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Maximize Productivity for Microsoft 365 Remote Teams with Vineforce

Last updated: June 20, 2022 3 min read

At Vineforce, one of the most important things we strive for is increased productivity. Being productive is an integral part of our vision as a remote team, stemming first from effective workday planning. We take pride in creating new ways to maximize productivity on personal and collective levels.

After all, when everyone on a remote team is highly successful, their company or organization is, in turn, successful. Because success begins at the individual level before a team can succeed and then the whole company. But it starts with sustained productivity daily. 

We know how demanding it can be to stay productive while working in remote teams, not to mention distractions and isolation thrown into the mix. With so many tools at one's disposal (most of which are not designed for remote teams), the experience can feel cluttered and cumbersome, making you inefficient rather than the opposite.

That changes when you realize, as mentioned earlier, that being productive in your daily tasks starts with effective planning. A remote workday plan gives you a clear strategy of what you must do and what not to do. It helps you remain focused and organized and reduces stress. That sounds like a recipe for productivity. Instead of doing the heavy lifting of planning yourself, what if there was a tool to do it for you?

With over six years of experience in the remote work environment, our tool, Vineforce, is the solution to streamlining your workday planning. If you are a leader managing remote teams and if your backbone is the MS365 platform, there are several ways that Vineforce can help you maximize the way you get things done daily through effective planning.

Here is how it can be done with the best features of the Vineforce app:

1. Planning Your Day

We know how hard it is to juggle your responsibilities in a remote team, so Vineforce uses data from your Microsoft 365 account and daily activities to help you plan your day more effectively.

It suggests relevant tasks, times to take breaks, the optimal number of tasks to add to your day, or when to block out your calendar to learn new skills.

Planning your day with Vineforce

This combined view shows you all the important tasks you have due, the status of your team, and suggestions to help you optimize your day to your liking.

After you use it a few times, Vineforce learns more about you and how to make you more productive. The app then becomes your smart assistant in helping you plan your day. 

2. Staying Organized

We've all been there: you're staring at your to-do list, trying to figure out how you will get everything done. But before you know it, the day is up, and you have no idea what happened.

Vineforce can help you remain focused and organized.

Staying organized with Vineforce

With Vineforce, you can see all your tasks, breaks, and meetings for the day in one adjustable view—so if priorities change or something comes up unexpectedly, it's easy to jump in and adjust. And when your day is done, Vineforce will ensure that any tasks you did not get to today automatically roll over to the next day.

Using this app will help you never miss another important meeting or deadline again. The dashboard is one of the key essential tools in managing remote teams.

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3. Preparing For What's Ahead

Busy professionals usually use calendars to help them prepare in advance and stay organized. Sometimes maintaining a calendar can be overwhelming or burdensome if you juggle work, personal life, and kids (if you are a parent). You may struggle to keep tasks, events, and to-do's clear and non-overlapping. 

Our app helps you and your remote team members get a complete view of your upcoming tasks and meetings for the week or month in an easy-to-navigate calendar.


Planning ahead with Vineforce

Then, set up tasks or meetings ahead of time, and they will automatically appear in your 'My Day' view when the day arrives.

4. Managing Files & Links

Now, we know first-hand how daunting file management can be. Say goodbye to complex navigation of files and links from multiple places resulting in a mess no one likes to deal with.

But Vineforce lets you search all your files stored in OneDrive, SharePoint, and email attachments from a single searchable interface. 

You can also add shortcuts to frequently used files and links, making them easy to find. Share files with anyone without going to SharePoint or OneDrive.

Managing files and links with Vineforce

5. Notifications & Reminders

Another way Vineforce helps to maximize productivity is through notifications and reminders. Imagine being swamped by a new project you and your team are collaborating on to the point where even taking lunch breaks is not an option because you forget.

Not only lunch breaks, but you may forget about that important check-in meeting with your boss coming up or that today was the day for your company's internal audit. This is more true when working remotely sometimes leave you feeling disconnected and you lose track of time.

Notifications and reminders with Vineforce

 

That can change with Vinny, the Microsoft Teams bot for Vineforce that helps you keep track of important activities and helps you manage remote team meetings. 

Vinny notifies you automatically about upcoming meetings, events, breaks, tasks assigned by teammates, when to sign out for the day, and any other reminders you desire to set.

You can receive notifications on any device you have Microsoft Teams installed. That way, you receive your reminders from anywhere at any time.

6. Managing Your Teams

If you're struggling to keep your remote employees motivated, engaged, and productive while staying up-to-date with their activities, progress, and information, our app provides a convenient solution.

Vineforce is a secure and easy-to-use system that allows you to manage all your people's data. It allows you to easily access relevant information about your team, including their availability (when they are present, absent, or busy), where they are from, and what they plan to tackle daily.

As your remote team completes tasks, the progress of projects is automatically updated and visible. The sections compartment in Vineforce helps you organize large projects into manageable chunks and attach files from OneDrive or SharePoint to any task or project, then share them with your colleagues with one click.

In addition, you can create and manage policies in Vineforce that assist in organizing yearly holidays and scheduling/approving remote employees' leaves.

It also allows you to see who is on leave for the coming week, as highlighted in the image below, and get summary reports on everyone's progress, accomplishments, challenges, and agenda for the next day.

Managing your teams with Vineforce

Lastly, staying in sync with your remote teams is seamless through integrating Microsoft Teams, and building collaborative remote work schedules for each team member is made easy.

 

The features of our app outlined above are no doubt guaranteed ways to help you enhance your remote teams' productivity through its integration with Microsoft 365.

Do you still need convincing? Click here to learn more.