Microsoft Office 365 Diary: LinkedIn AI Promises To Help People Write Better CVs In Word

August 2017: New business apps and PowerPoint Updates

Microsoft is previewing three new apps in Office 365 Business Premium. Microsoft Connections, Listings and Invoicing are designed to make it easier to run a small business and wil roll out in the US, UK and Canada first.

There are also updates to Microsoft PowerPoint. PowerPoint Designer now recognises times, dates and topics on your slides and redesigns them into timelines, while support for 3D objects has also been added.

Businesses will also be boosted by Outlook updates and StaffHub, the application to manage shift workers and remote workforces.

July 2017: Microsoft bundles Windows 10 and Office 365 together in Microsoft 365 service

Microsoft has combined Office 365 with Windows 10 to create a new suite of services aimed at offering customers the complete subscription based package.

The new ‘Microsoft 365’ offering is available in Enterprise and Business flavours to target all sizes of company, enabling IT managers to easily role out services across their estate, while at the same time providing unified management of the apps and services being used.

As Kirk Koenigsbauer, corporate vice president for the Office team explained, Microsoft 365 offers services to “empower employees, safeguard the business and simplify IT management”.

October 2016: Office users can create and share documents from Yammer

Office 365 subscribers can now create collaborative Excel, PowerPoint and Word files directly from within Microsoft’s business social network Yammer. Teams can view documents, review changes and mark files in terms of importance and there’s also the option to share from either SharePoint or OneDrive.

Microsoft has also improved how attachments are displayed, with photos, files and links all displaying a preview in Yammer feeds.

October 2016: Microsoft releases Skype for Salesforce

Microsoft has made Skype for Salesforce available to customers, declaring it to be a great example of how the Skype Web SDK can be used to deliver integrated browser-based communications without the need for a plug-in.

Skype works directly within Salesforce, allowing users to see if a co-worker is available and see their status. Emails, instant messages, voice and video calls can all be initiated without leaving the CRM application, something Microsoft says can improve productivity and boost sales.

The tool is currently in beta and is available to all customers with Skype for Business Online and Salesforce Enterprise or Unlimited Edition. Chat works in any Lightning-equipped browser but audio and video calls at present only work in Edge and Safari. Support for Chrome and Firefox is coming soon.

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