Breaking down Communication & Collaboration Options in Office 365.

1. TMO in O365?
Breaking down
Communication &
Collaboration Options in
Office 365

2. Joy T. Apple
Microsoft Service Adoption Specialist
• Modern Workplace Strategist & lead
trainer at PAIT Group
• Joy of SharePoint webinar series
• 11+ years working with SharePoint and
other Microsoft products & technologies
• Farm Administrator
• Trainer
• Consultant
• Contributing author, validation and
technical editing on several SharePoint
Admin books

3. Back in the Day… Life
Was Simpler
Want to communicate with someone?
Send an email. Feeling fancy? Hit ‘em up
on Skype (Office Communicator for us
older folks).
Document collaboration was handled in
SharePoint using a handful of tools.
External folks picked up large documents
in FTP sites.

4. Modern Times; Modern
Tools
Microsoft 365 gives us the
ability to track tasks, share
information, and collaborate
with colleagues in ways
we’ve never had before!

5. Wait… is it
Office 365 or
Microsoft
365??
And what’s the
difference,
anyway?
Microsoft 365 is a
bundle of Microsoft
products, which
includes Office 365.
Office 365 includes
the Office
applications (Word,
Excel, PowerPoint…)
SharePoint, OneDrive,
Teams, Outlook.

6. Microsoft 365 is a Cohesive
Suite of Tools
One O365 application can provide
flexibility for a variety of needs.
Plus, there are multiple apps that
provide similar functionality…
• Task tracking
• To-Do
• Outlook Tasks
• Planner
• Document storage/sharing
• SharePoint
• OneDrive
• Teams (psssttt… its back-end is
SharePoint and OneDrive)
• Outlook (Can but shouldn’t
share docs internally via email.
You’re duplicating data. Knock it
off.)
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

7. It can feel
like we
have
Too Many
Options!
So let’s take a step back and change our focus from the tools to people and
our goals.
Who are we working with?
Are they in my company/org or outside?
Do I need to share information or work together in a collaborative way?
Do we need to talk frequently as we work together?

8. But Let’s Be Clear…
It’s This Not This

9. Office 365 is the Swiss Army
Knife of the workplace
We have a variety of tools available to suit our needs.
SharePoint is the really big blade, providing putability, findability,
organization, security, news… but there are options.
Ever run into folks who don’t need a site, just a place to “share
files?” Teams!
There isn’t a cookie cutter solution because we’re dealing with
people. The whole point of having options is to use the one that
makes the most sense in a given scenario and for a particular
need.
Let’s break it down by people!

10. Who Are We Working With?
Me, Myself & I… maybe you
• I use OneDrive for my personal work files
• I send emails (Outlook)
We – Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!
• Chat in Teams
• Collaborate on docs and projects in Teams
• Use team sites (SharePoint) – These become your
department/project/Business collaboration sites
• Both SharePoint and Teams support external users
Us. Collectively; the Organization
• Share “company public” data on Communication sites
• Reiterate corporate communication with email
• Communicate with external folks with Outlook

11. Me, Myself, and I… Maybe you
One person works in OneDrive, as a rule.
I may choose to share something with you but
it’s not something that’s ready for a
SharePoint site /Teams.
OneDrive is the PERFECT replacement for your
desktop!
• Sync to computer for easy access
• Mobile – your files are everywhere you
are!

12. Team Work Makes the
Dream Work!
SharePoint and Teams are for… well… teams
• Departments
• Project groups
• Organizational Units
When we are working as a team we use our SharePoint sites
and Microsoft Teams.
Why Teams too? Because Teams are backed up by SharePoint sites.
Does this mean we never email internally? No but, consider who you’re emailing.
Do they work better with email or an app notification?
It’s easier to always go to one tool for internal communication than keep track of where the
message came from.

13. Corporation =
Us
Communication that addresses
all of Us as part of our
corporation needs to come from
a platform scoped to everyone.
Outlook, Yammer, and
SharePoint Communication sites
are designed to address a
broader audience.

14. Where Does It Fit?
Teams now supports an Org-
wide channel…

15. Where Does It Fit?
Teams now supports an Org-
wide channel…

16. Beyond the Audience
• How do your teammates, colleagues
work?
• Fast paced chat
• Calls
• Voice or video
• Working through an email queue
• Which communication tool will engage
others?
• Live events
• Social platforms
• Email
• Follow emails up with more
engaging communication

17. Breaking Down the
Architecture
• SharePoint
• Communication sites – Outer loop (within the Org)
• Broadcast into the organization
• Using Yammer? Throw a webpart on the page!
• Team Sites - Inner-loop
• We work as a team here!
• Document management
• Approvals, versioning
• Teams – Inner loop
• Access team-centric documents
• Discuss and conversate
• Use Tabs to access resources without having to leave
Teams
• Use Website tab to connect important SharePoint libraries
• Get full metadata and Flow functionality

18. How PAIT
Does It
• Communication sites are for company-wide information sharing
• Link to these from the Home page
• Depts own/manage shared assets on their own site
• Plan for Teams to be folded into the architecture
• Utilize the Teams created team site as the dept/business’ collaborative
workspace
• Security managed on site-by-site basis. As much as possible. 
• Tab to other SharePoint libraries to help keep “everything from being dumped in
Files
• Rename Documents on the site to say “Files” to reduce confusion

19. Thanks for coming!
Joy T. Apple
@JoyOfSharePoint
joytapple@paitgroup.com