Most small businesses that get set up on Microsoft 365 use it for one thing: email. The rest of the platform — Teams, OneDrive, the Office apps — sits untouched. That's leaving a lot of value on the table.
Here's how to actually use Microsoft 365 to run your business more efficiently.
Use Teams instead of texting clients and colleagues
If you work with subcontractors, a VA, or any kind of support staff, Microsoft Teams replaces the scattered mix of texts, WhatsApps, and emails that most small businesses rely on. You can create separate channels for different projects, share files, make video calls, and keep everything searchable in one place.
Teams is included in your Microsoft 365 subscription. Most people ignore it because they don't realise it's there.
Store everything in OneDrive, not on your desktop
Files saved to OneDrive are accessible from any device and automatically backed up. If your laptop is stolen, dropped, or dies, your files are safe. If you want to share a quote or proposal with a client, you share a OneDrive link rather than attaching a large file to an email.
You get 1TB of storage per user. For most small businesses, that's more than you'll ever need.
Use Outlook's calendar to manage jobs and appointments
Outlook's calendar is more powerful than most people use it for. You can share your calendar with a partner or assistant, set reminders for follow-ups, schedule recurring tasks, and send meeting invites to clients that drop straight into their calendar.
For a service business managing multiple jobs or appointments, a well-organised Outlook calendar beats a paper diary or a phone calendar.
Set up email signatures properly
A professional email signature — with your name, business name, phone number, and website — should be on every email you send. In Outlook, this is set up once and applies automatically. It's a small thing that consistently reinforces your brand and makes it easy for people to contact you by other means.
Make sure your signature includes a link to your website — every email you send is a quiet reminder that you exist online.
Use shared mailboxes for team addresses
If you want a generic address like info@ or enquiries@ that multiple people can access, Microsoft 365 supports shared mailboxes. One person can handle info@ in the morning and another in the afternoon, with all responses logged in one place. This is far more professional than forwarding to a personal Gmail.
Keep your inbox under control with folders and rules
Outlook's rules feature lets you automatically sort incoming emails into folders — invoices, suppliers, client enquiries — without touching them manually. Setting this up takes ten minutes and saves hours of inbox management over the course of a year.
Getting set up properly from the start
If you're just getting started with Microsoft 365, our Professional Mailboxes & Email Setup service makes sure everything is configured correctly from day one — from £8/month per user. Get in touch and we'll handle the setup for you.