Posted on: August 31, 2017

Those who were lucky enough to be one of the 17,000 attendees of Microsoft Inspire in July got the first look at all of the coolest new business applications that have been introduced to Microsoft 365. Today, we’re passing that information onto you so that you can make sure to start taking advantage of all 365 has to offer your enterprise. Read on for all the details.

A Shift in Focus

Before we take a look at the latest and greatest in Microsoft 365, it’s important to discuss why these changes and updates have been made in the first place. During Inspire 2017, Microsoft announced that it had made a significant pivot in the way it views the designing and building process. This fundamental shift is now completely focused on modern needs for modern customers in modern workplaces. In other words, any updates or new apps that are introduced to Microsoft 365 are carefully and intentionally created to suit the unique needs of today’s businesses.

Better Ways to Present Information

In the office, it’s extremely important that you and your team have the ability to effectively communicate ideas and information with professional presentations. The latest Office 365 update has made it possible for you to quickly and efficiently develop your presentations while simplifying the process of ID’ing and correcting errors throughout the editing process. Here are a few new things in Office 365 that are working to improve your upcoming presentations:

PowerPoint Designer 

This handy feature is now able to pick out dates, times, and topics from text that has been entered into slides. From here, it uses artificial intelligence to craft professional timelines.

3D Objects 

As of July, users now have the ability to both add and edit 3D objects within Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. You can even set about creating cinematic and fun animations that play out between slides so that you can breathe new life into your presentations.

Read Aloud 

Microsoft is continuing to make improvements to its learning tools and has transitioned its Read Aloud feature to the “Review” tab where your documents can be read back to you aloud (with highlighting) directly from your workflow. This makes it faster and easier for you to detect any mistakes.

Other Handy Updates

For commercial users, there are a number of additional changes and updates that have been made within the scope of Microsoft 365 that will simplify and improve your life:

Smarter “To:” Line 

When you’re next composing an email, you’ll quickly notice that the intelligence from Microsoft Graph has boosted Outlook and the Web and Windows desktop to be able to offer much-improved contact suggestions paired with profile pictures.

Conversation View Improvements 

Outlook for iOS has been updated to show more of your important discussions at one time so that you can review your entire message history as quickly as possible and get back into the flow of the conversation.

StaffHub Enhancements  

StaffHub, Office 365’s application that helps workers manage each day better, has received some upgrades and enhancements, too. Now the app can be used to assign, manage, and complete tasks between co-workers and management. The end result is a more in-sync and in-tune company as a whole.

Office 365 Business Premium Updates

If your enterprise has taken advantage of Office 365 Business Premium, there are some new and exciting things in store for you. Microsoft Connections, Microsoft Listings, and Microsoft Invoicing are the latest applications that have been introduced to the software. Each of these powerful tools will help you manage and grow your business more efficiently than ever before.

Start taking advantage of all that Microsoft has to offer today. Learn more about which 365 applications and tools are best for your business and make the necessary upgrades by working with the experts at Uncommon Solutions.