Having automation tools is great for businesses, but it’s even better and smarter to have a comprehensive system that covers most, if not all, of your automation, needs in one place. Microsoft Office 365 makes this possible.
There are many processes that can be automated with MS365. This article describes just ten items and how they can improve how you perform certain tasks.
What is Office 365?
Introduced in 2001, microsoft Office 365 is a cloud-based, subscription-model version of Microsoft’s popular productivity suite, Microsoft Office. Office 365 includes the same core applications as previous versions of Office, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote, and depending on your plan, other apps such as Publisher, Planner, OneDrive, Exchange, SharePoint, and more. It may also include services. Access, Skype, Yammer, and Microsoft Teams.
When you license Microsoft Office 365, different packages are available, including versions for personal use, homes with multiple users, students, businesses, nonprofits, and educational institutions.
There are also online-only and mobile-only versions of Office, known as Office Online, which give users free access to feature-restricted versions of the Office apps.
Unless otherwise stated, this FAQ focuses on Office 365 for business.
What apps and services are included in Office 365 for business?
Exactly what’s included in Office 365 for business depends on the subscription level you choose.
However, core applications and services available through Office 365 include:
- words
- Excel
- power outlet
- Outlook
- memo
- Editor
- exchange
- share point
- Skype for Business
- Microsoft team
- OneDrive for Business
Some Office 365 apps, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive for Business, Skype for Business, Yammer, and OneNote, also have mobile versions that help businesses get more done on the go. Your Office 365 subscription also includes 1 TB of OneDrive for Business cloud storage per user.
How businesses use Office 365 to improve communication and collaboration
Office 365 offers businesses tremendous opportunities to improve communication and collaboration. With Office 365, businesses can take advantage of cloud storage, instant messaging, real-time document sharing, and web-based applications. These features allow teams to collaborate more effectively by providing instant access to each other’s updates and changes.
But that’s not all.
Office 365 also gives you access to calendar tools that keep everyone on your team up-to-date with project deadlines and video conferencing tools that make it easy for remote workers to connect face-to-face.
Simply put, Office 365 makes it easy for organizations to improve their communication and collaboration practices, increasing productivity and efficiency. All this is done with the help of Microsoft Teams and SharePoint. Find out how Microsoft Teams and SharePoint can benefit your business below.
Many features of Office 365 help companies save time and money.
Microsoft 365 has become a key asset for businesses looking to streamline workflows to save time and money. Office 365 provides support for collaboration and document-sharing tools so that employees at all levels of your organization can quickly and easily access and update documents.
Microsoft 365 also offers customizable automation tools that help streamline processes and save time across your team. Additionally, Microsoft 365 assures businesses of top-notch security measures that help protect valuable data while reducing costs for external IT services.
Office 365 offers even more savings on licensing fees from a single source, allowing organizations to pay one fee instead of separate licensing costs. With Office 365, businesses can minimize costs while maintaining best-in-class productivity features that maximize efficiency.
Power automat
Microsoft 365 has an application formerly known as Microsoft Flow, Microsoft Power Automate. Create automated workflows between the applications you use every day (both within and outside of MS365) to help sync files, receive notifications, collect data, and more.
It is part of Microsoft 365’s Power Platform (Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents), which consists of a suite of applications, all of which are used to automate processes, build solutions, and analyze data. , which allows the creation of virtual applications. Agent.
If you’re using Vineforce, it has its own Power Automate connector that helps automate tasks like:
- Create and assign tasks
- create a project
- Notifications and reminders
Here are some of the processes Power Automate makes easy when collaborating with other apps both within MS365 and outside the platform.
1. Save email attachments
Power Automate works with SharePoint to allow attachments, which normally take up a lot of space when sent to email (in this case, Outlook), to be stored in a SharePoint document library or folder. This becomes an archive and makes it much easier to search and retrieve data/information from the email later.
This process works like any other Power Automate automation by creating a trigger that detects when a new email with an attachment arrives in your inbox. When this trigger occurs, it triggers an automatic response that saves the attachment to a specific folder in SharePoint.
“To automate attachments from customers or suppliers, create her SharePoint list of all contacts, including names, emails, etc. Use Power Automate to create a folder for each contact. Next, create another Power Automate flow that moves attachments to the correct folder based on your contact list.
If you’re using Vineforce, use the Power Automate connector to notify your team with a bot for MS Teams called Vinny or create a task that checks for new attachments from your contacts. You can “
2. Holiday management and vacation application/approval
An automated approval process that manages employee requests throughout the year eliminates unnecessary paperwork (manually filling out leave request forms is obsolete) and saves a lot of work by manually searching for leave requests. Can save It helps reduce the time required for such decision-making processes. Connect apps such as Microsoft Forms, Teams, SharePoint, and Power Automate to send automated requests to your manager with the click of a button and get the same approval/denial back in the same way (response notification).
“When a sheet is submitted, I use Power Automate to create a task for the approver in Vineforce, Planner, or To-Do, which makes it part of the manager’s daily workflow. .”
3. Create push notifications triggered by important emails
A push notification is a prompt triggered when you receive an email in your Outlook inbox. You can customize this flow to decide which triggers are used to identify which emails are considered important. For example, you can do this for emails sent by your boss or manager.
“For better email management, use the Power Automate connector to turn starred emails into tasks (with links to the original emails) in your favorite apps like Vineforce and Planner. will become part of your daily chores and you will be able to respond to emails when you have time.”
4. Employee Onboarding
Onboarding new employees can be very time-consuming. From ensuring and maintaining ongoing communication to the actual selection of potential employees, there are many considerations. The task can be daunting. Formal automated systems ensure employees feel welcome, fill out all required paperwork/forms with correct information, review important policies, and fully understand required initials before starting work can do.
It also ensures that information from your settings is sent to the right people and systems. Ultimately, a smooth and professional onboarding process says a lot about a company.
5. Employee offboarding
Employee offboarding is just as important as onboarding because it involves many steps to effectively move an employee out of the business and her workspace.
Similar to onboarding, it requires paperwork, policy reviews, and sending information to specific personnel in specific departments and may impact certain existing systems.
Otherwise, you will have to conduct an exit interview and return the equipment. All of these interactions and reports are simplified through automation.
6. Billing
You should know that this procedure alone can be very tiring. All businesses, especially busy ones, should go through this process with every purchase.
AI Builder (artificial intelligence) and Power Automate combined with SharePoint to instantly convert quotes and orders into invoices with little to no human intervention to reduce wasted time and money. , can issue an invoice in seconds.
First, create a SharePoint site or list that sets up a document library, then chain an MS365 that already includes pre-built mockups that you can use to create workflows using AI Builder using the Power Platform of A reaction triggers a step that creates an invoice and sends it to the client.
“Manage billing by creating a Power Automate flow that monitors invoice due dates and creates tasks for the HR team when an invoice reaches a certain due date.”
7 .conference
Some days are fully booked. With Microsoft Teams and Power Automate, you’ll never miss a meeting again. You can create a flow to add reminders to any meeting scheduled in your Outlook calendar. He can set Microsoft Teams to send a reminder notification within 5 minutes of an upcoming meeting.
“Vineforce automatically sends me reminders for breaks and meetings. No automation needed.”
8. Create and manage policies
Workplace policies are principles of behavior that prescribe how something should be done or a strategy. These are usually created and set up by the person responsible for the administrative area. Policies are key to the efficiency and security of M365 management.
The creation, enforcement, and management of policies governing all aspects of MS365 administration can be automated as workflows affecting what can be shared in SharePoint and factors such as reactivating compromised accounts.
9. Social Media Posting and Engagement
For businesses these days, having a social media presence is crucial to your marketing strategy and how you reach your audience. Having a solid social media strategy is key to staying up-to-date and relevant in the markets you want to dominate.
By automating the channel you use for your daily or weekly posts, you can save the time and hassle of manually uploading/posting each time. MS365 has connectors for platforms like Blogger, Medium, WordPress, Twitter, and Instagram. By reviewing and scheduling your content in advance, you can seamlessly automate publishing to these media. This reduces the amount of time you spend maintaining and building your brand online.
10. Asset Tracking
Instead of using emails and spreadsheets, MS365’s Power Platform lets you automate how you track equipment, devices, and software licenses granted to your employees and partners. This way, tracking, and reporting are done in one place.
Conclusion
Overall, Microsoft Office 365 support provides businesses with a variety of features and tools that can save time and money while improving communication and collaboration. Additionally, Microsoft 365 security features help protect your organization from data breaches. If you’re looking for an easy-to-use interface that makes it easy for your employees to get started, Office 365 is for you.
