How cloud-based systems promote collaboration and remote working

What issues were they facing?

Guts UK have two offices - one in Hull and one in London. They found that their legacy systems were fragmented, and made collaborative working difficult. Team members felt like they were on their own rather than working as part of a larger team. Remote working was also difficult without easy access to a centralised bank of resources.

Anyone who is familiar with the fun, informative and imaginative content put out by Guts UK will find it hard to imagine such great work being done under these circumstances.

So what happened?

How did the increased flexibility of Microsoft 365 help solve this issue?

Guts UK purchased 10 subscriptions for Office 365 business premium - which gave them access to a variety of features. The charity found them all to be useful - particularly cloud features that empowered remote working and made collaboration easier and more rewarding.

They found that work became much more efficient. Sharepoint enabled their team to easily share research and other documents. The ability to have multiple users edit a document at the same time naturally led to a more collaborative working process, which naturally improved communication - something that extended to working arrangements between the charity’s two offices.

When employing remote workers, or allowing office-based staff flexible working arrangements, it is important to ensure they feel included. Microsoft Teams, which is included within Office 365 subscriptions, allows remote and office-based workers to keep in real-time contact through a number of features.

Guts UK also found that Outlook’s calendar functionality gave their relatively small team increased visibility - which enabled everyone to cover holidays and keep on track for big events.

What are the benefits of Microsoft 365 for charities?

Unlike traditional desktop licenses, Office 365’s cloud-based subscription service is based on user licenses. This means that license-holders can download apps onto multiple devices. Users can pay for what they need to use at the time and no more, and aren’t tied down to specific devices.

Thie charity sector can benefit from this technology. Many charities rely on volunteers, remote workers, or those on flexible hours. Cloud-based technology encourages collaboration and ensures that all workers feel empowered and included, with easy access to a centralised bank of resources encouraging more modern and agile working practices.

The centre purchased their subscriptions through the Charity Digital Exchange and contacted our customer service team for instructions on how to obtain the software.

CHARITIES CAN GET SUPPORT WITH MIGRATION AND SET-UP

The Charity Digital Exchange team offer a Cloud Manager Service to help with implementing your charity’s new Office 365 plan, helping you take the hassle out of set up and configuration. Contact our customer service team to find out more.

You can view discounted charity subscriptions to Microsoft Office 365 here.