Workplace collaboration is changing and evolving. Whether your team is working in the office or remotely, Office 365 collaborative tools make it easy to collaborate with others in real-time.

In order for teams to work effectively together, they need to be provided with the best tools – the kind that can give them a seamless workflow as they huddle and communicate about their overall progress whether they’re in person or online.

Collaborative tools, such as Office 365, empowers teamwork in the modern workplace.

Here’s an overview of some of the excellent features of one of the best business tools ever; the Office 365 collaborative suite. In this article we’ll cover:

 

Office 365 Collaboration Tools

Microsoft has been quite known already as the leading company in terms of providing software tools and solutions for offices and businesses. With their aim to further their dominance in such a field, they released Office 365 – a subscription line in which users can benefit from the best advantages that cloud computing can deliver.

It was established as a linked service alongside the release of MS Office 2013, although it was initially released in 2011. With the efficiency and convenience that Office 365 can offer, registered users can work in a truly seamless manner because of the advanced cloud-based features that only Microsoft can deliver.

Microsoft Sharepoint

Microsoft Office 365 Collaboration Tools Image Credit: iTransition

The Office 365 ecosystem includes over twenty applications. The main ones being:

Office Applications

  • Word
  • Excel
  • OneNote
  • PowerPoint
  • Access
  • Publisher

Enterprise Collaboration

  • Sharepoint
  • Yammer
  • Microsoft Teams

File Management

  • OneDrive

 

As you can see, there’s a large range of tools, but in this article we’ll focus on 2 of the most popular tools when it comes to the Office 365 collaboration tools: SharePoint and MS Teams.

Microsoft SharePoint

Microsoft Sharepoint

Benefits of using SharePoint

The Sharepoint service can be simply defined as the newest website-creation tool from Microsoft. It allows registered users to create a team website in which members that work together in a team project can merge their ideas and project files together.

The major advantage of SharePoint is that, instead of submitting different versions of the same kind of files, it allows team members to make some input collaboratively in a single file. Thus, they can generate outputs in the quickest manner possible.

4 Things we love about Sharepoint:

  1. Workflow-based collaboration
  2. Centralised Search
  3. Perfect for medium to large-sized teams
  4. Strong content management capabilities

The most notable disadvantage is that it requires complicated setup and maintenance. Some reviews also indicate that SharePoint can give messy results. As a remedy, companies often implement additional personal training to use the service more effectively.

 

Microsoft Teams

Whenever you use Office 365 for business purposes, another cool feature that you can benefit from is Microsoft Teams – a digital huddle area for your employees while engaging on a team effort without ever seeing one another.

It is easily defined as a chat-based workspace, as indicated by Microsoft’s website. Available in 181 countries with language support that spans up to 18 languages, MS Teams is, in fact, a very efficient tool for clerical workers and project managers from all over the world.

According to some user reviews, common disadvantages of MS Teams often stem from user confusion of its file structure and the seemingly hard transition from Microsoft’s email service Outlook. As the latter’s newer successor, they are meant to be reminiscent of each other. Many users declare that the resemblance they’re expecting to see isn’t very evident.

 

Collaboration on a Single File Using Office 365

This works through the utilisation of MS OneDrive, the company’s cloud-based storage service, and Azure Active Directory, a file management system that validates user identity securely. This can be a great help for those who have worries about the security of the files they want to share from one team member to another. Regardless of where they are, as long as they have a fast-enough Internet connection, they can engage in direct conversations.

Another great feature of Office 365 is Yammer – an internal social media platform that works like the typical messenger apps that you’ve known already. It allows business-related messages to be managed and sorted out efficiently.

Benefits of Collaborative Tools in Office 365

 

Advantages of Collaborative Tools in Office 365

The benefits that businesses can when using Office 365 include:

  • Real-time communication: Team members working on a certain project can update each other at the speed of thought.
  • Shared mailboxes: Group messages can be accessed easily. Team leaders don’t need to make individual messages for each member.
  • Multiple plan types to cater to specific business needs: You will be prompted to input some information regarding your corporate needs so the 365 portal can customize some services just for you.
  • Maintaining of organisational culture: There are communication features that can instil what a certain company stands for so workers can still retain their working styles or habits.

 

Potential Challenges of Collaborative Tools Office 365

Even if you just plan to use Office 365 for small business ventures, it is important to consider the following disadvantages:

  • Difficulty in license renewal: Many users complain that during the process of renewing subscription, it could be a headache for team leaders, as well as for the owners.
  • File compatibility issues: When uploading office related files, some older versions, as well as current file types from other applications appear to be corrupted or non-executable during the opening process.

As well as this, you can’t have full control over the privacy of your data. However, Microsoft has strict policies regarding the protection of your shared data, such rules may interfere with your team’s productivity.

 

Office 365 for Business Is Now Made Easier in Melbourne with Managed IT Support Services

Many tech firms have been recommending Office 365 for small and medium enterprise businesses, right through to large corporations. It is evidenced by the fact that since the fiscal year of 2017, the revenue generated by O365 has exceeded the conventional sales of MS Office.

As we’ve mentioned, Office 365 has an incredible range of benefits, but these can be extended further with additional personnel training so you can use Office 365 to the fullest. Thankfully for those who want to make the usage of it so much easier, Managed IT Support Services Melbourne is easily accessible online, over the phone on location in your offices. IT Services companies such as Discover offer solutions that include cloud services, hardware and software, tech -support, and security services, among others. We can help you migrate to Office 365 and ensure your business and team are best positioned to use it to it’s fullest capacity.

If your company is in Melbourne, Discover might just be the ultimate strategic partner you can join forces with to take advantage of everything Office 365 has to offer so you can grow your business further.

 

Conclusion

If you have doubts as to the efficacy of the business tools you’re currently using, hopefully you now have a better idea of the amazing benefits of collaborative tools in Office 365 such as single-file collaboration, social-media messaging management, and secure file transfers.

For in-depth training and support contact, Discover’s Managed IT Support Team. Established in 2001, Discover is by far, the best IT support service Melbourne has to offer.