How to measure business productivity with Microsoft 365

There’s no question that the pandemic has changed the way we work. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of people working exclusively from home rose from 21% to 24% in October 2020 across the UK.  

And as 20% of the workforce claim they could work remotely 3 to 5 days a week as effectively as if working from an office, one question remains on business owners’ minds – how do you ensure and measure productivity when your staff are working away from the office?  

Why does employee productivity matter so much? 

Employees are the company’s greatest asset. And, as the nature of employees’ work continues to evolve and change, especially in the past year, enabling their productivity has become key for many businesses. 

Consequently, organisations have focused on creating a connected and accessible digital workplace promoting productivity and fostering community, which in turn lead to: 

• Better communication 
• Greater profitability due to higher output 
• Lower operating costs due to increased efficiency 

What are the most useful Microsoft productivity tools? 

With Microsoft 365 apps such SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft 365 Groups you can create a common purpose, provide context for previous discussions, find related documents, and quickly onboard new team members.  

You also have access to additional information to help you understand and measure how your employees interact and engage with these shared workspaces. For example, how quickly users respond to queries, how they respond (email, chat, or call) and which method of interaction achieves results most efficiently. Over time these productivity tools and tips, if adopted throughout the business, can start to increase productivity and collaboration and ensure your staff are making the best use of their time.  

How does Microsoft measure productivity? 

Microsoft’s new Productivity Score gives you insights into how your workplace operates, measuring the use of technologies and skillsets.  

Data then can be compared to benchmarks from organisations similar in size to yours to help you identify areas for improvement, so your employees can work smarter not harder. 

Productivity Score includes data from Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Yammer, and Skype, across the categories including communication, meetings, content collaboration, teamwork and mor 

With the results you can examine: 

• Collaboration and communication effectiveness 
• The usage of technology highlighting areas for training 
• How to make meetings more engaging
• The need to increase adoption of certain tools and features to increase productivity 

Change is made easier with the right data and information, and with Microsoft 365 you already have access to insights and intelligence to evaluate the way you work, who you work with, and what information you work on. Now it is time to tap into this information and increase your business productivity even more. 

Contact us today to see how to utilise Microsoft Productivity Score >>