9 Ways Microsoft 365 for Business Boosts Productivity

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Microsoft 365 for business (M365) is a cloud-based productivity suite that makes it easier for teams to collaborate, communicate and share files. 

In previous posts, we provided a high-level overview of the platform as well as the core benefits it delivers to organizations of all sizes. But in this post, we want to further explore one of the more important benefits: productivity. 

One of the fundamental objectives of Microsoft 365 for Business is to help teams be more productive, no matter where they're located or which devices they're using. So let’s look at the ways in which the platform's features and capabilities achieve that goal, boosting your company’s output and efficiency.

1. Anywhere-Access

Now more than ever, organizations need the ability to let their employees work from any location, without sacrificing the productivity they gained when in the office. This was true before the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s even more essential now.

M365 makes this remote work possible with its cloud-based Office suite and other tools. Users no longer need to be tied to an office desktop to access the software they need for their jobs every day. With Microsoft 365, your teams can use MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Office apps from anywhere with an Internet connection: at home, a hotel, a coffee shop or wherever they are. 

This is exactly what you and your teams need to be productive in a fast-moving, decentralized business environment.  

2. Video Conferencing

Microsoft 365 for Business includes access to the video conferencing platform Microsoft Teams. This is especially helpful to productivity, as it facilitates collaboration on projects with team members, whether everyone's working in the same office or separated by thousands of miles.

You can meet with colleagues, clients and others in a video conference with the touch of a button. All you need is a webcam and a microphone, and you're all set. Microsoft Teams also includes helpful features like screen-sharing, chat and file-sharing, allowing users to maximize their productivity and communication during the meeting.

3. Email & Calendar

Despite the increased adoption of instant messaging apps and video conferencing, email remains the bedrock for communication in today's business world.

M365’s Outlook and Exchange empower you and your team to access email and connect with one another, regardless of your location or device. Syncing email across mobile and office devices has never been simpler. So users can stay in the loop no matter where they are. 

In addition to email, Microsoft 365 for Business also provides a fully unified view of your calendar. So you can add calendar events, set reminders and accept meeting invitations with just a few clicks, whether you're sitting at the desk or sitting in your car. 

Like the original desktop versions, M365 email and calendar are intuitive, easy to use and easy to customize. Built-in anti-spam filtering protects against threats transmitted by email. And for admins, it's easy to set up new users, restore deleted users, create custom scripts and more. 

4. Chat

Above, we touched on the productivity benefits of video conferencing with Microsoft Teams, which is included with M365. But what about instances where team members need to reach each other quickly, without the need for a video call or long email thread?

That's where chat becomes indispensable in the workplace. Chat and instant messaging enable teams to communicate quickly and casually, allowing them to get fast answers about project statuses, share content and more. In addition to making your teams more productive, the ability to chat with each other during the day can also help employee morale.

Microsoft Teams includes all the chat features your employees love, like emoji reactions, rich text editing, group & one-on-one chat options. Your teams can communicate from any device or location in an efficient and seamless manner. And when needed, they can hop on a video call or share files with just a few clicks.

5. File Storage & Sharing

The importance of seamless file sharing cannot be understated. Office workers in nearly every industry need to be able to easily and securely share files with each other, customers and vendors.

Microsoft 365 for Business includes 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage for each user, facilitating easy file sharing and syncing across devices. Easier file sharing enables users to work more efficiently, without needing to weed through old email attachments for the right file or worry that their local folders don't have the most up-to-date documents. With OneDrive, authorized users have access to all their files, across all their devices, no matter where they are. 

You can access files shared to OneDrive from any web-connected device at all locations.  You can collaborate with others in real time when editing files and share them with others in a completely secure manner.  Plus, edits you make when offline are automatically synced the next time you connect. Activity on files can also be tracked, providing a convenient view of the history of each document to ensure all team members are on the same page.  

In addition to OneDrive, M365 also includes SharePoint, which makes it incredibly easy to share files as well as folders within team sites and intranet sites. Simply save files to SharePoint or OneDrive and changes made will be saved right away.  Furthermore, these file-sharing tools are deeply integrated with Office, allowing you to co-author a file on one device, finish on another and rest easy knowing the changes have been saved.

OneDrive and SharePoint are also integrated with Microsoft Teams, making file-sharing even faster while teams are in a chat conversation or video call.

6. Intranet & team sites

Microsoft-powered intranet sites have long been an effective way for organizations to share important content with employees, showcase news, share files and keep everyone engaged.

Microsoft 365 for Business makes it easier than ever to create and manage intranet sites across your organization or for individual departments and teams. With just a few clicks, you can build organization cohesion with rich multimedia content, create a community dialog, highlight successful projects and keep teams informed about issues that matter. Intranet and team sites can also be personalized for each user, presenting them with the content that is most relevant to them, across all of their devices.

All of this lends itself to a more productive workforce, helping users get the information and tools they need to maximize their work routines.

7. Faster Deployment 

The old-fashioned approach to deploying new software can be very time-consuming. For each new user or employee, software would need to be tediously installed on the computer and configured to the network, server and so on. This eats into your IT departments' time, draining resources and ultimately hurting productivity across the board.

With Microsoft 365, adding new users takes a matter of seconds, giving them instant access to the cloud-based tools they need. Mix and match plans to give users the tools their jobs require, without having to worry about huge new software downloads or installations. 

8. Automatic Updates

Manual software updates are yet another drain on productivity, even when they're managed remotely by your IT teams. Every minute that users (and admins) must wait to get back to work is a productivity loss.

Microsoft 365 for Business updates itself automatically. The core cloud-based software is always up to date, so that new features and changes are pushed out instantly as soon as they're released. Additionally, M365's device apps are also set to download updates automatically and install them in the background, without any user or administrator intervention. (Admins can change these settings if desired.)

9. Security 

Security breaches, malware and ransomware attacks are a strain on productivity, especially when they cause downtime. Whenever users are sidelined by a security issue, it hurts the business's bottom line.

So prioritizing security, you actually maximize productivity – and that's exactly what M365 does. Admins are empowered to manage security across identities, devices, data, infrastructure and apps in the Security Center. Security controls and options are conveniently consolidated onto a single dashboard, so you can see your unique digital security health and establish configurations as needed. 

Microsoft 365 for Business provides alerts in the event that suspicious activity is noted. Furthermore, the Microsoft Secure Score makes it that much easier to understand your current level of security. It provides recommendations for enhanced protection against digital threats, so you can be proactive about the security of your data and network, whether users are working remotely or on-site.

M365 for Business also uses the Windows Hello authentication tool. This replaces passwords with strong multi-factor authentication on Windows 10, allowing users to sign in with their faces, iris scans, fingerprints or a PIN.