Unlocking Office 365

23 Jul, 2018

Technology

Microsoft Office 365 applications provide enterprise solutions that can be adapted for any organization. Popular Microsoft Office 365 applications include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access and Publisher. Although, there are applications that are useful and often overlooked, such applications are: SharePoint, Exchange Server, Yammer, MyAnalytics, OneDrive, Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams and Power BI. Let’s take a look at some of the over 30 Microsfot Office 365 applications:

• Microsoft Outlook includes an email client, calendar, address/contact book and task manager. The personal information manager is mainly used for emailing and can be used in integration with a Microsoft SharePoint server to share documents, calendars and information within an organization.
• Microsoft OneNote is an application to gather handwritten or computer typed notes, drawings and audio commentaries. The note taking program makes it possible to easily share the notes with other OneNotes users. It is also perfect for note taking on-the-go.
• Microsoft Publisher is a similar app to Microsoft Word. Unlike Word, it focuses more on the page layout and design rather than the text composition. The desktop publishing application is useful for small businesses with the need to create marketing materials.
• Microsoft Access in its simplest form it is a database management system. The application can store data in its own format or can import and link directly to data stored in other applications. It supports a variety of standard field types and forms to display and enter data.
• Microsoft Sway is a presentation program. Content can be pulled locally or from an Internet source directly. Another integration service of Sway presentations include YouTube or Facebook content.
• Microsoft SharePoint is a platform for in which teams can collaborate, access, manage, and share data from any location. The web-based collaborative platform is a highly efficient content management system.
  • Workflows on SharePoint creates an automated process for tasks such as
    document approval. This features gives you time to focus on more integral things
    throughout the day.
  • SharePoint Project Site is a useful project management tool. It assigns certain tasks and responsibilities to people, manages project-related documentation and tracks team events on a shared calendar.
  • SharePoint PerformancePoint delivers insights on a company’s performance. The service application creates Business Intelligence dashboards that can include scorecards, filters and custom reports to measure performance.
• Yammer is an enterprise social networking service and another major collaboration tool within Office 365. Employees who have access to it can join a private chat within the organization. The service enables users to safely collaborate, share pictures and documents and create groups related to work and interests.
• Skype for Business is an enterprise software that enables features like instant messaging, Voice over IP (VoIP) or video conferencing.
• Microsoft Teams features workplace chats, meetings, notes and attachments for teams. It can also integrate extensions of non-Microsoft products.The Microsoft Team workspace is designed to bring people and content together and assists with tools needed for the team to collaborate.
• OneDrive is a file hosting service and allows to store files as well as personal data in a cloud. The files can be synchronized to the computer, downloaded or shared with other people.
• Office Delve is like a search machine for Office 365. The users can search and manage their emails, meetings, contacts, social networks and documents stored in OneDrive. Artificial Intelligence helps filtering the most relevant people and content.
• MyAnalytics shows how people spend their time and who they spend it with the most. MyAnalytics is a private dashboard that analyzes work habits. It can, for example, document meeting hours, email hours, focus hours and after hours. Based on the data, MyAnalytics helps to increase productivity, set goals and monitor progress for higher impact. The dashboard is private and can not be accessed by anyone else within the company. It tracks, monitors and analyzes personal growth and makes recommendations for healthier work habits.
• Power Business Intelligence (BI) is a cloud based suite of business analytics. It enables users to connect, visualize and analyze data with higher speed, efficiency and understanding. A broad range of live data is connected through easy-to-use dashboards. Users can provide and access interactive reports and compelling visualizations of the data. Data can be turned into insights and actions.
• Microsoft Forms is a tool that allows users to quickly create quizzes, surveys, questionnaires, and registrations. Data can easily be transferred to excel or built-in data analytics such as Power BI to visualize it and use for further actions.

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