How to Automate Business Processes with Microsoft Office 365

Published April 15, 2024
Author: Ash Khan

How to Automate Business Processes with Microsoft Office 365

Published April 15, 2024
Author: Ash Khan

Microsoft Office 365 includes a number of technologies for automating corporate operations, such as Power Automate, Microsoft Flow, and SharePoint. Are you fed up with repeated tasks that take up important time and resources? Microsoft Office 365 Business Premium eliminates manual procedures and replaces them with efficiency. In today’s fast-paced world, automation is critical to remain ahead of the competition.

Business process automation uses modern technology to automate repetitive operations. This offers several advantages, including less menial duties for workers, increased productivity, and fewer mistakes.

  • 79% of firms claim that automation saves time.
  • 69% of firms mention greater productivity using workflow automation.
  • 61% of organisations report regular cost reductions from automation.

Here are some methods to automate corporate activities with Microsoft Office 365 Business Premium:

  1. Create a workflow template: Open a Microsoft Office application, then click the File tab and choose a template. Then, customise the template by defining workflow stages, adding checkpoints and deadlines, reviewing and testing, and updating and refining.
  2. Use Microsoft Flow/Power Automate: Create and store documents in SharePoint Online. Then, link to Excel spreadsheets or SharePoint lists and configure Power Automate to communicate onboarding information at predetermined periods. Power Automate additionally has a visual designer who walks users through each step, and customers may choose from pre-made designs.

Budget-Friendly Tech: Saving Big with Microsoft Automation

In this topic, we will discuss Microsoft automation, which involves utilising the software’s built-in tools and capabilities to simplify operations and processes, resulting in cost savings. We’ll go over simple tactics and approaches that organisations may use to increase productivity and decrease costs by automating Microsoft products and services.

It is intended to handle a variety of a company’s IT requirements while also streamlining workflows across them. Here are some examples of how to leverage this platform’s automation capabilities.

1. Streamline Document Approvals

Projects and requests frequently encounter bottlenecks when one party is awaiting clearance while the other side is unaware that the “ball is in their court.” Documents are left to stagnate, and the project manager has go about following up with everyone to find out what’s going on and why a project is late or an approval hasn’t been completed.

Microsoft Flow, newly rebranded Power Automate, may help you simplify the acceptance of documents that need numerous services, including:

  1. Dynamics 365
  2. OneDrive for business
  3. Salesforce
  4. SharePoint, WordPress, Zendesk

2. Mastering the Sales Discovery Process

Most salesmen wish they could clone themselves so they could complete all of the “busy work” and spend more time in front of clients. Customer-facing automations allow you to not only free up your sales force from monotonous work, but also improve the customer experience.

One option is to utilise Microsoft Bookings, which comes with Office 365 Business Premium. Bookings lets your sales staff manage their meeting calendars by allowing prospects to make meetings online at their leisure.

Another great sales tool is to automate prospect surveys, which may provide more information about their requirements and trouble spots. Microsoft automatically emails someone for you, so you don’t have to remember to do so.

3. Innovative Approaches to Client Onboarding

Your customer onboarding process might be time-consuming and perhaps incomplete, or it can be automated and consistently excellent.

You may utilise Microsoft Flow/Power Automate to streamline customer onboarding and provide a consistent experience every time. Create the relevant documents and store them in SharePoint Online. You may also link to any Excel spreadsheet or SharePoint Lists.

Then you can configure Power Automate to deliver the relevant onboarding information at predetermined time intervals, as well as update a SharePoint checklist that will notify you when the process is complete.

4. Sensitive Data Loss Prevention

Data loss and vulnerability may cause big problems for any size firm. You may utilise Microsoft’s built-in data loss prevention (DLP) rules to keep sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands.

Azure Information Protection allows you to automatically classify sensitive documents based on your predefined security standards. When documents are saved, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint automatically classify them, as does Outlook when emails are received.

You may also verify that any critical email attachments are secured before they are delivered by using automatic email encryption in Office 365.

5. Document Retention Policies

Certain types of data frequently require retention for a set period of time. Such as tax information or contracts. You can automate retention labels while simultaneously classifying documents.

This implies that when a document is generated or changed, your Microsoft 365 platform understands how to classify it and how long it should be kept based on factors such as:

  • Certain sorts of sensitive information
  • Specific keywords that match a query you specify.

Conclusion

To summarise, Microsoft Office 365 Business Premium includes strong automation technologies such as Power Automate and SharePoint, allowing organisations to simplify processes and increase productivity. Organisations may use these capabilities to save time, decrease mistakes, and improve cooperation. Whether you’re automating document approvals, simplifying sales processes, or boosting client onboarding, Microsoft Office 365 Business Premium has the flexibility and power to suit your unique business demands. Embrace automation with Microsoft Office 365 Business Premium to maximise your organization’s potential.

FAQ’s

How does AI automate business processes?

AI replicates human intelligence in computers by programming them to think and learn in the same way that people do. Business Process Automation, on the other hand, use software to automate mundane and repetitive operations that humans formerly did manually.

How can I automate email responses with Microsoft Office 365?

You may use Outlook’s “Rules” function to automate email responses based on particular criteria, easing communication and saving time.

How can I automate data entry tasks using Excel in Microsoft Office 365?

Excel’s Power Query tool automates data extraction and transformation, saving time and reducing mistakes in data entry operations.

Is it possible to automate file backups in Microsoft OneDrive?

Yes, you can configure automatic file backups in OneDrive by activating version history and specifying backup settings, ensuring that your data are always safe and up to date.