Collaboration is the way we get things done in the workplace, but the process itself can be complex and frustrating. It shouldn’t have to be. Working together has just become easier than ever before and more impactful with the use the new Office 2016 suite of integrated apps and services.
Office has always been the go-to tool for helping individuals do their best work—whether for professional documents, powerful analyses or school presentations. People often start and end their work in Office, but there is often a messy middle that involves a lot of discussion—in person, by phone or via various tools—as well as multiple (sometimes conflicting) inputs. Therefore, with Office 2016 Microsoft delivers a set of experiences that is built for making teamwork seamless.
The real-time co-authoring is available in the web apps since 2013. But now it is build directly into the native apps. Co-authoring in Word can happen in real-time, which lets you see what others are writing immediately, as it happens. As Microsoft plans to expand real-time co-authoring to each of the native apps and you should expect to see more over time.
Skype for Business is now available in the client apps, allowing you to IM, screen share, talk or video chat right in your docs. This same experience will be coming to Office Online later this fall. Skype for Business also has faster screen sharing and now adds the option to start a real-time co-authoring session from any conversation or meeting.
Office 365 Groups are designed to keep teams connected and now the feature is available as part of Outlook 2016 and in a new Outlook Groups app on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. Office 365 Groups allows individuals to easily create public or private teams. Each group includes a shared inbox, calendar, cloud storage for group files, and a shared OneNote notebook to keep the team productive.
Office 365 Planner helps teams organize their work, with the ability to create new plans, organize and assign tasks, set due dates and update status. Planner’s visual dashboards and email notifications help keep everyone informed on the overall progress of their initiative. Planner will be available in preview, to Office 365 First Release customers, starting next quarter.
Originally unveiled earlier this year, GigJam will become part of Office 365 in 2016. GigJam is an unprecedented new way for teams to accomplish tasks and transform business processes by breaking down the barriers between devices, apps and people.
