The COVID-19 pandemic taught businesses how they need to find new and more innovative ways of operating. The retail business has had to keep up with the dynamic needs of its customers in a difficult operating environment. Collaboration and productivity tools that support innovation, enhance flexibility, and facilitate communication can help businesses thrive in these changing times. One of the most powerful suites for business is Microsoft 365. Let us look at how you can scale up your business with Microsoft 365:
Scale up or down as per your needs
You don’t need to purchase licenses in bulk in Microsoft 365. Cloud-based services within the Microsoft suite offer you a seamless ability to scale as per your requirement. Microsoft allows you to either go for a cloud based service or an on-premise service as per your needs.
Find the best license type for your business
If you are a small retail business, then a Microsoft Business Basic plan is more cost-effective and friendly for you. As you keep growing, you always have the chance to shift to the Microsoft 365 Business Premium plan. Microsoft offers you numerous plans, both packaged and custom, that help you in finding the best one that suits your team.
Check for bundles
Microsoft 365 also offers you opportunities to purchase products in bulk at a lower price. This means that instead of purchasing licenses individually, you can see which team members need bundles and transition them to the new model. With bundles, you can move your retail business more cost-efficient as well as add more functionality to your team.
Get your HR involved
When you integrate Microsoft 365 suite, you can use your HRs knowledge to ensure that any new joiners, relocators, or company leavers hand over their accounts seamlessly. This will also help you in keeping track of free licenses that could be reused when employees leave. These free licenses can help you in making sure that new employees can use Microsoft 365 from their first day.
Constantly look for unassigned licenses and inactive accounts
For retail businesses, it can often be hard to keep a trail of individual licenses. With Microsoft 365, you can activate a retail account and only pay for the licenses that you require. In case you have an unassigned and inactive account, you can recycle or remove the license to bring your overall costs down. Microsoft 365 also offers tools such as Power BI and Azure AD to help you in monitoring user activity.
Keep an eye on third-party add-ons
Third-party add-ons are generally associated with Microsoft 365. These can be useful in certain scenarios, but if you are not using them, they can be an added expense. Administrators need to keep an eye on such add-ons regularly. You can also limit the use of add-one to just paid apps that are approved by your business using the admin portal.
Conclusion
Over the past decade, businesses of all sizes and among all industries have had to acclimate to the advancements in technology. With all these new changes, it is not hard to emphasize the consequence of having reliable and secure collaboration and productivity tools.