Calling in Microsoft Teams!

Work from anywhere

The single-office concept is becoming obsolete. Sixty-three percent of companies have remote workers, and 55 percent of hiring managers expect that number to grow.

Microsoft Teams puts you all face-to-face in one room with its seamless videoconferencing features. While email and other programs can keep you connected on the housekeeping side, the face-to-face — albeit virtual — interaction is key for morale, interpersonal workplace connectivity and productive discussions.

With multiple dial-in options, Microsoft Teams videoconferencing reduces communication and geographical barriers.

Enable multi-generational collaboration

Get this – by 2020, people from FIVE different generations will make up the workforce. While having each one represented within your own business can give you a competitive edge, it doesn’t come without challenges.

But Microsoft Teams can simultaneously cater to each generation, by providing a hub to let employees work the way they want. The biggest difference among generations is communication preference and expectations, so Teams makes it easy to foster all forms – phone, face-to-face, email, video conference, or collaborative document sharing.

Maximize mobile work

We don’t need to tell you the office space has transcended the desktop. But what’s happening now – is that mobile work is becoming much more of a priority, than something extra.

As this continues, employees will need a familiar, connected experience across their mobile devices. Microsoft Teams brings all that together by extending the collaboration and communication experiences from the office naturally to those mobile devices. So teams can still work together on-the-go, and while miles apart. The Teams mobile up lets you join calls and meetings, share content, control presentations, reply to chats and conversations and transfer calls and check remote voicemail.

Communicate effectively with outside partners/contractors

Another number for you. Freelancers are expected to make up the majority of the workforce within the next ten years.

So you’ll need Microsoft Teams to keep them active members of your own team.

But there’s an extra step with freelancers – while they are on your team, there’s still a boundary that needs to be set, for cyber security purposes. Teams takes care of that behind the scenes, though, with the guest access feature.  So working across corporate boundaries – both for the freelancer and your full-time employees – is easy and highly secure.
And if there’s a problem – IT can quickly remove guest access.

Engage with a larger team

High engagement = high productivity. BUT – 87 percent of employees are NOT engaged at work? That’s essentially an untapped market for potential growth.
Morale is huge. And yes, that’s something that needs to be fostered outside of the digital world, but Microsoft Teams can help remind you how important that is. Teams has features that keeps workers engaged, but also gives them the flexibility to collaborate the way they want.

As you can imagine, this gets trickier the bigger the company is. One-to-many communications are a breeze with Teams “Live Events.” It takes top-down communication out of the stiff and stale corporate video conference. There are engagement opportunities before, during, and after the event – so everyone is involved.

The post Why the modern workforce needs Microsoft Teams appeared first on 6th Street Consulting.

Set daily goals

We’re in the era of a constant to-do list. Long term. Short term. At work. At home. But staring at 87 bullet points of things you need to accomplish isn’t going to give you anything more than a headache. But if you prioritize those 87 things, you’ll be in much better shape.

Find out what can wait – but don’t be lazy about it! If you can get it done within 20 minutes, do it that day. Long term project? Find a PIECE that can get done today. Lots to do at home? Again – the 20 minute goal is a good one. Often times we don’t realize a lot of the things we have to do may only actually take 10 minutes.

If you map things out this way, you’ll actually be able to cross things off your list, instead of having them hang over your head.

Set deadlines and hold yourself accountable

This goes hand-in-hand with point one. This one focuses more on the execution of conquering your to-do list – and it’s a bit more solely work-related.

Microsoft has a tool to be your built-in-accountability holder:  Microsoft Project. It allows you to maintain a calendar with multiple moving parts. It also lets you assign deadlines to projects, meetings and tasks – so you’re notified when you’re getting off track.

View Microsoft Project

Take time to save time

Data entry. Standardized emails. Both essentially synonyms for “tedious” and “*groans*” for those who do this manually. But you can actually streamline this process. It’ll take time to set up initially – but it will save you time in the future.

If you’re entering data into multiple spreadsheets, set up macros that can do that work for you. Macros can also help automate email responses.

Create or Run Macros

Batch your small tasks

This one is great when it comes to making sure your day has a productive flow. Think about the things you do throughout your work day – i.e. sending emails, scheduling meeting, updating your website, etc. These things inherently don’t take a lot of time, but if you stretch them out while doing more long-winded products, they might. So instead, set aside a chunk of time to get them all done at once.

Separation of home and office

Nowadays, far easier said than done. But it’s essential. And it prevents burnout. According to multiple studies, you need some sort of down time every day to keep your mind right. Work will likely take up most of your day (especially for those of you reading this), and that’s OK. And it’s great that you’re so connected to what you do. But give that connectivity a time limit. When you’re home with your family, be with your family. Working out before work? Be present in your workout. On vacation? Put all your devices on “Do Not Disturb.” Giving your mind a clear break = more clarity when you get back into work mode.

Only say “yes” to meetings that matter

Aiii, what? Don’t all meetings matter? No. If it’s not organized well or does not have a clear purpose – you don’t have time for it! Make sure you know exactly why you’re included in a meeting before you attend, so you can ensure you’re not wasting your time.

Regarding meetings in general, best practices say make sure there’s a “hard” stop time, and ensure everyone is prepared with a specific agenda before you get started.

Take workout breaks

Physical activity = more productivity! It doesn’t have to be crazy, we know you don’t have time to go take a spin class/shower/change your clothes during your lunch break. But if your office is flexible enough and you have the resources, take a short run or get some cardio in during the day. Still unrealistic? A walk outside. Live somewhere to cold? Be sure to get up and walk around the office.

The post Productivity Hacks – brought to you by Microsoft appeared first on 6th Street Consulting.

As businesses themselves evolve, so does the technology that keeps them going behind the scenes. We know there are a lot of options out there.

SharePoint and Google Drive currently control the market. Both file management platforms are similar at their cores. Users can manage Word, Outlook, Excel and other documents through both platforms. Both use the cloud. Both are user friendly.

Here’s why we think SharePoint goes the extra mile for you.

Functionality

One of the starkest difference between the two platforms is how much more convenient it is to group-edit a document in SharePoint. It allows users to edit documents right there within the program, whereas Google Drive requires you to upload the document to edit it and download it as a Microsoft document when it’s done. An extra step that can inhibit workflow.

Collaboration Simplicity

SharePoint offers automated workflows. That means all edits, feedback, thoughts and approval-granting can all happen on one organized interface. That’s a helpful tool inherently, and it also paves the way for the most experienced of users to manage more complex environments like building websites, managing training sessions and finalizing forms.

SharePoint’s Additional Features

And here’s where SharePoint takes its services to an even elevated level, content management: List. It’s a feature that’s not available on Google Drive. The List feature allows you to organize portions of your data by separating them out into their own section within an Excel file. This is helpful and primarily used for things like managing expenses and creating tax reports. Other benefits include the ability to manage contacts and clients, tracking project tasks and projecting data.

And, as always, 6^th Street Consulting can help you get started, so you can be a master of SharePoint – and, in turn, a master of your expedient workflow – in no time.

The post Breaking down the differences between SharePoint Online and Google Drive appeared first on 6th Street Consulting.