Microsoft 365 has been one of the cloud platforms that companies in Singapore and around the world have flocked to during the pandemic to keep remote teams connected.
The applications, collaborative features as well as video and team messaging capabilities make it somewhat of a virtual office hub where everyone can connect, even if they’re not working in the same physical location.
Daily users for Microsoft Teams jumped from 20 million in November 2019 to 115 million by October 2020.
But just moving to a popular cloud solution doesn’t mean your team is fully optimized. How do you know if your employees are using Microsoft 365 to its fullest and have transitioned successfully to using it from home?
A handy tool that can help large and small businesses alike gain insight into their team’s efficiency in M365 is Microsoft Productivity Score. This is a tool that looks at how employees are using the platform over several aspects of performance as well as how other factors, like hardware and software, are impacting productivity.
How Does Microsoft Productivity Score Work?
Microsoft Productivity Score gives businesses visibility into their team’s use of Microsoft 365 applications and compares those to know best practices for effective use of digital resources. The tool provides:
- Metrics to gain insight into employee workflows in Microsoft 365.
- Insights on the data that provides guidance toward opportunities for better productivity.
- Recommended actions that your team can take to use the platform more efficiently.
Productivity Score looks at 8 key areas, which include both people experiences and technology experiences. These are:
- People Experiences
- Communication
- Content Collaboration
- Mobility
- Meetings
- Teamwork
- Technology Experiences
- Endpoint Analytics
- Network Connectivity
- Microsoft 365 Apps Health
You also get a special report from the tool relating to business continuity that looks at how employee work habits may have changed after a move to remote working. 8 in 10 employees in Singapore want to work from home or have more location flexibility.
Best Practices
Before we go more in depth into each area of Productivity Score, let’s discuss where the benchmarks and recommendations come from that the tool uses. Microsoft relies on multiple studies by organizations like Forrester, that look at employee productivity and use of digital technology. Here are a few examples:
- When people share content in the cloud instead of email attachments, they can save 100 minutes per week.
- When people use online meeting tools effectively, they can save up to 104 minutes per week.
- When virtual shared workspaces are used collaboratively, people can save up to 4 hours per week.
Scoring
Productivity Score will give your company an overall score that has a maximum of 800 points (100 points each for each of the eight areas). You can access the tool in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. You can also see how your score compares against peer companies of a similar size.
People Experiences
In this area of the tool, you’ll get insights into how your team is using Microsoft 365 over five key areas.
- Communication: This metric looks at how your organization is finding and sharing information, and how its communicating that information via email, chat, and community posts.
- Content Collaboration: Is your team making good use of cloud resources and collaborative environments for content sharing?
- Mobility: How well is your organization using apps like Outlook and Teams across different devices, illustrating better mobility?
- Meetings: This metric looks at meeting best practices and if your employees are leveraging those for its online meetings.
- Teamwork: How well does your team use shared workspaces like SharePoint team sites and Microsoft Teams for collaboration?
Technology Experiences
People can’t be as productive as possible without their hardware and software backing them up and performing well. The technology experiences section looks at three outside factors and how they impact efficiency.
- Endpoint Analytics: If you use Microsoft Intune, this analytic can highlight any device health issues you should know about and suggest remediation steps.
- Network Connectivity: Find out if network problems are slowing your team down and get suggestions for improvement.
- Microsoft 365 App Health: Learn how many devices are using the current version of the M365 apps and recommendations for security and performance.
Special Reports
Currently, in the “Special Reports” area of the tool Microsoft offers a Business Continuity report that provides performance comparisons before and after teams are working remotely from home. This includes information like changes in collaboration behaviors and if employees have begun working more nights and weekends, potentially impacting well-being.
Is Your Team Positioned for the Best Cloud Productivity?
Managed IT Asia can help your Singapore business ensure your team is using the best cloud tools for your needs and using them as effectively as possible. Contact us today to schedule your free consultation. Call +65 6748 8776 or reach us online.
MANAGED IT ASIA, we are an IT Support, IT Solutioning and Managed IT Service Provider specializing in serving Small Businesses across Asia. Call us at +65 6748 8776 and let us manage your Small Business IT today!