Should You Buy MS Office 2016 For Your Business?
As businesses evolve with time, their requirements increase gradually. To cater to the needs of a business operation, decision makers employ latest solutions to stay up to the task. When it comes to office-specific software, there are only two major players in the market – Microsoft and Apache. Although Apache’s Open Office has its followers, Microsoft Office is clearly the preferred choice of users all over the world. With a customer base of 1.2 billion, Microsoft Office fan following is really strong and only expected to grow further. MS Office 2016 is the latest offering by Microsoft that builds on its predecessors and offers a whole new range of features that were not available previously.
New Features Of MS Office 2016
The new features of MS Office 2016 are the primary reason why you should upgrade your Microsoft Office Suite. Some of the most useful features of Office 2016 that can improve the productivity of your business are listed below:
1. Better Collaboration
Real time co-authoring is the need of the hour in today’s business world. Fast flow of data screams for a solution that allows you to disseminate, share and update information quickly and in an organized manner. By using MS Office 2016’s “Collaborate and Co-Author in Real Time” feature, you can perform daily tasks effectively by staying in sync with updated information from all stakeholders of a collective operation.
For using this feature, go to the Share tab on the extreme right of the Ribbon. You will be asked if you want to save to Cloud. Here, it can be saved on OneDrive shared folder or a SharePoint location. Once the information is saved, you can invite other users and provide them access to view or edit the files. If the desktop Office suite is not installed, other members can access the information without any charge on free Office Online.
2. Attention-Grabbing “Mentions”
Sometimes even the smallest of features can come in really handy. “Mentions” is one such feature that can be the difference between a timely reminder and a missed opportunity. In order to use this feature, type the @ symbol and the first few letters of the person’s name into the body of the mail. Once you have done this, you will get a drop-down box displaying options from your contact list. After you will select a contact, the name of the person will be highlighted in the message or invitation. Also, it will automatically pop into the “To” line. This feature provides the added benefit of sorting as you can to sort your inbox by using “Mentions”.
3. Better Connection Options With Excel
Excel has always been the go-to tools for managers all across the globe. Add a better connectivity to this powerful tool and it becomes even more impressive. Now, you can import data from SharePoint folders, SAP HANA databases, and other web-based services. For using this feature in Excel, “Select Data > New Query” and then make the appropriate selection from the drop-down box.
4. Combination Of Microsoft Excel With Power BI
The added benefit of Power BI can be reaped by combining it with the power of Microsoft Excel. Power BI has the ability to transform data into interactive reports that can be useful for businesses. By using the business dashboard provided in the 2016 addition of Microsoft Office, you can visualize, analyze, and create models conveniently. For accomplishing this task, you need to perform the following steps – Select File > Publish. You can use this feature to download and upload workbooks to Power BI.
5. “Researcher” Feature In Microsoft Word
“Researcher” feature is integrated into Word for business research and terming of papers. Choose “Researcher” from the taskbar and enter your search term in the sidebar. Upon getting the results, you can choose the ones you want, add headings and start your outline.
6. Powerpoint Zoom
With the addition of three types of zoom in the latest Microsoft Office, presentations have become a lot more flexible:
- Put the pieces selected onto one slide and jump between them with “Summary Zoom”
- Navigate slides in any order with “Slide Zoom”
- Pop back to previous sections with “Section Zoom”
In order to access this feature, Select Insert > Zoom and then choose the type of zoom required from the drop-down box.
7. More Options On The Outlook Ribbon
With Office 2016, it is possible to archive items in Outlook by using the Archive button. Latest Outlook also allows you to browse or add new groups with the use of new group buttons. If you do not see the new buttons, you can add them to the ribbon by going to “Customize Ribbon” option.
8. Feature Suggestion
As an organization you may have certain requirements that are not fully covered by the features available in Office 2016. If this is the case, then you can suggest a feature by: Selecting File > Feedback and clicking the “Outlook 2016 Feedback” button.
9. Stay Up To Date With Updates
In order to stay fully armed with the complete Microsoft Office feature set, you need to update it timely. Ensure that you have all the latest features by Selecting File > Account > What’s New to access the pop-up window. This window will contain a link to “Learn More” about those features. In case this option is not visible and you are an Office 365 subscriber, ensure that you have the latest version of Office installed. Update the software by going to File > Account > Update Options.
Microsoft Office 2016 New Features And Business Benefits
Equipped with the previously mentioned features, Microsoft Office 2016 is arguably the strongest office suite released till date. In order to maximize the potential of your employees, it is best to buy Office 2016 and train them well on all the newest features. By learning about new features of MS Office 2016, they will be able to perform and manage their work in a much better way. You can enroll your employees in QuickStart’s Microsoft Office 2016 training program for improving their office skills.