AVOID DOCUMENT DISASTER: Empowering your Business

The POWER Trifector Solution for Document Automation

The environment in which we operate has significantly changed. Businesses in Northland have been driven to embrace remote working.  

Every good business is constantly on the hunt for new ways to improve their efficiency, keep their costs down, and increase productivity and profit and decrease risk.

What if we told you that you might be sitting on a goldmine of opportunity?

Having Microsoft 365 is bit like owning a spaceship. You know what it’s used for, but how to use it? Let’s unpack it a bit further.

Most Common Problems

The most common problems we hear of through our IT Alliance network around the country are:

  • Putting your documents into the cloud, document management and approvals
  • Empowering your business while working remotely
  • Managing emails and automating them
  • Keeping your company cyber safe

Would it surprise you to know that 50% of IT Alliance clients underutilize their Microsoft 365 Teams account? So why pay for something, and not use it all? You can join in our Empower Series here to hear more, but for now let’s start with document management and approvals.

Making the most of Your Microsoft 365

Sharepoint and Power Automate are both free with your business Subscription. Did you know you could use them in these ways?

Microsoft SharePoint – SharePoint (their free document management system) can seem overly complicated because it can offer so much. But it doesn’t need to be so scary.

You can start small and use more functionality as needed or as you grow.

Basically, it’s a platform that offers content management and collaboration.

It helps with reducing duplicate files, gives you remote access (needed more than ever!) and allows you to work on the same document at the same time.

Find out more about SharePoint here: https://ita.co.nz/sharepoint-shakedown

Microsoft Power Automate is another free app that allows you to automate workflows across applications. You can use it to connect email and instant message alerts, synchronize files between applications, copy files from one service to another, collect data from one app and store it in another, and much more.

Templates are available to get you started. Efficiency is key for sustained success across businesses and Power Automate assists this by simplifying workflows with the automation of repetitive tasks.

Power Apps – is a low-code application development platform that integrates with Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Azure and more.

With Power Apps, web and mobile applications can be built without writing code. Instead, you can use pre-built templates and components with drag-and-drop simplicity.

Power Apps has been described as a bit like a meal delivery kit. The ingredients are pre-measured and chopped. The instructions are ready to go. All you have to do is prep and cook.

Because Power Apps has advanced logic and rules built-in, development time is cut by 70%. In some cases, it takes just a few hours to build an app. Or you can customize one of the pre-built templates in just minutes. Plus, Power apps connects to hundreds of business systems and databases. Here are some impressive statistics to show how Power apps is super useful.

  • 188% ROI over three years3
  • 74% reduction in app development costs4
  • 2 hours of line-of-business employee productivity improvement per week5

Real Business, Real Change

Quality Food Services is the largest exporter of butter pastry in NZ.  Up until a few years ago they were struggling with their documents and approvals as they were complicated and manual.

They used SharePoint to create an online document management system that had version control, search features and navigation that made finding documents and using them easier. 

You could track your changes so that everyone was always up to speed on any project.

Power Automate helped QFS to automate their business processes and approvals using tailored notifications and automated data entry, saving plenty of time and increasing the accuracy of the approval process.

Power apps helped to collect information and display where everything was in the process so that the project could be managed much more easily.

All of this saved them time, money and decreased their risk significantly.

Where to from here?

If you have a process that you are helps make your document management process a little less of a headache, speak to us here. You are welcome to register to attend our next Empower Session here.

ClipTraining – the new efficient way to train!

Imagine having a way that you provide training for your team remotely, upskill your team effortlessly, and increase productivity. 

These days many employees work remotely. Modernised self-service e-learning solutions have become the new gold standard for IT here in Northland.

ClipTraining is a new self-service eLearning solution for Microsoft 365. With it, you can upskill your team with top notch, bite sized training, track their progress, decrease help desk enquiries, provide training remotely… and all for a very, very low cost! 

What is ClipTraining? 

ClipTraining is the new way for companies to provide training to their staff without overwhelming them. Clip Training is an e-learning solution provider, offering task-based training focused on Microsoft Technology.  

It has over 5,000 short 2-3 minute videos covering Microsoft 365, Windows and other productivity apps. It is the ultimate, searchable library of knowledge we have all been waiting for!  

How can ClipTraining benefit your business? 

#1. Increase productivity by upskilling your team effortlessly. 

One of the best ways to boost productivity is to ensure that your team is kept up to date with their skills. ClipTraining means that your team can improve their skills with the software they use every day, without being overwhelmed. 

#2. Teams Teams Teams 

Now you don’t have to go anywhere for training! All of the training videos are available inside a native Teams application. You don’t even need to open a new window. 

#3. No more annoying calls to the Helpdesk!  

Imagine being able to quickly find the exact training video that you needed. Adoptees of ClipTraining have found that client calls to the helpdesk are massively reduced. Not only that, but users also feel more empowered, can get on with their work, making workflow better.   

#4. Bite Sized learning 

Short lessons mean that you and your team can learn in bite sized chunks, rather than being overwhelmed with information. Not only that – but they can explore what they are most passionate about or interested in. 

#5. Training on any device – anywhere, anytime! 

One of the big advantages is that you can upskill on the go! Maybe you or your team need training while out in the field. With a cloud-based Learning Platform and mobile friendly design, users can improve their skills from anywhere using any device – laptops, smartphones and tablets.  

#6. Learn from the BEST. 

The training videos are created by industry experts, meaning that the information you receive is highly reputable and from trusted sources. No need to travel to a big city to get the best training. 

#7. Regular Updates 

Technology is always changing, and ClipTraining keeps up with these changes, with videos being added regularly. That way your team will never be left behind. 

#8. Easily monitor your teams Professional Development 

With ClipTraining you can easily keep track of what your team is learning, their professional development and who has completed any required training videos. This means less time and money tied up in long-winded training programs, less time away from the office and reduced cost. Understanding their interests and needs will also give you great insight into how to develop them too! 

#9. Easy Search Function 

Fully text-indexed search capabilities means your team can find videos quickly. Nothing worse than searching forever, only to find they do not have what you need. 

#10. Easily train new employees… 

Onboarding is always a pretty resource heavy procedure. The best way to get a new employee up to speed is to give them a bit of a plan. With ClipTraining you can set up a specific training curriculum for new-hire onboarding, matched to job roles or departments. Magic! 

#11. Clip-Training provides value for money. 

Clip Training provides GREAT value for money in comparison with other training.  

Want to get started? 

Easy, all you need to do is get in touch with us to find out how this might work for you. You can email us  to have a complimentary chat. We can easily answer your questions, show you a demo of ClipTraining and help you to understand how ClipTraining can work specifically for your organisation. 

By: Derek Morgan – ClipTraining – APAC Representative