People often have dozens of tabs open in their web browsers to access services that help them with work or catch up on social media. As a result, it’s difficult to keep track of all of them and get the information you need. Office 365 Groups solves this problem with Connectors, a new feature that lets you connect to third-party applications within the Outlook page. So if you want to declutter your taskbar, try out Connectors for your Groups.

What can it do?

Office 365 Connectors enable users to access third-party apps and services within their Outlook groups, rather than having to scour through dozens of tabs to access a specific application.

For example, your team members can be informed about a particular hashtag your company is following on Twitter without having to separately open the app. Groups aren’t limited to one particular service. With connectors, you can use Twitter, Trello, Mailchimp, Bing, UserVoice, and over 50 other services.

Small organizations can also take advantage of connectors. Office 365 lets you develop your own connectors by embedding the Connect to Office 365 button on your site. This allows users to connect to your service and get updates on your company, as they would with other third-party services. Your Office 365 client basically becomes a hub for third-party apps that keeps your company in sync to get more work done.

Connector card

Connector cards offer a user-friendly way to interact with external applications. If a particular connector is added to a Group, connector cards are generated within the group’s activity feed. While most cards will display events in plain text, some applications like Twitter and Trello provide formatted actions to interact with the card. Trello, for example, allows you to Assign or Comment on an event card.

Who can create a connector?

Office 365 Group members can configure and use a number of connectors. Once you configure a connector for a Group, that app will be also be available for other members. However, the person who added a connector to that Group is the only one who can modify that app.

How do you access Office 365 Connectors?

Any Office 365 Mail user can use Connectors for Groups. Simply navigate to a Group from your Outlook page and click on the Connectors tab at the top of the page. From here, you can connect the available third-party services on offer to any of your Outlook groups. You can even configure the settings of your apps without having to leave Office 365. Remember to pull in the applications that you think your group will be using the most.

As your business grows, you’ll need more services to be more productive. By aggregating them all in one place, you save time shifting around apps to find the needed information. So the next time you create an Office 365 Group, help your team members work more efficiently by setting up some connectors.

If you’re interested in learning about the latest Office 365 updates, contact us today.

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While most Office 365 apps serve a unique purpose, tools like Outlook Groups, Yammer, and Microsoft Teams can all be used for office communication and collaboration. However, there are small differences in the way they can be used. Let us break it down for you.

Outlook Groups

With Outlook Groups, every member gets a shared inbox, calendar, project planner, notebook, and document library. You also get the ability to connect to third-party apps such as Twitter, Trello, and Mailchimp, so notifications are sent directly to your shared inbox.

This means all relevant messages and information are contained in one place, so if a majority of your conversations occur via email, Outlook Groups is ideal. What’s more, HR and sales departments that communicate with external parties will also find plenty of uses for its email features.

A big drawback with Outlook Groups, however, is email overload. Because all messages and notifications are sent to one inbox, users may become overwhelmed by the number of emails they have to sort through every day.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams, a chat-based collaboration platform similar to Slack, works with Skype for Business so you can text, call, video chat, and share files with colleagues. Thanks to its seamless integrations with other Office 365 programs, you can even work on shared files without having to leave the app.

Unlike Groups, Microsoft Teams is designed for high-velocity collaboration, making it the best of the three for completing projects with tight deadlines or other tasks where employees need immediate feedback.

Yammer

Much like Groups and Teams, Yammer works well with other Office 365 tools like Outlook and OneDrive. However, Yammer is a professional social media app designed to foster open communication and break down barriers between teams.

With Yammer, important files and announcements can be shared with the entire company like an office bulletin board. Users can see the most popular post on their feeds, follow it, and even provide their input by leaving a comment.

Yammer also takes design elements and features from popular social media apps like Facebook, making it a popular choice for companies with millennials in their workforce.

Although we’ve discussed the fundamental differences between Groups, Teams, and Yammer, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what each app can do. To figure out which apps you need, you must understand how your employees work, how they prefer to collaborate, and what you want to achieve.

But there’s another way to find the right app for your business. Contact us today for an IT assessment!

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At work, we depend on several apps to be more productive around the office. However, with so many of them open in our web browsers, it can be a drag to constantly click in and out of tabs just to get the information we need. Fortunately, Office 365 Connectors for Groups allows you to stay on top of all the third party services your company is using. So how, exactly, do these connectors make your life easier? Here are a few things you need to know about the new Office 365 feature.

What can it do?

Office 365 Connectors enable users to access third party apps and services within their Outlook groups, rather than having to scour through dozens of windows to access a specific application. This new feature allows you to keep your company’s discussion in one place, and enables your employees to stay up-to-date regardless of the service used to broadcast an event. For example, your team members can be informed about a particular hashtag that your company is following on Twitter without having to explicitly open the page. Groups aren’t limited to one particular service either. With connectors you can use Twitter, Trello, Mailchimp, Bing, UserVoice and over 50 other services.

Small organizations can also take advantage of connectors. Office 365 lets you develop your own connectors by embedding the Connect to Office 365 button on your site. This allows users to connect to your service and get updates on your company, as they would with other third party services. Basically, with connectors, your Office 365 client becomes a hub for third party that keeps your company in sync to get more work done.

Connector card

Connector cards offer a user friendly way to interact with external applications. If a particular connector is added to a group, connector cards are generated within the group’s activity feed. While most cards will display events in plain text, some applications like Twitter and Trello provide formatted actions to interact with the card. Trello, for example, allows you to Assign or Comment on an event card.

Who can create a connector?

Office 365 group members can configure and use an array of connectors. Once you configure a connector for a specific group, that app will be also be available for other members. However, the person who added a connector to the group is the only one capable of modifying that app.

How do you access Office 365 Connectors?

With its public release, any Office 365 Mail user can use Office 365 Connectors for Groups. Simply navigate to a Group from your Outlook page and click on the Connectors tab at the top of the page. From here, you can connect the available third party services on offer to any of your Outlook groups. You can even configure the settings of your apps without ever having to leave Office 365. However you should probably only consider pulling in the applications that you think your group will be using the most.

As your business grows, you’re going to need more services to be more productive in the workplace. By aggregating them all in one place, you save time shifting around dozens of apps to find the information that you need. So the next time you create an Office 365 Group, help your team members work more efficiently by setting up some connectors.

If you’re interested in learning about the latest Office 365 updates, contact us today.

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