Microsoft 365 A-Z Behind the Headline Apps
Most people know that you get an office suite with Microsoft 365 and know that MS Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint are the leading apps. However, over 20 apps are available to you through the Microsoft 365 subscription; a few are free to use without a subscription! Here is an A-Z of some of the best. Swapping to use these apps could save you £££s on subscriptions to 3rd party apps.
Microsoft 365 A-Z
A
Access (PC only) - A powerful database app you can use for inventory, CRM or any other use of data collection.
Advanced Threat Analytics- An on-premises platform that helps protect your enterprise from multiple types of advanced targeted cyber-attacks and insider threats.
B
Bookings - Save time when scheduling. Customise appointment details and booking requirements and streamline the booking experience for you and your customers. Bookings are integrated with your Microsoft 365 calendar to help your customers quickly find available times and avoid double-booking. Microsoft's answer to Calendly
C
Calendar - Integrated into Outlook, the calendar will allow you to schedule and accept meetings and events. You can share your calendar among team members. Automatic reminders can be set up with custom alerts.
D
Defender (Microsoft 365 Defender) - The app for security on your Microsoft365. Incorporates Defender for cloud and Microsoft sentinel at higher lever enterprise suites. Your PC is vulnerable without it safeguarding your data.
E
Editor (Microsoft Editor) - Intelligent writing assistant, imbedded in Word, but available for Outlook, Edge, Chrome, Gmail and LinkedIn. Write better, more concisely and with correct spelling and grammar. A replacement for the grammar policing software Grammarly.
Enterprise Mobility + Security - incorporates Intune and Defender for the cloud. Always take IT security seriously.
Exchange - Powerful business email when you purchase Microsoft 365 for business.
F
Family Safety (Microsoft Family Safety) - is invaluable if you have small children with their own screens. Set time limits that apply to devices, apps, and games. When screen time runs out, choose to add more or not, based on what's suitable for you and your family.
Forms - As the name suggests, you can create forms, but there are a host of other things you can do too. You can also make surveys and quizzes with lots of customisation. You can export results to Excel for analysing.
K
Kaizala - a simple chat interface to manage tasks, collect data, and gather insights with integrated work management action cards. Great for remote workers to report on tasks completed.
L
Lists (Microsoft Lists) - A bit like Trello, lists keep everyone informed of tasks and projects in real-time as they are worked upon.
O
OneDrive - OneDrive is a cloud storage system. Plans tend to come with 1TB storage per user which should be ample for most people. You can share files with specific people and access them anywhere with an internet connection. No need for Dropbox or similar.
OneNote - Creating notes by typing, drawing or writing. OneNote is your digital notepad. Pick up where you left off on another device and share notes with your team. This app will negate the need for Evernote or similar apps.
P
People - All your contacts in one place. People will let you organise your friends, family and business contacts. The app will learn your favourite contacts and recommend people you might want to contact.
Planner - allows you to create, assign and edit. You can group tasks into teams or even set individual planner boards.
PowerApps - An application builder, PowerApps takes the data you already use to create web and mobile apps. You can build your own from scratch or use one of the pre-set templates provided, using the 'drag and drop function to create the app.
Power Automate - Allowing you to automate your workflows saves you time in various ways. There are hundreds of possibilities to set up power automation from the weather being sent to your phone, automatically arranging meetings, and posting on your socials. An IFTTT replacement.
Power BI - Snazzy app for displaying your analytics. Take data from Excel, Access or other apps and convert it into pie charts, graphs and graphics. Power BI is your all in one data hub. Sales, marketing, service and more all have custom applications for you to create your unique dashboard where data analytics/ insights are visualised. There is a high level of automation; once the reports have been set up, they have AI (artificial intelligence) capabilities. There is also has high-security protection due to the sensitive nature of the data that would usually be used within the platform
Project - Take command of any project with this simple to use tool.
Publisher (PC only) - Create newsletters, handouts, leaflets and social media posts. Thousands of images are available. A Canva replacement, though recommend checking the latest sizes for your social media posts.
S
SharePoint - As the name suggests, if you have a file to share, this is the application you need. Only download the data you need and make them easily accessible to others in your team
SharePoint Syntex - A content management system with AI built-in. Works alongside Power Automate and PowerApps to deliver content where and when needed.
Stream (Microsoft Stream) - Microsoft's answer to YouTube. The video hosting application allows you to upload, embed and share your video content with your team. Stream is based on the idea of education.
Sway - Reports, training material, presentations, newsletters and more. Sway is the modern version of Microsoft Publisher. Easily embed content from the web to make professional-looking content.
T
Tasks - Microsoft Tasks is integrated into your Outlook and lets you create tasks for yourself and others. You can set due dates, reminders and priority levels too.
Teams (Microsoft Teams) - The live chat team workspace is Microsoft's answer to WhatsApp and Zoom. It allows real-time messaging between people in your group and is seen as the alternative to an internal email. The video calling function has helped many businesses to keep in touch with colleagues while remote working. AS have the backgrounds feature for hiding the bedroom office. Microsoft has added extra functionality to the program during 2020, including the option to have 'breakout' groups competing with Zoom's functionality.
To-Do (Microsoft To-Do) - Your online daily planner. List out your tasks and give them a completion date and toggle priority. You can add notes, access them on mobile and sync them with your Outlook
V
Visio - a visual flowcharting software. Create easy to understand visuals.
Viva (Microsoft Viva) - Help your staff gain Microsoft skills and learn with Viva. If you need more 121 training here at Cynetix, we can help.
W
Whiteboard - A collaborative drawing board integrated into Teams.
Y
Yammer - Chat app for your corporate teams. Like WhatsApp, you can create groups or teams to work on different projects within the organisation.
Have you used any of these apps yet? Perhaps it is time to explore your Microsoft365 subscription to get more for your money. Or is it time you cancelled your multiple subscriptions and streamlined to Microsoft 365? Contact us for help with migration to Microsoft 365.
