Given today’s competitive business environment, diverse workforce, and ever-changing technology, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need their office productivity tools to be intelligent, fast, and accessible 24/7/365. Just a few years ago this may have been a tall order, but nowadays it’s pretty easy to achieve.
Your SME may have the industry’s top talent, but without the right office technology they won’t be able to bring their A-game every day. That’s why we’re sharing with you five simple ways Office365 can help enhance your entire staff’s productivity.
1. Office365 provides unparalleled mobility
Requiring your employees to spend 8-9 hours in the office every day often results in diminished productivity. Giving them the right set of software tools can help you and them overcome this.
Based on a study by McKinsey Global Institute, employees spend only 39% of their workweek on role-specific tasks. They spend the majority of their time, the remaining 61%, on less productive tasks like sorting emails, organizing files, attending meetings, and other endeavors that interfere with more productive work. The study does make a case for allowing flexible working hours, but more importantly, it emphasizes the role technology plays helping employees maximize their work capacity.
2. Downtime events don’t result in zero productivity
Enterprises of all sizes are powerless against natural disasters and other unexpected interruptions leading to power outages. Fortunately, working during long stretches of downtime is possible with the right tools. Cloud-enabled programs like Office365 allow employees to remain productive by accessing their email, contacts, voicemail, calendar, and business-critical files from a remote location in the event of a disaster.
3. Office apps are easy-to-use
Companies have been using Microsoft programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook since way before Office365 and other cloud-enabled productivity platforms became the norm. So how exactly do these familiar apps drive productivity?
By reducing -- if not completely eliminating -- training time, apps within the Office 365 environment may be used seamlessly and users are able to access and edit documents simultaneously while ensuring all data remains perfectly in sync. OneDrive for Business and Sharepoint are particularly useful to businesses with highly demanding collaboration needs.
4. Real-time collaboration capability allows users to communicate on the program itself
Because Office365 applications are filled with useful features, there are little functions many users might not easily notice. One such feature is the in-app Skype integration, which allows users to communicate within an Office app. In an alternative scenario, your employees work on one productivity program like PowerPoint and collaborate via email or any messaging app. This requires switching from one program to another, which takes time and also shifts focus away from the actual project.
Based on a study -- multitasking reduces productivity by 40%, when your employees find themselves constantly shifting from one program to another -- even if only to communicate quickly -- their productivity dips. With features like in-app Skype and similar capabilities, users within your organization are able to stay focused because they don't need to leave a document for instant messaging or video conferencing.
5. Office365 is a full-service package
As an Office365 subscriber, you pay for office tools and start working; never again will you be bothered with upgrades and maintenance. If you encounter issues, support is readily available. As a business owner, you already have too much on your plate; dealing with business tools of any kind shouldn’t have to be one of them.
We’ve highlighted only five of many productivity-driving benefits of Office365 to SMEs, but there are plenty more. Fluid Networks understands SMEs’ need for a Cloud-Enabled Office™ that lets them get down to creating and innovating without worry. Call us now so we’re able to recommend the Office365 plans best suiting your business.