Every business strives for better productivity. Could Microsoft 365 be the solution that they are looking for?
Most businesses measure their success based on profits, but another very common measure of success is the level of productivity a business is capable of maintaining. All businesses are looking for ways to improve productivity most of the time, and a increasingly common way of doing this is by providing digital tools and workflows to make work more efficient, and therefore make workers more productive. We spoke with TechQuarters, a Microsoft Solutions Partner and managed service provider based in London. Like many of the London IT support companies operating today, TechQuarters believe that the key to success in the modern world of business is with the appropriate implementation of future-proof, digital solutions – to them, this means cloud-based solutions like Microsoft 365.
Microsoft 365 Products for Business Productivity
These days, virtually all businesses rely on software to complete their work. So, why do companies like TechQuarters consider Microsoft 365 to be the best of the bunch? It is hard to deny that Microsoft have been pioneering business solutions for many decades. But what makes a digital business solution successful? Ideally, it should help business fulfil the majority of their needs around core business functionality – such as communication, content creation, file sharing and management, etc. Productivity solutions like Microsoft 365 provide solutions for all of these core functionalities – TechQuarters even stated that they rely on M365 products like Microsoft Teams daily while providing IT support services in London. So, what are some examples of the tools that Microsoft 365 has which can help businesses improve their productivity?
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Microsoft Project
A key part of business productivity is ensuring that work is managed correctly. This includes understanding when work needs to be completed (i.e. defining timelines, setting deadlines and due dates, etc.) For example, projects are a very common means for businesses to undertake large pieces of work; and most businesses rely on some form of project management. For a Microsoft Office 365 company, the obvious solution is Microsoft Project. This is a heavyweight project management solution that is ideal for teams that need to create a comprehensive project outline and schedule, as well as manage the project (i.e. tracking task progress) on an ongoing basis.
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Microsoft Planner
It is also true that not all projects are long term, and therefore require such meticulous organization. However, every project still needs to be organised so that everyone involved understands what is expected of them. For this types of lower-stakes projects, a solution like Microsoft Planner is idea. Planner utilizes a Kanban-style user interface that allows teams to create boards where projects can be pinned. Within a project, the tasks involved can be outlined and assigned to different participants. It is a highly visual way of managing tasks within a team.
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Microsoft To Do
Productivity in teams is one thing, but what about productivity for individuals? Some professionals may experience difficulty managing their workloads. For users that have access to Microsoft 365, the easiest solution to use would be Microsoft To Do – a cloud-based to-do list. The benefits of to-do lists are evident; one can break their workload down into as many items as they wish. Microsoft To Do is a very intuitive solution to use for this – as it pulls data from other M365 apps, such as Outlook, in order to make suggestions for actions to add to your to-do lists.
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Microsoft Teams
Arguably the centerpiece of productivity in the Microsoft 365 stack is Microsoft Teams. Over the last few years, businesses have learned (in many cases, the hard way) how important communication and collaboration is for productivity. Microsoft Teams makes both of these easy, no matter where individuals in a business are based (Teams has been used extensively for remote and hybrid work). In the app, teams – which are essentially digital workspaces – can be created for users to host ongoing conversations and work. Within a team, users can chat, have meetings, store and share files, and even co-author work in real time.
