“The world is changing. Fast. It’s exciting. We believe that today there’s no room for compromise. It’s no longer about weighing up mobility against security, choosing between creativity and productivity or juggling your work and life – it’s about collaboration.” – Microsoft (2019)
Businesses are becoming increasingly international, more businesses are experiencing growth, there is Brexit uncertainty; all those factors are the driver for movement and shifting of various departments not only around Europe but across the globe. According to House of Commons Library, 74% of all businesses in the UK (Chris Rhodes, 2018) are service based with many employees working remotely which ultimately means that the boundaries between location and time are blurring every single day.
Work models are changing, and the standard office 9 to 5 structure is slowly becoming outdated. Our technology is changing the way we work, we can now work remotely from different locations, different time zones and in different ways without compromising productivity and efficiency of the businesses.
(Microsoft Whitepaper. 5 Faces of Today’s Employees. Work and life, Microsoft Pulse, Nov. 2017)
It is millennials that are driving the change, always looking out for new tools which could simplify the way in which work is being undertaken but as you can see above, currently there is a mixture of generations in today’s office space. It is important to keep up with technology and new solutions as you as an organisation cannot afford to fall behind your competitors but on the other hand, it is also important to accommodate all generations of employees and tend to everyone’s needs.
Below you can find several examples in which the Office 365 tools can simply various working arrangements.
Majority of Gen X and Baby Boomers tend to use email as and phone as their primary tool for communication while on the other hand millennials are constantly looking for more tools to improve their collaboration which sometimes can lead to conflict. With Office 365, it is possible to integrate tools such as Teams with Outlook which allows team members who rely mostly on emails to receive updates in a way they are used to. This gives all parties involved a connection over different platforms and the function allows for communication to flow effortlessly.
SharePoint is an extremely versatile tool. One of the benefits it provides it changes the tangible office 9 to 5 environment into virtual one which allows team members to access to the business 24/7 if there is a need. This gives your team a freedom and flexibility to work from any location and at any time. A great example of this are freelancers. Businesses often opt in for contractors when working on various projects to gain access to a specific set of skills. The contractors often need access to certain information either as part of the project or to submit their work. SharePoint gives them ability to only access the documents they need, while working remotely and at any time.
Every business has a business development team or person in charge of growth. The position requires a vast amount of travelling and mobility as business development teams often meet current and potential clients outside the office environment. It is often hard to keep those members in the loop, with the best way of reaching them being phone or email. Microsoft Teams improves the communication between the office and the sales force by creating groups and discussions which are individual to each client and project. This goes further by integrating with SharePoint which gives sales members updates and communication from other team members regarding the projects they work on but also smooth and quick access to corresponding documents. The business development team members can now be as effective on the road as they are in the office, now they can access that updated version of the PowerPoint which they might need to deliver while on route or perhaps a last-minute amended proposal which they are to deliver to a potential client – all of this contained in one tool.
Follow this link from Microsoft if you wish to find out more on the subject; https://goo.gl/n1UdPc
This is only a fraction of capabilities which the Office 365 suit provides, if you interested in learning more on how the Office 365 suite can improve your workplace, please so not hesitate to get in touch with us.
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