Microsoft’s software ranges from making documents to sending emails, hosting video calls and providing you with reliable browsers. These are all products we use in our personal life – catching up with friends and family over Skype is now commonplace – but they are also a serious benefit to businesses.
With a wealth of experience that has been built since its inception in the 1970s, Microsoft provides businesses with the tools to increase productivity, run more smoothly and make advances into the digital world. Choosing the right software and knowing how to use it effectively will allow you to embrace it to a fruitful end.
Which software to use?
Microsoft Office is an absolute staple for any business, big or small. Even local high street businesses, for example, a florist, would benefit from using Excel to keep on top of their accounts. For drawing up contracts or writing articles for your blog or to send to the press, Word is the go-to the world over. If you’re pitching your product to potential investors or giving a speech in front of a huge lecturer theatre, PowerPoint is sleek and stylish.
Using Microsoft Office helps your business be accessible and stops you from being awkward – almost 600,000 companies in the United States use it. When operating an efficient business, you do not want clients and stakeholders having to convert the files because you’re using software they don’t have.
Then there is Microsoft’s communications software. Outlook and Skype are useful for businesses with large or multiple offices, allowing you to share information and hold meetings remotely. In an age where working from home is no doubt here to stay, having your workers be connected on user-friendly software will increase your business’s productivity.
For businesses operating online, the Microsoft Edge browser promotes security and speed. To protect your workers and make sure they can complete tasks to the best of their abilities, a small but powerful browser could be your solution.
How to use it effectively?
Making sure your staff are trained on Microsoft products is an excellent place to start. Many workers are comfortable on the company’s software due to its long history of being used within businesses, but new starters or older workers could still be unsure. Training them will develop their skills for the future and breed confidence in their own abilities, which could lead to them learning other useful qualities.
As well as ensuring your staff can use the software, another consideration is not wasting money on unnecessary purchases. Advice on which Microsoft products would work with your business, as well as help with training, is available at www.bytes.co.uk.
Using Microsoft software collaboratively will also increase its effectiveness. Saving your documents to the Cloud will allow your business to share documents for review. If you are offering work up for editing, you will be notified of what changes were made, and your collaborator can tell you why they changed it.
This allows your business to work with others easier, perfecting ideas and taking plans into fruition.
A brief list of Microsoft software benefits
- Accessibility of Microsoft Office
- Easy to use
- Video calling with Skype
- Relaxation – Xbox systems
- Used the world over
- Secure
- Mobile computing
- The Cloud
Author: James Daniels is a freelance writer, business enthusiast, a bit of a tech buff, and an overall geek. He is also an avid reader, who can while away hours reading and knowing about the latest gadgets and tech, whilst offering views and opinions on these topics.
