The two largest competitors in the corporate email and office suite spaces have been Google and Microsoft for many years now. Microsoft has been steadily eating into Google’s market share with Microsoft 365 and continues to do so by adding value to is subscription service. If your business is just using Microsoft 365 as an email service, you probably are not getting the full value from your subscription.
It is important to note that there are many different types of subscriptions of Microsoft 365, each containing different components, so it is imperative to start by understanding the licenses you have. What does not help is Microsoft propensity to continual rebrand not only products but also licenses. What used to be called Microsoft Office 365 Business Premium, as an example, is now Microsoft 365 Business Standard and the product formerly known as Office 365 Business, is now Microsoft 365 Business Premium. So, what used to be called Business Premium is now a completely different license than today’s Business Premium license. (Microsoft rebranded the entire product line from Office 365 to Microsoft 365 as well to make matters even more confusing)
Once you understand what licenses you have, you can see what products are available to you. Almost every subscription has Microsoft Teams. Certainly, this product has been gaining traction rapidly and the remote worker push from COVID-19 only accelerated that curve. We would argue that Teams is still under utilized by many businesses. It is not just an instant messenger and meeting platform. It can perform those functions surely, but its value is in the collaboration components, the Teams and the channels. We have found, here at Colden Company, that simply downloading Teams for users is not a recipe for success. Success comes with a planned rollout with a project champion on site who can help make the business case for the tool. Find a project where Microsoft Teams can be of value to the business and roll out a pilot program. Make sure your pilot users are using the tool (Take away other options if need be) and see the value it brings. A successful pilot will be a starting point for future Teams within the organization.
Beyond Teams, another component utilized but perhaps not as effectively as it could be is OneDrive for Business. This tool can be utilized in a few different ways one of those ways being a desktop and document backup for users. For those users with simple needs, this may be a great way to backup important files without increasing your costs.
There are many other components, some also recently renamed. Flow, which is now Automate or Power Automate, is a handle tool for automating workflow. Power BI is part of the Power Apps and is a highly rated business intelligence tool. (See our webinar on the topic in case you missed it)
Microsoft Planner is a free application that can help organize and manage tasks. It ties in nicely to Microsoft 365 by sending email reminders of due and overdue tasks and can even be integrated into Microsoft Teams as a tab on a Team site. Microsoft To Do is a simplified version for personal to-do items as well.
A newly released app is called Microsoft Lists. This can be a great checklist type app for your organization. This can also be integrated into Teams which many will find handy.
You can see the central theme here with Microsoft. Teams is becoming the hub for where employees will go to work. Microsoft is heavily invested in Teams and continues to make improvements as they compete with Slack and Zoom.
Not getting the full value out of your Microsoft 365 subscription? Contact us today at (888) 600-4560 or email us at info@coldencompany.com.