Eliminate Manual Workflows & Save Money with Microsoft Lists

How much are manual processes costing your company? It may be more than you think.

Approximately 22% of an average employee’s time is spent on repetitive tasks and 40% of a knowledge worker’s day is spent just organizing and looking for information.

One of the biggest culprits when it comes to productivity losses in a typical Sudbury office is manual list-based processes. Lists of leads, customers, or tasks are saved in Excel sheets that then have to be manually shared with others by email. Employees often need to search for these lists throughout the week, which also takes up valuable time.

There’s now an easy way to automate lists and host them in a seamless cloud-based environment using a brand-new Microsoft 365 application.

Microsoft Lists was added to Microsoft 365 business and enterprise subscriptions that include SharePoint in August 2020. If offers several ways to reduce costs and improve productivity, such as:

• Making all lists easy to find in one interface
• Ability to replace certain SaaS apps (like a task manager)
• Automates list-based processes
• Allows list processes to be shared online
• Enables real-time collaboration
• Has automated list update notifications

What Does Microsoft Lists Do?

Microsoft Lists is a cloud application that allows you to create entire processes around any lists that you use.

For example:

• Customer lists
• Lists for social media posting
• Task lists for projects
• Electronic device lists
• Company visitor log
• List of customer support tickets

The application is really more than a “list” building app, it can be transformed into several different useful apps by choosing the views and activities that you want to build around your lists.

Here are some of the key features of Microsoft Lists:

• Views: You can view your list processes in a data view, calendar view, card view, and more.

• Templates: The application includes ready-made templates for list processes that make it easy to get started. You can also create lists from scratch or using an Excel sheet.

• Collaboration: List processes are hosted online and can be shared with anyone. The app is accessible from a browser using any device, a mobile app, or from within Microsoft Teams.

• Tracking: Lists allows you to easily track list activities, such as when someone completed a task or escalated a customer ticket.

• Notifications: Automated email notifications can be set up for any list activity. For example, when a new list item is added or when a list column value is changed.

• Customizable: You can customize lists however you like using conditional formatting and adding multiple data types (even images).

• One Place for All Lists: You can eliminate that wasted time spent searching for spreadsheet lists because MS Lists keeps all list-based processes in a single interface. You can even pin your “Favorites” to the top, making them even easier to access in seconds.

What are Some of the Ways We Can Use Microsoft Lists?

Here are a few ideas of how you can use this powerful list-building tool.

Visitor’s Log

Using Microsoft Lists, you can streamline your visitor log and send instant notifications to your team when they have a visitor.

Just set up a list that includes a field for who a visitor is there to see and when a new entry is added for a specific colleague, they can receive an email instantly.

Using Lists allows you to easily search visitor entries and you can add an image of their ID along with the entry.

Device Inventory List

Make it easier to keep track of all your computers, tablets, projectors, and other devices by using a card view list. Your list can include who a device is signed out to, warranty information, the last service date, and any other pertinent device details.

Event Project Management

If you need a simple way to manage projects and don’t want to buy an expensive project management software subscription, you can use MS Lists instead.

You can assign anyone that you’ve shared the list with to tasks that you’ve added and get notifications when a task is completed. The calendar view allows you to view project progress.

Social Media Scheduling

No need to purchase a separate app for tracking social scheduling, this is another task that Microsoft Lists can handle and has a template available to do.

Add social images, approval fields, and posted dates to keep track of the entire process.

Customer Support Ticket Tracking

The versatility of Microsoft Lists allows you to add text fields that can hold customer inquiries and support ticket notes. You can also assign tickets to a specific person and set a priority level.

This is another example of how Lists can be used for multiple list processes and can keep you from having to purchase several different apps. It’s a perfect app to consider (and that you may already have) when doing a strategic cloud review.

Haven’t Switched to Microsoft 365 Yet? Learn More About It!

Lists is just one of the many productivity apps in Microsoft 365. Haxxess can help you migrate to the platform and learn how to use all its features to make your office more productive while lowering costs.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation! Call 705-222-8324 or reach out online.