Working smart is all about using the right tools. And when it comes to business productivity solutions, there's no shortage of great options from Microsoft.
From an online survey creator and a scheduling tool to a digital note-taking app and a diagramming program, these seven Microsoft apps and tools can help your Los Angeles or Orange County business boost efficiency and productivity.
Forms
If you need to gather data from employees or customers, Microsoft Forms is a great option. It's an online survey generator that lets you quickly create surveys, quizzes, or polls, collect responses in real time, and view results in charts and graphs. You can use premade templates or create your own from scratch. What’s more, Forms integrates with other Microsoft apps like Excel so you can easily analyze your data.
Planner
Collaborating on a project? Microsoft Planner can help you and your team stay organized and on track. This digital Kanban board allows you to create and assign tasks to team members, set deadlines, and monitor progress. You can also add files, photos, and notes to tasks, and get email notifications about task updates by integrating Planner with Outlook.
Bookings
Organizing schedules and managing appointments can be a time-consuming task, but Microsoft Bookings can help take some of the load off. You can use this online scheduling tool to set appointment types, add staff members and their availability, and send automatic confirmation emails and reminder emails. Your customers can also use it to set appointments with your business. With Bookings, they can quickly find and book the appointments they need, and you can spend less time scheduling meetings.
Visio
Visuals can be a great way to communicate ideas, and you can create effective visuals with Microsoft Visio. Use Visio to create flowcharts, org charts, floor plans, and other diagrams as well as add shapes, text, and images. You can also link diagrams to data sources so they update automatically, and share your diagrams with others through OneDrive. With Visio's dozens of premade templates, starter diagrams, and stencils, you can get started on your project right away.
OneNote
Whether you're taking notes in a meeting or jotting down ideas for a project, Microsoft OneNote is a handy tool to have. It's a digital notebook where you can type, draw, or handwrite notes, and add images, files, and web clippings. You can organize your notes into notebooks and sections, and share them with others for collaboration. OneNote even has a handy search function that lets you easily find specific information or data when you need it.
Lens
Microsoft Lens is a handy tool for scanning and sharing information. With Lens, you can take pictures of documents, whiteboards, business cards, and more, and then convert them into digital files. You can then save, edit, or share the files from within Lens or export them to other apps like OneNote or Word. Lens is great for quickly capturing and sharing ideas, and it can save you time by eliminating the need to type out or manually scan documents. The app is available for free on iOS and Android.
Phone Link
If you use an Android phone and a Windows 10 computer, Microsoft Phone Link can help you stay productive by keeping your phone and computer connected. With Phone Link, you can access your phone's recent photos from your PC, send text messages, and make phone calls.
The app can also mirror your phone's screen; however, at this time, that function is limited to certain Samsung devices that have the Link to Windows service. Phone Link also has a cross-device copy-and-paste feature that allows you to send copied text and images between your phone and PC, but this feature currently only works if you have a Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+, S20 Ultra, or Z Flip.
Related reading: Choosing the right Microsoft 365 plan for your business
By taking advantage of the many productivity-boosting apps and tools that Microsoft offers, you can free up time and energy to focus on your business goals.
Get in touch with our experts at Complete Document Solutions to learn more about how Microsoft can help your business work smarter, not harder.
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