You pay for Microsoft 365 every month. If you are like most small businesses in Seattle, you use Outlook and Word and that is about it. Meanwhile your subscription includes a stack of tools that could replace software you are paying for separately.
This is one of the easiest places to cut waste in your business. You are already paying. You just have to start using what you bought.
We covered this briefly in our list of technologies holding Seattle businesses back. This article goes deeper. Here are the features most businesses miss.
Microsoft Teams Replaces Your Video Meeting Tool
If you pay for Zoom, GoTo Meeting, or another video tool, you can probably stop. Microsoft Teams comes with most Microsoft 365 plans and does the same job. Video calls, screen sharing, recordings, and chat all work fine.
Teams also keeps everything in one place. Your messages, your meetings, and your shared files sit together. You stop hunting for the meeting link in your email.
For a small business of 10 people, dropping a separate Zoom subscription can save over $1,500 a year.
SharePoint Replaces Your File Server or Dropbox
This one matters most. SharePoint lets your team store files in one shared location that everyone can reach from anywhere. Multiple people can edit the same file at the same time. Every change saves automatically.
If you still keep files on a server in your office, SharePoint replaces it. If you pay for Dropbox or Box, SharePoint replaces that too. Most Microsoft 365 Business plans include 1 TB of cloud storage per user.
This also fixes the email attachment problem. Stop sending files by email. Send a SharePoint link instead. Our cloud services team helps Seattle and Tacoma businesses move off old file servers every month.
Microsoft Bookings Replaces Calendly
If you pay for Calendly, Acuity, or another appointment tool, look at Microsoft Bookings. It does the same thing. Customers book time on your calendar without back and forth emails. It connects to your Outlook calendar and to Teams for the meeting.
Bookings is included in most Microsoft 365 Business plans at no extra cost.
Planner and Lists Replace Basic Task Apps
If your team uses Trello, Asana, or Monday for simple project tracking, Microsoft Planner can probably replace it. It has boards, cards, and assignments. It is not as fancy as the dedicated tools, but for most small businesses it is enough.
Microsoft Lists works for tracking inventory, requests, contacts, or any other simple list your team needs. Both come with your subscription.
Microsoft Copilot Can Save Hours Per Week
Microsoft Copilot is the AI assistant built into Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams. It writes drafts, summarizes long emails, builds spreadsheet formulas, and pulls notes from meetings.
Some Copilot features come with your plan. The full version is usually a paid add on. Either way, for the right person on your team, it pays for itself fast. A bookkeeper or office manager who spends two hours a day on email and reports can cut that in half.
Talk to your IT provider before adding Copilot. There are security and licensing details to handle first.
Microsoft Defender for Business Replaces Your Antivirus
If you pay for a separate antivirus subscription, Microsoft Defender for Business is already included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium. Defender does more than basic antivirus. It catches threats that older tools miss and ties into the rest of your Microsoft tools.
Defender is part of how we protect customers in our cybersecurity services. Most small businesses across the do not need a separate security tool when they are running Business Premium.
Get a Free Microsoft 365 Audit
You may not know exactly what your Microsoft 365 plan includes. Most owners do not. Plan names change, features get added, and licenses get bought over the years without anyone tracking what you are actually paying for.
Logix Consulting offers a free 30 minute Microsoft 365 audit for Seattle and Tacoma area businesses. We look at your current plan, point out what you are paying for but not using, and tell you which other subscriptions you can drop. No sales pitch. Just numbers.
Call us or visit our contact page to set up your audit.