Microsoft Flow

Use Flow if you need to create a sequence of actions based on certain criteria. Flow allows you to set up all kinds of actions and can integrate with numerous applications. Want to know when a Twitter contact reaches 100+ followers, and then automatically add them to your Dynamics 365 email list? How about setting up a rule to automatically copy a Dropbox file over to OneDrive for Business? Flow offers limitless opportunities to automate tasks: you just need your imagination, some pre-configured connections, and you’re half way to automating repetitive tasks that waste time every day. As an added bonus, Flow is easy to use; and most people will be able to create Flows to suit their needs – not just the tech experts.

Microsoft Power Apps

PowerApps enables you to manage data by running apps – either ones that you’ve created yourself, or that someone else created and shared with you. Those apps can run on Android, iOS, and Windows devices. Alternatively, you can run them in a browser within Dynamics 365. You can create a variety of apps without knowing a single line of code.

Microsoft Forms

Forms is a lightweight app that allows you to create surveys, quizzes and polls. You might use it to collect feedback, measure employee satisfaction or a host of other uses.

Microsoft Groups

Groups let you create groups of people to share certain information with. For example a project team might want a central location for information. They can share documents, a calendar, an email inbox, a OneNote notebook, a Yammer group and a Planner task board all in one location. New members automatically get the permissions they need without bothering IT.

Microsoft Teams

Teams is Microsoft’s answer to Slack; and is a revolutionary way of working. You can set up a Team and give them access to everything they need: content, tools, people and conversations – all in your Team workspace, PLUS:
1. Link to content you require with a tabbed interface.
2. Integrate feeds from different applications.
3. Get built-in access to SharePoint, OneNote and Skype for Business.
4. Work on documents, hold group chats or calls. Teams provides whatever you need for your Team, all in one place.

Microsoft are strongly backing Teams and have even introduced a free versionto get you started.

A Strategy for Office 365

Because Office 365 is so complex, it’s essential to have a plan for how you’ll utilise it - a clear, conscious strategy around what you’ll use, when you’ll roll it out and to whom. Will you turn on everything right from the outset and watch the chaos or take a more measured approach?

Giving people access to everything can be a mistake, because it introduces them to a confusing smorgasbord of technologies that often have similar features. For communication alone you have email, Skype, messages in Yammer, in Teams, in Groups... the list goes on. On the other hand, restricting access to only email and OneDrive limits the benefit your organisation will get from Office 365, and if you do not provide people with the tools they need to do their work, they will find their own with all the associated risks of shadow IT.

"There's a baseline of value to switching to the cloud, especially if things were expensive to manage on premises, but the real value comes when you start changing your work processes to take advantage [of Office 365] to its full extent."

Craig Roth, VP, Gartner Research