding and critical items will be highlighted so they can be expedited. 

Using Office 365 this way lets you automate mundane tasks, offers visibility of current deadlines and activities, making management simpler and faster. 

Many people believe that for a business to thrive in the modern era digital working is essential. So, if you want to improve productivity and take advantage of what digital working can offer, Office 365 is undoubtedly an excellent place to start. 

React Computer Partnership are a Microsoft partner specialising in Office 365 and Cyber security. If you’d like further details, please call Francis Pledger on 01394 387337.

Office 365