Let’s Collaborate! Sharing Programs For Small Businesses
November is all about boosting small businesses! This week, we’re diving into tools that boost collaboration for small businesses: Office 365, online meeting tools, and the GTS Password Management Portal.
When you work as part of a small team, it’s critical for everyone to have access to everything they need, whenever they need it. To that end, online collaboration tools are the perfect tool for small businesses. Teams can host meetings, share projects and files, and track progress at any time, no matter where your teammates are in the world!
Office 365
Let’s start by taking a look at the professional capabilities of Office 365. The Business Premium plan comes with Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (plus Publisher and Access on PCs), along with Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams.
One of the most obvious benefits of Office 365 is the pairing of a custom domain name and Outlook. You can create “official” email addresses for your entire team, along with aliases like “info@mybusiness.com,” “sales@mybusiness.com,” or “help@mybusiness.com.” You can even set up these aliases to forward to one central inbox, so you’re not bouncing between Gmail accounts trying to keep track of customer needs. Outlook also allows teams to work from a shared calendar, where team members can schedule meetings with each other (or outside attendees), plan for time off, and view each other’s availability.
Office 365’s other major collaboration tool is file sharing through SharePoint and OneDrive. These programs allow team members to store files and projects in a central cloud storage platform, then access important info whenever it’s needed. With the right integration, team members can access these files from their phones, tablets, home computers, and more!
Online Meeting Tools
Another key player in small businesses is the online meeting. Free services like Zoom and UberConference allow for online video or voice calls (often with free dial-in numbers for anyone joining by phone). The free plans are typically limited in some way (for example, Zoom’s free plan limits calls to two participants, while UberConference caps meeting times at 45 minutes until you upgrade).
Microsoft Teams, part of an Office 365 subscription, offers an instant messaging, video conference, and voice conference system for small businesses that integrates seamlessly with the rest of Office 365’s tools. For example, you can sync your Teams calls with your Outlook calendar, planning meetings with a few quick button clicks.
GTS Password Management Portal
Many small businesses rely on password-protected programs and software, especially HIPAA-compliant businesses like doctor’s offices. It can be incredibly expensive to create accounts for every single team member, especially when you use platforms and programs that are meant to be run from one central business account. However, holding your business’s shared passwords in a Google doc or Excel file poses a major security risk.
The GTS Password Management Portal maximizes convenience and guarantees airtight security for shared logins. Team members can be added to a central business portal with varying degrees of access (for example, a salesperson holds different credentials than the company CEO).
A personal vault stores a team member’s individual passwords, like the credentials for their Outlook account. Then, the company vault stores information like banking credentials, access to subscriptions like the Adobe Creative Cloud, or customer relationship management platforms. If a team member needs access to a specific set of credentials, they can find it stored easily in their personal or company vault.
Cutting down on access difficulties streamlines collaboration for every business. Whether you’re planning your next meeting, working on a group project, or sharing access to a business-critical program, online collaboration tools can help your business maximize its day to day efficiency.
Interested in learning more about collaboration for small businesses? Contact us today at (904) 606-6011 or info@helpgts.com. We’d be happy to schedule a free 15-point technology check, during which we’ll investigate your current collaboration plans and help you find ways to improve.
