In response to increased requests regarding the need to work remotely, we wrote our blog post last week: How to Be an Effective Employee While Working from Home. We also created a free webinar that ran for several sessions discussing how employees can maximize their efficiency and effectiveness while working from home (or pretty much anywhere).

After the live webinars, we received requests from multiple clients and prospective clients for access to the recorded version. Today, we have uploaded this premium webinar to YouTube for all to access. The webinar video is embedded below.

*Update (5/25/22)*: We have recently written an updated post on this topic. You can find that new blog post here: Automatically Send Responses to a SharePoint List Using Power Automate.

When enabled by an organization that has deployed Office 365, Microsoft Flow provides end-users with the ability to create automated workflows between applications and many different services using connectors. Microsoft applications and an ever-growing list of third-party services are available to link together. Microsoft Flow lets employees create simple to more complex workflows that can provide efficiencies for businesses around their workflow needs. It's an end-user option, that in most cases does not require a developer for workflows.

What good is it to have the latest software updates if they are not being used productively? Considering how much your company spends on software expenses, investing just a fraction of that into targeted training will give your organization a serious competitive edge.

By now, we're all used to periodic updates to Word and other Microsoft Office applications. But maybe you haven't had a chance to keep up with some of the recent changes, or really think about them in terms of how your team could be using new features to enhance daily work.

There are many ways to gain productivity in the workplace. For the self-motivated, simple tricks like streamlining your space, prioritizing and delegating seem to work nicely.

But what happens when the whole team needs a boost in office productivity? A key takeaway in this recent article in Govloop.com states that teams can be more productive than individuals, so that gives us a nice starting point.

Before I begin, let me just say: I am already a complete fan of Office 365 Planner. I really like it!

We all get the high-level theory: the organization's vision and mission act as the guiding force. Various teams across the organization perform different functions, all in service to the larger vision and goals of the organization.

You should not overlook technology training as a way to both reduce wasted time and maximize the return on investment for that technology. While employees may use applications like Excel on a daily basis, incomplete training leaves many unaware of some of their more advanced features. When otherwise simple tasks are performed the hard way again and again, the time wasted is a direct consequence of undervaluing employee training.

As you may have heard us say before, productivity can be a frustrating concept. The reality is, we all work at our own pace and it's inevitable that some of your employees are simply more productive than others. Fortunately you can improve on how you and your team measure productivity to enhance it across the organization.

In an article he contributed to Fast Company entitled "4 Reasons Your Company Needs A Collaboration Upgrade, Stat" Jacob Morgan writes: "An organization is no longer limited to a physical structure or proximity; an organization is now limited only by its ability to connect employees and information together." So, what if that problem—among others—could be alleviated with one simple solution?

How to collaborate with your colleagues 

Get a look with our latest member recorded webinar, you’ll get an inside look at sharing and collaborating with Office 365 and SharePoint Online. We’ll show you a side-by-side view of two users collaborating in a Word document. Watch how changes John Keller makes are tracked and noticed by Samantha as they work and collaborate together within the same Microsoft Word document.

It's no mere coincidence that Microsoft's Excel application is ubiquitous throughout the corporate, academic, industrial and nonprofit worlds, among others. Some colleges and universities have even started to offer coursework to introduce the program's benefits to its students and prepare them for life after school. If instruction in Excel wasn't one of your rites of passage, however, you may not be aware of all the tasks the application can accomplish for you in the daily course of business. 

Productivity can be a frustrating concept. Even if you feel you're working effectively, projects can still emerge lacking efficiency and doing nothing to increase your ROI. However, the good news is that with a quick refresher your team can be up and running again with vigor. If you seek out where productivity is lacking, you can have your employees take a quick break to engage in virtual training geared toward solving the problem. At the same time, you can conduct an audit of your current virtual-training resources to make sure you have something relevant in your dashboard.