With the release of Office 2016, Microsoft gives one of the most successful software suites in the world a much-needed update. Aside from improvements to the Office suite, Microsoft has beefed up Office 365 by adding a whole cluster of team productivity services.
What is New?
To begin, PowerPoint and OneNote now have a co-authoring functionality, which means that documents can be created by groups in real time. Additionally, the entire Office Online suite now includes Skype in-app integration, which allows users to use instant messaging, screen sharing and video chat that can begin from within documents. And for all the spreadsheet lovers, Excel now includes an integrated publishing functionality to Power BI.
According to Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s shift is reflective of a new working style. “The way people work has changed dramatically, and that’s why Microsoft is focused on reinventing productivity and business processes for the mobile-first, cloud-first world…These latest innovations take another big step forward in transforming Office from a familiar set of individual productivity apps to a connected set of apps and service designed for modern working, collaboration, and teamwork.”
Collaboration 2.0
As one of the numerous commentators of the MS release noted, after all these changes, why are we still calling it the Office Suite? Office connotes a separate space, often enclosed, wherein tasks are done by a singular person. But with this release, Microsoft is pushing the boundaries of how we envision collaboration by bringing new functionalities to the workspace.
Take for example the development of Planner, the latest addition to Microsoft’s productivity suite. This new feature is being introduced in order to help teams organize their work. It includes the ability to create plans, organize and assign task, set due dates and receive updates within a visual dashboard.
Enhance Your Productivity with Microsoft and Mavim
But Microsoft isn’t the only one developing solutions with end-users in mind. While Microsoft has engineered the perfect set of tools for collaboration and workflow, Mavim has developed a repository under Office (with a Microsoft look and feel) that allows end-users to take advantage of everything that Microsoft has to offer.
The multi-user information system enables organizations to reuse all existing information from a multitude of Word, Excel and Visio files by importing it into a central repository for clear process documentation. The resulting business process roadmap will lead your operation down a clear path, enabling end-users to adapt to new technology, new systems and organizational change. With the combination of Microsoft and Mavim, you can ensure that you get the most out of your collaboration
Are you excited about the latest update to the Office Suite?
