In a bid to “help organizations adapt flexible work, reduce costs, and do more with less” Microsoft has been incorporating new capabilities across Microsoft 365. Here’s what you need to know:
Stay aligned with Viva Goals
Last year, Microsoft Viva Goals hit general availability, a new goal-setting framework module. To build further upon this premise, the module comes with integrations in Teams. With this in place, users can create, edit, update, and share OKRs with fellow workmates in a Teams chat thus allowing the to stay within the flow of work.
What’s more, with the new and richer analytics capabilities that are now part of the module, admins will be check the organization’s OKR adoption metrics. This way it is easier to keep tabs on active users as well as the total number of users who are working with the tool to access their productivity and overall performance index.
According to Microsoft:
We’re also making it easier than ever to get started with Viva Goals with new capabilities to create and set goals. If you’re standing up a different kind of goal or starting a new team and don’t have baseline metrics to shoot for, you can use the Phased Target feature. This new capability—broadly available this quarter—gives leaders flexibility to adjust their goals as new data becomes available. For more specifics about all the integrations and features Viva Goals just announced,
Enhance collaboration on projects with Loop components
Microsoft has made it easier for users to collaborate on projects across Outlook, Whiteboard, and Teams using loop components. Loop components promote teamwork and enhance transparency, in that, you can track changes made on the shared document in real-time.
The feature was already available in Teams chat and is now available in Outlook for Windows and the web. With this, Loop components can be sent directly to your email where you can make edits directly without switching to another app.
What’s more, using saving and sharing templates in Whiteboard, “users can create and save customized layouts and content that can be used to create new whiteboards easily.” This is especially useful for users that often use the same design. Moreover, you can share these templates with other individual users and distribution lists.
Teams also has a new feature dubbed Polls in meetings, it essentially lets organizers foster better communication with employees and meeting attendees. Meeting attendees can use the multi-question poll feature to make queries while the instant poll gives the meeting organizer immediate feedback regarding a particular issue that they raised. Users can also add images to meeting polls to enhance engagement.
Microsoft 365 advanced deployment guides
Microsoft has also incorporated advanced deployment guides, designed to help admins understand the needs of an employee. With this, it is easier for them to facilitate their needs and ensure that the organization is running at optimum since there’s no deterrent hindering their productivity.
According to Microsoft:
Based on Microsoft 365 deployment best practices, the guides help organizations accelerate time to value, minimize deployment time, and free up admins to focus on other tasks. The experiences include a series of setup guides or wizards that provide customized advice for evaluating, planning, and deploying cloud services as well as built-in automation to configure the services.
Microsoft is committed to ensuring that end users get to make the most out of Microsoft 365 and has promised to continue making additions across its services and products to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness. Share your thoughts with us below.