5 SMB Office 365 Tools for 2016

With so many constant updates and new features being added to Office 365, it’s hard to keep up and ensure they are being leverage to its full potential. It can also be challenging to change old habits and use something new even thought it could increase your productivity.

These top 5 Office 365 resources are a great way to ensure you are leveraging the power of your Office 365 investment and arm your team with the right tools to help them be more effective.

1.  SKYPE FOR BUSINESS

Most Office 365 plans include Skype for Business.  You may be paying to use other tools like GoToMeeting or WebEx when Skype for Business can do everything those resources do and more.  This will not only save you money, but also help your team be more productive. 

Some of the key features included in Skype of business are: 

-    Meetings and calls with anyone:   Meet with up to 250 people—even if they're not on Skype for Business. All they need is a phone or internet connection. 

-    Powerful productivity with Office:  See your contacts' online statuses, schedule meetings in Outlook, and start conversations from apps like Word and PowerPoint. 

-    Security and control:  Conversations are protected by strong authentication and encryption, and you manage employee accounts and features.

2.  GROUPS FOR OFFICE 365

Another great resource to leverage in Office 365 is Groups for Office 365. Groups is extremely useful as a way to organize a specific project or opportunity requiring input from several people. Office 365 Groups provides a single location to share documents, conversations, meetings, and notes. Here are some examples of what a Groups looks like in action: 

-  In a toy manufacturing company, a product planning team is chartered to come up with a new toy idea for night lights. They want to quickly exchange thoughts and co-author a few documents to deliver a proposal, a presentation, a budget, and a collection of discussion notes. 

-  A small business wants to coordinate logistics and expertise from all its employees for a customer marketing and promotion event. They also want to invite select customers to confirm their approach. 

-  A close-knit executive team needs to plan and schedule a big product announcement, but securely, so as not to risk an untimely disclosure. 

How to create Office 365 Groups, Step-By-Step: http://www.messageops.com/creating-groups-in-office-365-step-by-step/

3.  ONEDRIVE FOR BUSINESS

Many of us today work from anywhere at any time and it’s important to be able to access the files you need no matter where you are at.  OneDrive for Business makes this possible:

- Never Worry About Losing Documents - OneDrive automatically saves and backs up your files.

- Back Up Available for All Devices - It will work with Android phones, the iPhone, Windows phones, iPads, tablets, and more.

- Easy Access of Your Files - Users can access their files from anywhere, so long as they have an Internet connection and log into their account.

-  Synchronization with Local Computers - Users are able to synchronize with a local computer, and the app for synchronization is available with Office 2013 or Office 365. You never have to worry that you forgot to update a file to the latest version. It updates automatically although if you want to keep a copy of the old version, you can save it by another name. 

Benefits of OneDrive for Business: http://www.messageops.com/benefits-of-onedrive-for-business/ 

OneDrive Must-Have Tips, Tricks, and Cool Features: http://www.messageops.com/onedrive-for-business-must-have-tips-tricks-and-cool-features/

4.  A COMPANY INTRANET 

Having a company intranet, a private network, accessible only to an organization's staff, is a great way to improve internal communication and create a focal point for internal and external resources. ROOT, powered by MessageOps, centralizes access to important company info and apps right in Office 365. Ready-built, packed with features, and easily customizable, your company’s SharePoint intranet portal will engage employees, facilitate communication, foster collaboration, streamline processes, and organize your knowledgebase for quick, lasting productivity gains. Easily deployed and administered, ROOT eliminates the complexity, cost and risk of a custom-built solution to bring immediate business value to your organization.

5.  SWAY

Another tool we love that is part of Office 365 is Sway, a digital storytelling app that helps you easily bring any story to life using interactive content, video, responsive charts, and more.  Sway let’s you convey concepts quickly, easily and clearly and lends itself well for content such as tutorials, topic introductions and interactive reports.  Sway presentations are backed up to the cloud, and can be easily shared or embedded in websites. 

The new way of storytelling using Sway: http://www.messageops.com/the-new-way-of-storytelling-using-microsoft-sway/

Sway vs. PowerPoint: http://www.messageops.com/why-sway-wont-replace-powerpoint/