Enabling collaboration, improving productivity

How much of your working day is spent finding and sending information? How can we make information more accessible and easier to find? Who do we ask when we have a question?

Microsoft Lync, Outlook and Sharepoint are here to help.LyncAre you using all the features? It’s not only for instant messaging. Use Lync to:

•make a call, saving money on traditional calls

•switch between instant message and call….and add video

•add extra participants in your IM’s, calls and video. If you think of someone who might be able to answer a question; just Lync them in!

•join meetings – avoid un-necessary travel by making your Outlook meeting a ‘Lync Meeting’

•use desktop sharing to make documents, spreadsheets and presentations available to all participants when using IM, Lync calls or Lync meetingsOutlook When creating or reading an email check the Lync status of sender and recipients– it’s listed against their names in the header and with their photographs at the bottom left of your email. A Lync conversation or call is just one click away.

Avoid email overload, use collaborative tools to share information and obtain immediate answers. Consider this:

Email trails -where we are now and how this could changeSharepointAs we introduce Sharepoint, collaborative working becomes easier; information will be more accessible and networking with associated parties simpler instantly manageable. Co-authoring of documents is possible and sharing is simplified.

Check the Microsoft Programme site

for latest news, helpful guides and FAQs.

As we begin to use the facilities on offer, we discover ways of utilising these services more effectively; log into the Microsoft Programme Forum

to share knowledge with your colleagues about the new Microsoft products.

There will be more to come over the next 12 months.

There are further Business Transformation Week events to come, with the Business Transformation roadshow heading to Fraserbugh on Wednesday 3 September, Stonehaven on Thursday 4 September and Peterhead on Friday 5 September.

The full programme is available on Arcadia and Arcadia Lite.

You can also register your attendance

for Christine Gore’s live On the Spot Webinar on Friday 5 September at 12.30pm. You can watch the event from an PC, Mac, smartphone or tablet or if you are unable to watch live, you can leave your Business Transformation questions by registering for the event

and watching it back later on Arcadia.