It is not uncommon for businesses to invest in software, yet the demands of their daily operations prevent them from thoroughly exploring all the application's benefits. Instead of maximizing the use of their new software, they barely scratch its surface, ultimately missing out on key features that can help streamline many of their organization's tasks and processes.

This post focuses on five Microsoft 365 tools that some companies may not know about that can allow employees to work smarter and become more efficient.

1. Microsoft Planner

With more individuals working remotely, it is even more important for teams to stay connected. This tool allows teams to easily organize and assign tasks, create new plans, chat with team members, share files, receive group progress updates, and apply due dates.

Of course, one of the ways Planner streamlines processes is through its ability to integrate with the rest of Office 365 seamlessly. For example, every team member who has access to a group will also get access to the plan. Another great feature of Planner is that it allows the prioritization of tasks by progress, due date, priority, and more.

2. Microsoft Bookings

Microsoft Bookings allows clients to easily schedule and book their own meetings and appointments with a company at a time that is convenient for them. Contrasting the traditional whiteboard or Excel spreadsheet as a way to track schedules, Microsoft Bookings allows increased flexibility and response times through 24/7 visibility of corporate schedules. Bookings can be used as a stand-alone website or seamlessly embedded in a corporate webpage. 

3. Microsoft OneNote

In the past, some of the greatest spontaneous ideas were captured on a sticky note or a cocktail napkin. Now, those unexpected ideas and "must remember" items can be organized and captured through Microsoft OneNote. OneNote is an organizational tool that can be applied for individual use, teams, or projects that encompass several departments throughout an organization and/or outside third parties.  

OneNote allows individuals or teams to organize notes in one place for use as personal reminders, or to facilitate collaboration between team members. Microsoft OneNote easily attaches to other Microsoft tools such as Outlook, so users can jot down notes about meeting details or create a task list based on data from Outlook.

OneNote is not just a tool for storing the written word. Users can draw and label pictures, graphs, and other shapes within OneNote, color-code information, and provide clickable links to more detailed information.

4. Microsoft Forms

It is always important for companies to receive feedback from their client base. Internal feedback can be very useful as well. Microsoft allows companies to easily gather information using surveys, polls, and quizzes created in Forms. Forms can track responses and provide real-time results and analytics.

Microsoft Forms allows companies to design their own surveys and polls by inputting their own questions or using multiple-choice, true/false, or a rating system. Users can even add photos and a theme! The surveys, quizzes, and polls can be posted on a corporate social media page, sent in an email to clients or internal staff, or embedded on a website. Results can be shareable with everyone who participated or to a select group.

5. Microsoft Power Automate

Lastly, Microsoft's Power Automate tool (formerly known as Microsoft Flow) allows interested parties to automate actions, create and automate workflows, and more.

While overall project management is a critical component to project success, so is the way that employees work "right now". In other words, manually performing routine tasks "because it's always been done that way" is a drain on an employee's time. This is where Power Automate can step in and take over the more routine tasks and processes in which employees frequently engage. 

Example:

One example is to design a template where employees get an alert every time they receive an email from someone within the company who has a higher authority or someone from whom they routinely expect information so that they can incorporate the data into an important monthly report.

Other uses could include a software developer who creates and shares a product build button to automate a once-manual task, or a sales rep who uploads client meeting notes to a CRM app at the touch of a button.  

Power Automate can connect with other Microsoft productivity apps and external apps such as Google Drive, Twitter, Mailchimp, Slack, Salesforce, Dropbox, and more. 

If you would like to learn more about how to make the most of Microsoft 365 tools, please contact us. You can also view our insights page to find related topics or click here to learn more about our technology services.