Remote Working with Microsoft 365
by TUCU Managed IT Services in Toronto
Work from home transitions may not have gone as smoothly or securely as you would like, as they were likely done in a hurry earlier this year. However, now you can step back and secure your remote work infrastructure and reinvent how your team works – and where you re-allocate your commercial rent budget. Migrating to Microsoft 365 has enormous remote team management benefits and features and is designed for small business.
Microsoft 365 is the cloud-based version of Microsoft Office, and also so much more than that. With a subscription, you get both the desktop and online versions of apps you already know. This includes Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, SharePoint, Teams, and more.
These tools empower your team to collaborate with each other and clients from anywhere they have an internet connection.
At a quick glance:
- Outlook & OneDrive allows sharing of email, attachments and notes.
- Microsoft SharePoint allows storage, collaboration and sharing of documents. You can also setup intranets for your team, checklists and workflows.
- Microsoft Teams makes instant messaging, video conferencing and calls easy. Use it for team meetings and save and share your notes or built in white board with your team.
- Use the Microsoft Two Factor Authenticator (2FA) to add extra protection to your accounts. It is a free to use security app that generates a new PIN every 60 seconds, used to access work owned email accounts, so even if a password is compromised, an attacker can’t access your account without the secondary 2FA PIN.
- Microsoft 365 security features to reduce phishing and malware, and recover compromised files.
Remote Work with Teams
Microsoft Teams is a chat program with enhanced capabilities. It works on computers and both iOS and Android mobile devices. at its core is a chat program. But it does so much more.
Teams allows “channels”. You can have company-wide or small task group channels where you have relevant chat conversations going continuously. You can also have separate channels for single person chats such as a direct report or an authorizing manager.
Instead of email clutter, you can use Team chat throughout the day for quick and easy communication. Chats are encrypted and saved so you can scroll back for reference if you need to.
You can also invite clients or customers into channels and you can set up security features to filter what clients can access. No need for guests to view your private chats!
Within Teams channels users can share documents or with one click, access other tools such as their Microsoft OneNote or Planner apps. Teams also integrates with external software such as Zendesk, Asana, Zoom and more.
Using Teams in Office 365 gives you a ready made, streamlined unified communications platform for remote work.
Remote Work with OneDrive
In the past, your traditional network likely had a file server which your team accessed for documents. OneDrive is a cloud replacement for your server. Your files are stored and hosted within Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure, and you choose what to upload, how to organize your folders, and which folders you share with team members and clients. You can even choose to set time limits on shares and revoke access after a set time limit. And of course, everything is accessible from your computer or mobile device.
For those times when working in remote or low bandwidth areas, you can opt to work offline (a simple setup in your settings), and any changes or edits to files made while you work offline will automatically upload and sync when you next connect to the internet.
Remote Work with SharePoint
SharePoint is similar to OneDrive int hat it stores documents, but different in that it is earn based instead of attached to a single user's account.
With SharePoint, you can create an entire intranet for your company, with welcome pages, document libraries, lists and more.
You can also create "sites" in SharePoint, which are like libraries of documents for your team, only specific departments, external clients, or any members you choose.
As an example, you can have a SharePoint site for Company Docs where all staff can access files. You can have a separate Site called Accounting where only management and accounting staff have access. However you want to configure company documents, SharePoint provides the flexibility to do so. Instead of tracking share permissions on a file by file basis, you can simply add and remove members from sites.
Microsoft 365 & Cyber Security
A Microsoft 365 subscription includes features that help protect you from viruses and cybercrime. While not a standalone solution, it is a powerful layer in your overall cyber security strategy.
Microsoft 365 apps are updated with security patches automatically. Outlook scans email attachments and checks links for viruses or phishing scams. And OneDrive offers revision control and ways to recover your files from malicious attacks such as a ransomware attack. In addition, Microsoft 365 has features to allow you to easily encrypt sensitive emails and prevent forwarding of your sensitive files. Your IT Provider can help you setup your Microsoft 365 eco system and support it for you too.
Migrating to the cloud isn’t as simple as pressing an “easy” button but it may feel that way when your local Microsoft Partner does all the heavy lifting for you – including migrating all your emails, files and calendar appointments to Microsoft 365, and setting up the security features you need.
TUCU is a Microsoft Certified partner serving Toronto since 2003. We are small business IT experts who use these tools daily for ourselves and our clients. We will help you secure and protect your business. We offer Azure consulting services, Microsoft consulting services, Microsoft 365 setup services, cyber security services, cloud management services and more.
Reach out to us to schedule a free consultation to discuss your needs. We’re here to help.
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