How to Increase Work Productivity While Working Remotely

It has been a little over a year since the global pandemic that triggered a worldwide disruption of the workplace and a shift to remote work. This has forever changed the way we work and connect as work is no longer perceived as a place one goes to, but as long as you have an internet-connected device, you can work virtually from anywhere in the world and at any time as working remotely in the true sense of things does not necessarily mean work from home or 9-5.

In recent times, organizations are leaning towards a hybrid workplace for the future of work as statistics have shown that employees tend to be more productive and have more time for family, businesses have seen increased profits & cost savings, to mention just a few. Though working remotely also has its challenges, i.e distractions, loneliness, health, time management, etc.

Now more than ever, the need to improve collaboration & boost productivity is more pressing and every business has to adapt and change the expectations of their teams by finding new ways to achieve this new normal while embracing a remote work culture. Getting one’s organization to achieve its goals by working smarter and not harder while working remotely is of vital importance to keep one’s business, brand, and even oneself successful to face upcoming challenges.

So, the big question is how does one work smarter not harder? What can organizations do to ensure they get the best out of their team and still achieve their business goals? How do we ensure employees are not distracted, exhausted, disengaged? How do we keep the workforce connected together and motivated to keep sharing ideas?

Well, there is no hard or fast response to this but this is where technology comes in. By using technology tools to solve these bottlenecks, organizations can mitigate the challenges with remote work. Using tools/applications that will boost productivity, foster communication and collaboration among teams is the way to go.

There certainly are quite a lot of options; email-only, collaboration only, communication only, productivity only, a blend of options i.e Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Email Hosting, Drop box, Zoom, Asana, Slack etc to choose from out there and the technology cost can be sometimes enormous, the use case tool is also a determinant, and having to open many apps at once can be distracting too but making the right choice for your organization by choosing one that is simple, flexible, easily accessible goes a long way in achieving your productivity goal and getting your return on investment (ROI).

What do employees need to work effectively remotely; 

1. Cloud storage
2. Chat platform
3. Video Conferencing
4. Email
5. Document Editors
6. Event Scheduler
7. Admin panel
8. Social Networking tool

In order to help you increase work productivity, and boost collaboration in the workplace, we have decided to add Microsoft 365 to the arsenal of products and services we offer.

MIcrosoft 365 is a desktop and cloud based software solution that has innovative working tools, intelligent cloud services, and world-class security for data and devices.

Let’s dig a little deeper into everything you need to know about this great productivity and collaboration solution designed to take your business to another level.

Microsoft 365 (M365) gives you access to Microsoft office applications and cloud services. These applications are very robust, can be accessed anywhere and on any device via web browser, mobile device or a desktop. It is a perfect way to keep track of your meetings, calendars, emails, and even family time as it has a complete set of tools for document sharing & storing, online meetings, real-time collaboration, securing data & devices and many more extremely useful features for business communications. This makes it easier for teams to easily create, collaborate and communicate more together.

Microsoft 365 comprises majorly of but not limited to the following;

1. The Microsoft Office applications comprises Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint, OneNote, Access & Publisher etc.
2. The Microsoft Cloud services comprises of applications like Microsoft Teams, Yammer, Sharepoint, OneDrive, Power BI, Exchange Online etc

Start your Microsoft 365 journey today

The software and services are highly secure and has an admin panel where you can control access to services, manage users and their connected devices.

The above office applications and cloud services are split into three (3) main SKUs with various scable plans to allow you to enjoy the services based on your needs and budget. 

1. Exchange Online: A professional email-only plan with no collaboration tools or cloud storage. This also has at least 50GB of mail storage, with a message sending limit of 150MB and for unlimited users.
2. Microsoft 365 Business: This comes with email (50GB), cloud file storage (1TB), and online meetings & chat, Web, Desktop & Mobile version of office apps for up to 300 users and many tools to build & manage your business
3. Office 365 Enterprise: This has all the features of Business and many more with higher enterprise grade security for unlimited users.

Learn more about Microsoft 365 plans & features

One beautiful thing about Microsoft 365 is that you can mix plans & SKUs easily on a particular domain. So you easily plan and save costs by buying only what you users need and upgrading as your business grows. You can also move from an existing email or productivity solution to it seamlessly.

Click here if you will like to transfer to Microsoft 365.

You can also plugin and use Single sign-on (SSO) to easily sign in to 3rd party applications with a single ID using your Microsoft email address without having to store a unique password or authentication details for each one of the services to access them.

All in all Microsoft 365 is a world-class Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) solution built to help you and your team to achieve more and transform your business in this new normal.