As the vaccine rollout picks up momentum, there is one item at the forefront of every white collar employee’s mind: returning to the office. The big question is if we will ever revert to a full time in-office model. So, it is no surprise that the unifying theme of May’s Point of View is hybrid work.
Specifically, this month’s edition will cover:
- Are You Optimizing Your Microsoft 365 Entitlements?
- Don’t Move—the Hybrid Workplace Isn’t Going Anywhere
- The Ultimate Hybrid Workplace Tool
Are You Optimizing Your Microsoft Entitlements?
What your company has: a Microsoft 365 tenant set up with the default settings of its time.
The reality: features of various administrative portals are ever changing and systems require a regular review of whether features are benefitting your organization.
Small and medium sized businesses usually don’t have the luxury to constantly monitor these changes. Yet recognizing features that are new or might be outdated or inefficient is crucial to the efficiency of your business.
Tenant assessments are a cost and time effective way to optimize Microsoft 365, making them the perfect solution to this issue.
What’s In Our Assessment?
The assessment is completed within approximately 4 hours during a hands-on screen-share session. We provide a full report to the client once the necessary information is gathered.
Licensing & User Adoption – Are you using what you are paying for? Are you making the most of what you payed for?
Governance – we review governance in 5 key areas: OneDrive, information/data, Microsoft Teams, service configuration, and SharePoint Sites.
Security – Leveraging the Microsoft 365 Security Center we will work with you to review essential security questions including (but not limited to):
Read more on what our assessment includes and the deliverables we provide.
As a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner, we’ve worked with organizations of all sizes to assist them in migrating to Microsoft 365 or optimizing the usage of their entitlements.
OPTIMIZE YOUR MICROSOFT 365 ENTITLEMENTS
Don't Move—the Hybrid Workplace Isn't Going Anywhere
As vaccines are rolling out, it looks like the world is set to return closer to normal later this year. This brings a host of possible changes, the one on most of our minds being a return to the office.
You or your company might even have started thinking about renewing office leases or mapping out a full return to the office. But you might want to hold that thought. The numbers are in and it’s clearer than ever: hybrid work is here to stay.
Did You Know?
- According to Willis Towers Watson, roughly 2 in 5 employees surveyed expect to work remotely for the rest of 2021.
- According to a survey by LiveCareer, 30% of working professionals said they would quit their jobs if forced to go back to the office full-time.
- In a Gensler survey, 52% of U.S. workers said they prefer a hybrid work model. Only 29% wanted go back to the office full time.
Yet at the same time, remote work has presented a host of challenges—’Zoom fatigue’ and burnout to name a couple.
So how are organizations to overcome this conundrum? With more efficient and collaborative hybrid workplaces.
3 Ways to a Sustainable Hybrid Workplace
#1: An all in one collaboration and communication platform
You want a platform that has it all—file sharing, meetings, calendars, task management, and so on. Microsoft 365 provides all of these features in addition to several other productivity and engagement tools.
To name a few: a productivity assistant (Cortana), insights that motivate you and help you track and manage stress (through Teams), and real time co-authoring (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
The list goes on!
#2: Engaging virtual meetings and events
A few ways to engage your audience on Microsoft Teams is polling your audience, encouraging answers in chat, and giving regular breaks from heads-in-boxes by sharing a (relevant) video or website.
#3: Content > effects
Backdrops can be a fun and engaging way to host a meeting. But the core issue with employee burnout is a lack of valuable and meaningful meeting content.
A couple questions to help you craft the perfect meeting: Is there anything planned for this meeting that could not be sent in an email? Are there enough openings in this meeting for participants to respond, ask, and engage?
The Point?
As your company looks forward to a future of hybrid work, it is essential to think about ways to boost workplace morale.
Ready to optimize your resources or implement new ones? Contact us to explore the multitude of ways in which you can enrich your workplace environment.
MAXIMIZE HYBRID
Your Data Matters: Protect It
Did you know Microsoft’s native protection doesn’t cover all your applications? With AvePoint Cloud Backup, you have peace of mind that you’re covered in case of data loss from malware, ransomware, hacktivists deleting content, malicious insiders, deactivated accounts and departing employees.
INTEGRATE AVEPOINT WITH OUR HELPThe Ultimate Hybrid Workplace Tool
If your organization is switching to or currently using a hybrid or remote workplace model, you want to be equipped with the right tools for success. Other laptops force you to make trade-offs between great performance and premium features.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 balances everything you need and nothing you don’t in Microsoft’s most powerful Surface Laptop yet.
What’s new?
- Whisper quite thermal cooling
- Be heard loud and clear with dual far-field Studio Mics that isolate the background and zero in on your voice
- Battery life up to 19 hours
Skip the hassle of getting your devices from one place and business solutions from another. Enjoy the benefits of Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 and top of the line Microsoft business solutions through Point Alliance.
Got Your Eyes on Microsoft Surface Laptop 4?
