You’ve moved to Office 365 – now what?

For many customers of Office 365 who have made the transition to the cloud they quite often ask “now what do we do?”.

Regardless whether you have taken up only Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Lync Online or the full suite of Office 365 there is an extremely long list of things you can still to do modernise your organisation based on these platforms. The great thing about solutions like Office 365 is the continual improvement cycle with new features being introduced on a regular basis.

Here are some ideas of how you can make the most of Office 365 in a variety of different business scenarios. In each idea I’ve focused on the component of Office 365 that is primarily responsible for the relevant business improvement.

Improve staff productivity & satisfaction

• Introduce a work from home program using Lync Online to keep in contact with office staff.
• Collaborate on documents simultaneously using Microsoft Word 2010 and SharePoint Online, or share your desktop and applications with Lync Online.

Go paperless

• Start scanning to SharePoint Online document libraries
• Replace paper forms with SharePoint Online forms

Save time

• Automate business processes with workflows in SharePoint Online
• Increase the speed of communications by replying with an instant message with Lync Online instead of an email reply
• Improve communications by upgrading an instant message conversation to a voice call through Lync Online
• Check availability in your staffs’ calendars with Exchange Online before choosing a time for a meeting

Increase human connectivity

• Upgrade from conference calls to conference video meetings with Lync Online
• Communicate for free using Lync Online with other customers and suppliers who use Office 365
• Upload photos into your Office 365 profile so it shows up in emails
• Install the Outlook Social Connector so you can easily see information about people in LinkedIn and Facebook as well as add them to your social networks

Get compliant

• Implement a common email signature with Exchange Online
• Use SharePoint Online for human resources functions such as leave calendar, policies and procedures library, etc.
• Track OH&S issues in lists with SharePoint Online

This list goes on and on, and the items are just some examples of things that you can do once you start using Office 365. Most of these suggestions won’t require the assistance of your IT or Office 365 partner and don’t cost anything – but will save you money and improve productivity.

Loryan Strant is a Microsoft Office 365 MVP (Most Valuable Professional). Follow him on Twitter @TheCloudMouth.