4 Ways to Improve Your Work Environment with Office 365 Analytics

Big Data is everywhere. According to a study by Science Daily, 90 percent of all data in the world has been generated over the last two years. Data is pouring out of every system in your organization. The key, however, is converting that data into information to improve your business. For that you need analytics.

Fortunately, Office 365 can help. While you might not realize it, your familiar suite of office applications doesn’t only help you set up spreadsheets, draft documents, and send emails. In September of 2015, Microsoft acquired VoloMetrix, the leader in people analytics for the enterprise, and is embedding its capabilities into Office 365. This new feature - Workplace Analytics -  will help you uncover valuable, actionable insights into the way your organization operates. Here are four ways you can leverage Office 365 analytics to improve your workplace.

Identify inefficiency

Most everyone dreads meetings and relief may be on the way. Workplace Analytics can identify low-engagement meetings and management redundancy that can streamline processes and liberate your people from time-wasting activities. According to a Microsoft report, one Fortune 500 company was able to return an average of five hours a week for every employee in the organization by leveraging Workplace Analytics best practices.

Reduce stress

Firefighting problems, disconnects between tasks, skill, and goals, and failure to meet unrealistic expectations can add up to one, big, knot of stress for employees. Stressed employees rarely do their best work and ultimately the organization suffers. Workplace Analytics has devised a predictive model built on established indicators like time usage, after-hours work, double-booked schedules, and schedule gaps that don’t allow enough time to finish projects. Using this model, you can identify employees that may be reaching their breaking point and initiate corrective action steps to help them.

Enhance collaboration

Your employees can sometimes be sidetracked by confusion over their roles or frustrated by having to navigate layers of bureaucracy in your organization. These issues can complicate processes and prevent valuable collaboration that can solve organizational problems and uncover valuable opportunities. Workplace Analytics can study communication and collaboration trends, measure redundancy, isolation, and internal network activity, and evaluate how teams are working together. This data can help you make small, but significant, changes that can encourage more effective collaboration and improve productivity.

Drive employee engagement

The worst thing that can happen to your employees is to have them throw up their hands and give up. If inefficiencies, overscheduling, and process roadblocks cause them to “check out,” you will not only lose key employees but overall organizational productivity will suffer as well. According to a Microsoft case study, a large pharmaceutical company leveraged Workplace Analytics to rebalance workload and improve meeting quality and email usage to transform the company culture, dramatically increase employee engagement and drive improved productivity.

Office 365 is at the core of many of the interactions and activities of your employees. Tracking that data can not only help improve the working environment for your people, but can also improve the efficiency and productivity of your organization.

Check out our Microsoft Office 365 Proof of Concept for help evaluating the value and business impact of Office 365 on your environment.