Maximizing your Office 365 investment is easier said than done. Sure, you use Outlook and SharePoint all the time, but there are loads of features you’re probably not using. If you’re looking for ways to make the most out of your Office 365 subscription, you’re in luck because that’s what we’re discussing today. SharePoint SharePoint is the “communication sites” platform for building an intranet where you can upload and manage content. It’s customizable, feature-rich, and ideal for organizations that need an online library of information. It’s a relatively new feature that allows you to add vibrant templates and visually appealing layouts to your company’s intranet, turning it into a highly dynamic and interactive page that staff will enjoy accessing for company announcements, to share updates, and more. Teams Microsoft Teams is an interactive workspace that lets users chat about specific projects. It’s a collaboration tool integrated with Office applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, so it’s an ideal alternative to SharePoint for employees who don’t need the latter’s more robust capabilities. Yammer Yammer is an easy-to-use social networking platform for companies where users can post status updates, create polls, and make announcements. It’s also useful for sharing and co-authoring documents and discussing content from SharePoint and Skype for Business. Much like Facebook, it allows users to join interest groups where they can interact with members similar to how Facebook Groups works. Planner Planner is Office 365’s work management application that lets you create, organize, and assign tasks, share files, and chat about ongoing projects. While its functions seem similar to Teams’, Planner’s main purpose is to organize tasks and provide users with a visible and transparent platform for coordinating work. It’s primarily a business tool whereas Teams is more of a communication tool. PowerApps PowerApps lets you build custom applications with a minimum amount of coding involved. Although there are similar app-building tools on the market, PowerApps is especially useful for Office 365 users because it seamlessly integrates with O365 apps, including SharePoint, for easy access to your data already stored in the Office environment. Flow Flow is an intuitive tool that has built-in templates you can use to automate various tasks. Things like tracking hours worked, saving files from one SharePoint account to another, and creating calendar events are streamlined by Flow. And like all the aforementioned apps, Flow allows you to create workflows using files from OneDrive or SharePoint. Whether you’re a new or a long-time Office 365 user, these programs and features are hiding in plain sight, and we’re here to help you explore and maximize them for your business. Call Multi IT today on 011 435 0450 if you need expert recommendations for office productivity.

Have you ever gotten frustrated with your phone because the browser took more than five minutes to load? Before you start blaming your old phone, check out these four reasons that might be the cause of sluggish internet connection. Router location One simple yet overlooked reason why your WiFi-connected phone may be experiencing internet lag is because of your router’s location. Although WiFi has a range of up to 230 feet, the farther away you are from the router, the weaker the WiFi signal. Large objects like doors and walls situated in between you and the router can also weaken the WiFi signal. It is recommended to place your router in a central location, preferably away from concrete and masonry walls or other big objects like a chimney. As the router signal radiates from all four sides, blocking any side with big objects will impact your WiFi’s signal quality and as a result your phone’s internet speed. WiFi Noise Did you know that home electronic appliances emit wireless signals at a frequency similar to your router’s (2.4 GHz)? So before deciding on your router’s location, determine whether there are any wireless devices nearby, as they emit signals that can interfere with your router’s signal. For example, even if the ideal location for your router is at the center of your house, you shouldn’t place it there if there’s a cordless phone nearby. You can also set your router on a 5.0-GHz band, as this frequency is less prone to interference from other appliances. But before you start tuning it, make sure your phone supports 5.0 GHz; otherwise, it won’t be able to connect to the router. Slow Network Another reason for your phone’s slow internet is because of fluctuating network speed. Ask yourself these two questions to know the exact cause of this problem: How many people are connecting to the router? What are they doing over the internet? You should increase your router’s internet bandwidth speed if you discover you have many users and all of them are either streaming movies, or downloading computer games or software updates. This will allow every phone to enjoy faster internet speed. If you’re outdoors, and you’re connected to a public WiFi, consider using your mobile data instead. You won’t have to share your internet when you use mobile data, enabling you to experience faster connectivity at all times as long as you have a high-speed data plan. Too much cache Last, you should check your phone’s cache if fixing your router, network, and positioning doesn’t improve your phone’s internet speed. Cache is a component in your phone that saves data from earlier searches in order to increase the speed of similar searches in the future. Although your phone becomes more efficient for that particular search, it also makes your phone much slower when you do other things that require the internet. You can clear out your cache manually or use a cache cleaner app to thoroughly get rid of useless cache and optimize your phone’s internet speed. If you decide to download a cache cleaner app, make sure that it is reputable and trustworthy so you don’t accidentally download a malware-infiltrated app instead. There are more reasons to your phone’s lagging internet speed. If your business relies heavily on fast mobile internet speed and you’re unable to fix the sluggish connection, call our experts today on 011 435 0450 or visit our website. We’re always ready to help you.

Microsoft has recently announced new features for Microsoft Teams. These features are expected to bring users greater convenience and improved communication, and ultimately increase its appeal to a wider market. Cortana Integration One new feature that Microsoft will bring to Teams is Cortana, Microsoft’s virtual assistant. By integrating Cortana with Teams, users can use voice commands to make calls, join an ongoing meeting, or add other users to the meeting. This feature will also work with IP phones and conference room devices. Inline Message Translation While most people can communicate well in English, not everyone is comfortable using the language. Inline message translation allows these people to chat in their native language and then translate their messages into English. This will not only help them verbalize their thoughts better and faster, but you’ll also be able to understand exactly what you have to do to meet their demands. Cloud Recording and Automatic Transcripts Have you ever forgotten or overlooked important meeting details? This new feature will allow you to record meetings, store it in the cloud, and create a transcript of it. The ability to save the entire meeting also allows users to review everything or segments of it in the future at their convenience. This is particularly useful for meetings that are highly detailed or very long. Facial recognition, which will allow statements to be matched with the corresponding speaker, is expected to be included in the future. Background Blur Option for Video Calls Most people get easily distracted. But you want to minimize these distractions and have them focus on you when you have an important meeting like a business pitch. Teams’ latest feature allows you to blur your background during video calls so other people in the meeting can fully concentrate on you. Proximity Detection for Teams Meetings A feature that can make your meetings simpler is proximity detection. When you enter a room equipped with a Teams meeting room device, Proximity Detection will automatically detect your Teams-enabled meeting room laptop and prompt connection for you to join the Teams meeting room. This helps you save time finding an available room so you can immediately connect with other users. Mobile Sharing in Meetings Have you ever needed to join a sudden meeting but couldn’t perform as well as usual because you were on the go with only a mobile device? Mobile Sharing in Meetings solve this by allowing you to share a live video stream, photos, or your phone screen with other attendees immediately. If you’re interested in improving your company-wide communication and would like to learn more about Microsoft Teams, contact Multi IT on 011 435 0450, today.