Changing technologies mean changes to workplaces and how we work and interact with each other. Physical workplaces are becoming virtual, with people logging in to work in different time zones and locations around the world. These changes to the traditional workplace have seen a growth in enterprise collaboration tools, with Microsoft’s Office 365 at the forefront.
Virtual workplaces call for digital teamwork and Microsoft’s vision for collaboration is all about enabling teams to produce results through integrated communications, collaborative workspaces, people driven processes and access to information & people.
Businesses around the world are embracing this, small business particularly with benefits of digital teams meaning less resourcing on physical offices, equipment and infrastructure.
Integrated Communications
Considering the number of different devices we use each day, we need to be able to move seamlessly between these devices and access the same data effortlessly in order to get our work done. Essentially, picking up on one device where we left off on another. Microsoft understands that productivity can suffer when employees need to constantly change devices and applications to get a job done. Office 365 applications such as Exchange Online and One Drive combat this through integration of email & calendar, contacts and files meaning information is available no matter what device you have on hand.
Collaborative Workspaces
Virtual workplaces will thrive with Office 365. Anywhere in the world, an employee can login, and begin communicating with team members in other locations through Skype for Business and Yammer, author and share documents via Office in the cloud, and manage projects together on SharePoint and Groove Virtual Office.
Collaborative workspaces also reduce the need for physical meetings. Instead of downing tools to meet face to face, Office 365 enables web telephony, instant chat, and comments via editing tools in Microsoft Office so employees can both discuss they are working on, whilst continuing to work on their document and make changes simultaneously.
Access to Information & People
Office 365’s Exchange Online, One Drive, and Live Communications provide a single, integrated and intuitive environment to enable businesses and their employees to access and share data, work on documents collaboratively in real time, and contact each other via either a corporate environment on any device browser.
Collaborative workplaces meant companies aren’t bound by geography when it comes to recruitment – you might find the perfect person for the job…on the other side of the world. Enterprise collaboration means this is all possible.
People Driven Processes
The beauty of Office 365 is that it is a set of products that most of us have come to know and love – rich data systems that are user friendly, flexible and fairly intuitive. From the basic Office Suite to new products like SharePoint and Power BI, Microsoft has the tools available to ensure businesses of any size can meet their customer’s needs, build and develop their team and grow their profit.
When employees can easily access, and enjoy using the tools they work with, productivity and quality increases, meaning you can deliver a superior product to your customer.
Every office and every employee is different – Microsoft understands that, which is there are so many collaboration tools available with Office 365 and why they continue to grow and expand applications to meet the demand of consumers and changing technologies.
