A More Flexible Workplace: Using Office 365 Collaboration Tools

Did you know that effective collaboration tools can increase talent retention by 450%? Not only that, they can boost productivity by 20-30%.

However, to get these kinds of results, it’s important that you also know how to properly use your tools. Otherwise, they could actually make the quality of team communication worse. This can cause frustration, confusion, or even costly mistakes.

Microsoft’s range of Office 365 collaboration tools are some of the best around. However, they are not your basic entry-level communication apps either. Therefore, it is essential that your team gets to know how these MS collaboration tools work.

Fortunately, with a few insider tips, you and your team can be nailing collaboration, communication, file sharing, and more through your Office 365 tools.

Could your team benefit from better use of your Office 365 collaboration tools? Continue reading to learn more.

In This Article

• Microsoft Teams
• Yammer
• SharePoint
• Other Microsoft 35 Collaboration Tools
• Need Advice on Which Office 365 Collaboration Tools to Implement?

Microsoft Teams

If your team is using Office 365, then you have access to Microsoft Teams. Teams has become a powerhouse when it comes to collaboration software.

While only a few years old, Teams already provides more features and functionality when stacked up against Slack. Microsoft Teams is also more secure.

Overall, Microsoft Teams is similar in look and feel to Slack. It operates on the surface like other collaboration and social tools.

However, the functionality of Microsoft Teams goes a lot deeper. It was built from the ground up to integrate with the entire Microsoft Office 365 range of applications. 

This means that file sharing and collaboration around Microsoft files and documents is seamless.

Additionally, Microsoft Teams are also built onto SharePoint. Within SharePoint is a set of folders that house all Microsoft Teams files. This makes these files highly searchable, both through the Microsoft Teams interface and from SharePoint.

File searchability is key when it comes to effective team collaboration. This makes MS Teams a superb choice of platform for those that are working with Office 365.

Overall, Microsoft Teams is a powerful collaboration tool that can facilitate streamlined virtual meetings, secure and organized file sharing, and more, while remaining highly secure.

If you want to learn more, check out this post for tricks and tips for using MS Teams.

Yammer

Another Office 365 collaboration tool is the enterprise social network, Yammer. Unlike Microsoft Teams, Yammer takes on more of a forum format.

Yammer allows for forum style communication with people from both inside and outside of an organization.

Yammer is for large scale company communications and discussions. Microsoft Teams, on the other hand, is designed for teams who wish to collaborate on particular projects.

Therefore, Teams is meant to be used for frequent, informal communications between tight-knit groups. Yammer is instead meant for more formal communications, with users posting less frequently. However, because Yammer would typically span entire organizations, message volumes tend to be much higher.

Another difference between MS Teams and Yammer is that messages on Yammer are public. However, there is a function that allows admins to create private groups.

Previously, Yammer has not integrated all that well with the Office 365 components. However, Microsoft has made some improvements on this front. Now, Yammer integrates with Office 365 Groups, Microsoft Teams, and SharePoint.

SharePoint

SharePoint is one of the mainstay Office 365 collaboration tools. It is a key piece of Office 365 and serves as an intranet and content management system. It can be used for collaborations, workflow management, and more.

Microsoft has revealed that SharePoint has been used by 78% of Fortune 500 companies.

SharePoint allows companies to create streamlined virtual workspaces. Users can share files, collaborate on them, chat, organize tasks, video conference and more.

SharePoint also facilitates calendar and notebook sharing.

Because of these capabilities and integrations, SharePoint is the ultimate collaboration tool. And one that can go far beyond just document sharing.

For instance, teams can manage projects from start to finish. Team leaders can assign tasks to individual team members. Team members can view their tasks as well as the tasks of the whole group.

When one task depends on another, SharePoint can also clearly reveal any co-dependent elements.

Thanks to its capabilities, SharePoint also underpins Teams. This means that any Teams communications become archived within the SharePoint directory, where they are easily searchable.

Like the other Microsoft 365 collaboration tools, SharePoint comes with top-notch security. Microsoft 365 is one of the most secure cloud providers. This renders all of their tools a lot safer than the majority of company firewalls.

Other Microsoft Office 365 Collaboration Tools

Beyond Microsoft Teams, Yammer, and SharePoint, Microsoft 365 also offers a few other collaboration tools.

These include Skype for Business Online and Kaizala. Kaizala is a phone system management, team members, and executives can use. And Skype, well, we all know what Skype is.

Skype’s integrated deeply into Microsoft Teams and can be accessed from SharePoint as well.

Need Advice on Which Office 365 Collaboration Tools to Implement?

Microsoft has hit a home run when it comes to collaboration. Office 365 collaboration tools make seamless collaborations and workflows possible from anywhere.

In today’s age, this is essential. The benefits of tools for collaboration include heightened productivity, enhanced ROI, supercharged innovation, and better employee job satisfaction.

Now that you know about some of the capabilities of the Office 365 collaboration tools, all that is left is to pick your collaboration platform.

If you need help choosing the most suitable collaboration setup for your business, we are here to help. Experts in all things Microsoft, we offer pay-as-you-go and project-based Microsoft consulting services as well as ongoing support services.

Want to have us on board for a full Office 365 setup? If so, learn more about our Office 365 Consulting Services and provide your information.