INTRODUCTION TO MICROSOFT PRODUCTIVITY SCORE FOR M365 BUSINESS USERS

INTRODUCTION TO MICROSOFT PRODUCTIVITY SCORE FOR M365 BUSINESS USERS

Over 651,000 US companies use Microsoft 365 and its suite of productivity tools including Word, Teams, Outlook, Excel, and more. But, most likely, a majority of them aren’t using it to its full potential.

 

Without guidance, people tend to stick with their habits. For example, they may continue emailing file attachments even though they now have the ability to email a OneDrive link instead, which is more efficient.

How do you know if your team is following best practices when it comes to using cloud applications and Microsoft 365, or even what those best practices are?

Well, there is a tool you can use in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center that gives you a roadmap to how you are doing and what your team can do to improve productivity.

Microsoft Productivity Score grades eight key areas of app usage to help companies move forward on their digital transformation, not just using the cloud, but using it most effectively.

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Each of the eight areas in the tool can earn a total of 100 points if your team is fully optimized, for an overall maximum score of 800.

Some of the things you can do with Productivity Score are:

  • LEARN WHAT BEST PRACTICES ARE FOR VARIOUS CLOUD ACTIVITIES (BASED UPON RESEARCH)
  • COMPARE YOUR SCORE TO PEER BENCHMARKS
  • LOOK AT HOW HABITS OF EMPLOYEES MAY BE DRAGGING PRODUCTIVITY DOWN
  • IDENTIFY ANY HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, OR NETWORK PROBLEMS SLOWING YOUR TEAM
  • KEEP TRACK OF YOUR TEAM’S PROGRESS TOWARD MORE PRODUCTIVE HABITS
  • SEE COMPREHENSIVE GRAPHS ON METRICS AND CLEAR RECOMMENDATIONS

The tool looks at business solutions in two main areas, people experiences and technology experiences. We’ll take a look at each below and the insights you can gain using Productivity Score for your Microsoft 365 business account efficiency.

PEOPLE EXPERIENCES

People experiences includes five of the eight metrics and utilizes productivity research to guide organizations toward more efficient use of the applications within Microsoft 365.

An example of the statistics that Microsoft cites and that help form its recommendations are:

  • SHARING A LINK TO A CLOUD FILE INSTEAD OF EMAILING AN ATTACHMENT CAN SAVE A PERSON 100 MINUTES PER WEEK.
  • WHEN PEOPLE USE ONLINE MEETING TOOLS EFFECTIVELY, THEY CAN SAVE AS MUCH AS 104 MINUTES PER WEEK.

The five people experience metrics include:

  • TEAMWORK: LOOKS AT THE USE OF MICROSOFT TEAMS, SHAREPOINT, AND EXCHANGE ONLINE. METRICS INCLUDE HOW MANY PEOPLE IN YOUR COMPANY ARE ENGAGED IN SHARED WORKSPACES.
  • COMMUNICATION: LOOKS AT THE USE OF MICROSOFT TEAMS, YAMMER, AND EXCHANGE ONLINE. METRICS INCLUDE HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE USING MORE THAN ONE MODE OF COMMUNICATION.
  • CONTENT COLLABORATION: LOOKS AT THE USE OF ONEDRIVE FOR BUSINESS, SHAREPOINT, AND EXCHANGE ONLINE. METRICS INCLUDE HOW MANY PEOPLE IN YOUR COMPANY ARE READERS, CREATORS, AND COLLABORATORS OF ONLINE CONTENT.
  • MOBILITY: LOOKS AT THE USE OF MICROSOFT TEAMS, EXCHANGE ONLINE, WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT, AND ONENOTE. METRICS INCLUDE HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE USING THEIR APPS ON MORE THAN ONE DEVICE.
  • MEETINGS: LOOKS AT THE USE OF MICROSOFT TEAMS. METRICS INCLUDE HOW MANY MEETINGS IN YOUR ORGANIZATION FOLLOW BEST PRACTICES (SUCH AS SENDING FOLLOW UP MATERIALS AFTER A MEETING).

Here is an example of one of the people experience metrics related to communications.

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TECHNOLOGY EXPERIENCES

Technology experiences gives you important insights into the performance of your applications, hardware, and network. If tools are slowing your team down, it’s a drag on productivity. This area of Productivity Score helps you keep an eye on your device and network health.

The three metrics in technology experiences are:

  • MICROSOFT 365 APPS HEALTH: LOOKS AT METRICS LIKE HOW MANY USERS ARE ON RECOMMENDED UPDATE CHANNELS FOR APPS AND HOW MANY DEVICES ARE RUNNING SUPPORTED VERSIONS OF MICROSOFT 365 APPS.
  • ENDPOINT ANALYTICS: LOOKS AT PERFORMANCE AND HEALTH ISSUES RELATED TO YOUR HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE AND MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT.
  • NETWORK CONNECTIVITY: LOOKS AT ANY ISSUES IMPACTING YOUR NETWORK THAT MAY BE SLOWING YOUR TEAM DOWN AND RECOMMENDS SOLUTIONS.

BONUS REPORT FOR BUSINESS CONTINUITY

There is one additional special report in Productivity Score which is related to business continuity and is designed to offer assistance in this time of transitioning workforces.

The Business Continuity report helps companies see if their employees are effectively adapting to a remote work environment, with insights on:

  • ADAPTING TO THE SHIFT TO REMOTE WORK
  • ABILITY TO MAINTAIN WORK-LIFE BALANCE
  • ABILITY TO MEET AND SHARE IDEAS REMOTELY
  • ABILITY TO MAINTAIN COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

This special report looks at metrics such as whether a person’s collaboration hours per week have changed after moving from office to remote working and if employees are working more after normal business hours.

Meeting length and number of attendees is another metric as well as interactions on Yammer that help determine if someone still feels a sense of belonging and inclusion after moving to remote working.

IS YOUR TEAM USING YOUR CLOUD TOOLS PRODUCTIVELY?

Unbound Digital can help your Johnson City, Tennessee business put the tools and workflows in place to power a productive team, no matter where they are working from.

Contact us today to schedule a consultation. Call 423-335-2461 or reach us online.