Organizations around the world migrate to the cloud for all the right reasons. They look for scalability, mobility and reduced IT burden. And with powerful Microsoft 365 features, they also benefit from unparalleled collaboration and robust security.

In a previous post, we highlighted Microsoft 365’s business-grade video conferencing, Microsoft Teams Live Events and dependable security and privacy. If you need more reasons to migrate from GroupWise, here are three additional Microsoft 365 features that might help tip the scales.

1. Microsoft 365 Groups

In the old days, organizations used email distribution lists to communicate within a team. Groups in Microsoft 365 greatly expand that collaboration. Every group includes a shared document library and notebook, a teamwork planning space and a video portal. Additional shared features depend on where you create the group.

For example, an Outlook group also includes a shared calendar and inbox. Thus, new team members have instant access to all group emails, even those sent before they joined the team. A Yammer group (or “community”) includes a Yammer feed for communicating. And a Microsoft team adds a team chat, as well as a wiki with embedded chat capabilities.

Whether you build an Outlook group, a team or a Yammer group, Microsoft Groups provide a powerful way to collaborate. And best of all, they require very little learning curve to set up and use. Groups even simplify security. For instance, adding a group member automatically gives the member the permissions they need to group resources.

Microsoft 365 Features

2. Intelligent Intranet

One year ago, SharePoint Conference attendees learned about one of the Microsoft 365 features poised to turbo-charge employee engagement. Microsoft unveiled SharePoint home sites. Expanding on the SharePoint communication sites, home sites provide an intelligent intranet for the company as a whole, building a shared culture and experience.

When users access the home site, they see content designed for the whole organization, as well as personalized content applicable to the individual. For instance, from the landing page, a user might access official company news, pertinent team videos, recent documents, Yammer conversations and even third party applications.

While companies have built intranets for years, organizations can deploy a SharePoint home site out of the box in minutes. They can then customize the design, navigation and web aspects quickly, without the need for coding. And users can access the home site from any device.

3. Expanded Search Capabilities

With Microsoft Search, a single search brings up pertinent information from the public web, side by side with relevant documents from across the Microsoft 365 spectrum. For instance, without leaving Word, you can search for information in Outlook or SharePoint to include in your current document. Or, you can search within Bing to include both public and internal news items.

Tap into Microsoft 365 Features

As the Microsoft 365 features list continues to expand, GroupWise users discover more reasons to migrate to the cloud. Messaging Architects is poised to take the pain out of GroupWise cloud migration. With proven tools and expertise, we manage the migration behind the scenes and help you optimize your Microsoft 365 experience.

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