Microsoft has announced availability for use in the UK and North America of the following apps:
Microsoft Listings – to manage online presence
Microsoft Connections – for marketing outreach
Microsoft Invoicing – for billing management
Office 365 Business Centre – bringing together data from these various services.
Incorporated within Microsoft 365 Business and Office 365 Business Premium packages, the apps are designed to support business owners and managers with managing customer relationships.
Also looked at within this blog are Microsoft Bookings, Outlook Customer Manager, and MileIQ.
Customer data and information
With these tools, processing is simplified through keeping related resources – from invoices to appointment management information, and mileage tracking – in a single location.
Microsoft Listings enables businesses to check that corporate information (company name, address, phone number, website address, opening hours, etc.) is uniform across listing forums – on social media, in search engines and listing pages – Google’s and Yelp’s, for example.
With Microsoft Connections, a business can send professionally styled emails to marketing lists, communicating offerings in an accessible and attractive way, and supporting promotional campaigns.
The aim behind Outlook Customer Manager is to facilitate fast access to customer information – emails, meeting details, calls, notes, for example – and reduce the number of screens through which to navigate to locate the required information.
Business administration
To enable businesses to create professionally presented admin communications, Microsoft offers:
Microsoft Invoicing, enabling businesses to produce professionally styled estimates and invoices, and which also facilitates online payment throughout the payment cycle, as well as enabling organisations to store and retrieve details as drafts, and create invoices from estimates.
The Microsoft Bookings app is for businesses that operate through customer appointment, enabling customers to select chosen time slots, with bookings incorporated into individual staff diaries. Changes are automatically reflected in these diary entries, and Bookings can also be integrated in with a Facebook presence.
MileIQ utilises functionality including drive detection and mileage tracking, and enables organisations to distinguish between business and personal mileage.
Integrating technology
Business Centrebrings together the data and insight from Microsoft Connections, Listings, Invoicing, and Bookings, enabling the tracking of key business metrics – for example, total invoicing amounts, contact names on mailing lists, appointments booked – with the information accessible via a variety of smart devices.