How to use Office 365 to collaborate on projects

If you and your colleagues are about to embark on a major business project, you may be wondering whether there are any technologies out there to help your team collaborate more effectively. Well, we have good news for you. Microsoft Office 365 is specially designed to help co-workers work together in real-time and in a number of different ways.

If you’re unfamiliar with the programme, we’ve detailed a few of its best collaboration features below to get you started:

1. Work remotely in real-time

One of the biggest obstacles to office productivity is the fact that modern life makes it difficult for colleagues to always be in the same place at the same time. This is where technology comes in. The Microsoft Office suite, which includes tools such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, can be co-edited by a number of authors at the same time.

This means that you will be able to see which of your colleagues is editing a document at any one time. You can track changes to ensure that you know who is responsible for precise aspects of the project, and any changes will be saved automatically.

2. Work from almost any device

The Office 365 suite can be accessed on a wide range of mainstream operating systems including Windows 10, iOS, macOS, and Android. This means that colleagues can almost always work together regardless of what devices they currently have to hand. It should be noted, however, that services such as Access are only available to use on a PC.

3. Seamlessly communicate with colleagues

Effective communication is key to any successful project. To facilitate seamless and speedy communication, the developers of Office 365 created a programme called Microsoft Teams. Teams are essentially a centralised communication hub that allows colleagues to chat with text, group calls, audio and video calls, and online conferences.

Teams can be used to schedule meetings, syncing with Outlook for maximum convenience. It is also integrated into other Office tools such as Excel and Word so you can share documents easily and keep up-to-date with project progress.

Similarly to the Office suite, Teams can be accessed from a number of devices so colleagues can stay connected at all times if necessary.

4. A new way to share files

Almost any file can be shared through Microsoft’s OneDrive. This includes file types that Office does not necessarily create such as edited photos or videos, or files from an alternative suite of services.

This feature is particularly useful if you work in a creative field, which requires the use of a very specific design programme. Whilst you will not be able to co-edit documents in real-time, you can make edits on the same document so that you do not have to handle multiple versions of one file.

Have you considered SharePoint?

SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that integrates with Microsoft Office

It allows for individual file sharing with OneDrive along with team and whole company sharing. At San-iT we encourage people down the SharePoint route with centralised security and groups rather than individual once they get onto the 365 platform.

Get started with Office 365 today

If you’d like to chat more about Office 365 and harnessing the power of IT to boost productivity, get in touch with San-IT today.

 

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