Techblog
Making productivity on the go easier with Microsoft OneDrive and Lync
For SMEs constantly on their feet or travelling, the business most likely runs from a smartphone or laptop. Keeping everything and everyone in the loop depends on a solution that lets teams easily manage all of their files from an online environment and communicate effectively.
Cloud connectivity enables a business to have 24-hour accessibility. Whether an employee starts a presentation on their laptop and then make edits later with their smartphone, a cloud storage and communication solution such as Microsoft’s OneDrive and Lync (part of the Office 365 suite) easily manages the content and ensures the entire team can access files and collaborate from anywhere.
Here are the advantages to using OneDrive and Lync, especially for SMEs that are constantly on the go:
Easy access to files anytime, anywhere with OneDrive
OneDrive’s cloud file management means all users can view and track revisions as content gets developed and published on any device. Whether from a laptop before a flight, on a smartphone while walking to the gate, or back on a desktop computer in the office, OneDrive ensures all drafts are up to date between devices, with a shared folder on all of users’ desktops and devices.
This same cross-platform connectivity applies for other users, too. OneDrive tracks current users and lets others edit and update drafts without creating new files. This means less time spent managing files and more time spent working on them. It also helps to prevent incorrect drafts being distributed between team members.
As an added bonus, OneDrive easily integrates with the rest of Microsoft’s Office 365 solution for collaborative development, allowing multiple users to edit a single file in OneDrive and update drafts in real time.
OneDrive has a 1TB storage capacity, meaning that team members can upload a large number of files as they’d like.. Whether an SME needs to store large videos and audio files or just an archive of documents and PDFs, OneDrive ensures 24-hour access to team content from reliable, high-speed servers all over the world.
Another OneDrive advantage is not losing previous file versions should any errors or issues arise during the production process. All files in OneDrive go through a revision control system so the team can easily keep track of when drafts are submitted, when files are edited and who is committing file edits. Rather than send emails back and forth endlessly, employees can simply update the file in OneDrive, send a quick message on Lync, and let the cloud do the rest.
If anything goes wrong, OneDrive can easily manage and rollback versions for any files currently in the cloud storage environment. This also applies for deleted files, ensuring nothing precious is lost or corrupted due to human error.
Keep in touch with Lync
Keeping in touch throughout any process in the workplace is easy with group chat channels and Microsoft Lync’s unified messaging system. Using Lync, users do not require any specialised hardware and they can communicate using live video no matter where they may be located.
There are many productive features that Lync offers, a key of which is that it allows up to 250 participants in web conferencing. Lync lets users set simultaneous ringing for inbound calls to automatically ring any mobile device or telephone number in addition to its desktop client. Users can also communicate from within any Office application, whether it’s from inside Outlook, SharePoint or Word.
Using a communication software like Microsoft Lync can reduce costs spent on hardware, software and training. At the same time, using Lync could reduce the time and cost associated with frequent business travel and enables a more efficient and productive working process within the workplace..
Getting started with OneDrive
OneDrive and Lync are part of the Office 365 offering by Singtel. Click here to learn more.