Get more from your IT as a Freelancer

How can Microsoft 365 support freelance working? 

The way we work is changing, and that includes the form a business team takes. No longer are they always based at the same location and no longer are they always employed by the same business.  

 As a freelancer, technology has the potential to open a world of opportunity by the way it connects you to different businesses and teams, to make the most of the constantly changing world of work. 

 The changing workforce 

As of February 2022, there were approximately 4.23 million self-employed workers in the UK and a 2019 IPSE report indicated that the self-employed workforce contributed £305 billion to the UK economy. 

 Freelancers, or the self-employed, are very important, not only for the skills and experience they bring to the economy but also to businesses looking for more diverse ways to engage with talent to ensure success. 

 Employing people directly may not always be the best option or the most cost effective, but sometimes it’s been the easiest for integrating new people into an organisation, sharing the same tools and resources. 

 Now the range of software available to everyone means that freelancers have their own tools to manage any day-to-day business operation effectively. 

 What do Freelancers need for business efficiency? 

Any freelance wants to provide an exceptional service to their clients. To do this they need to the right tools to do the job. Some of these tools may be specific to the service they provide; others will be more generic but still integral to enabling them to do what they do and run a business.  

 In today’s digital era, there’s no denying the power of technology in empowering freelancers to run a successful business. It can offer the flexibility to work from different locations, including client sites, while providing good communication platforms when they are remote, with information and data easily shared. 

 The technology should be easy to use and reliable, supporting business continuity. 

 The right technology needs to drive an effective, efficient and professional business, while being affordable and suitable for the market of small, independent businesses. 

 What do businesses need to work with freelancers? 

There are two sides to the working relationship of a freelancer, the other side being the organisation they are engaged by. 

 The organisation has its own expectations from a working relationship with the freelancer. Not only will they expect the specific skills and service they’ve hired, but they also expect easy communications, the ability to share information and data, the ability to collaborate easily and effectively and to be assured that data in secured. Technology will have a vital role to play in facilitating this. 

 Microsoft 365 supporting freelancers and business 

The great news is that technology exists to support collaboration between freelancers and client businesses in the form of Microsoft 365 and its web-based, collaborative document platform, SharePoint.  

 The range of tools offered by both, including Teams, MS Office, Planner, Publisher, Outlook, OneDrive and a range of third-party apps such as Trello, Slack and Docusign, all come together to make a complete suite of business-ready tools that are familiar and easy to use by organisations and freelancers alike.  

Utilising the power of Microsoft 365 and the Cloud, and in recognition of the growing freelancer market, Microsoft developed the Microsoft 365 Freelance toolkit, a collection of tools and best practices that allow businesses to work easily with freelancers: 

• Setting up collaboration and project management spaces 
• The ability to track progress 
• Establishing and automating workflows 
• SharePoint for documents and information, guides on how to engage with freelancers for internal teams and a place to store and retrieve files 
• Analysing project data and assess the ROI 
• Team collaboration spaces to store files, manage tasks and workflows 
• A communications hub via Teams for chats, meetings and calls, for open and private discussions 
• Security that allows controlled access and Cloud protection 

 Train to take your business further 

With resources such as Teams being free and Microsoft 365 offering a variety of packages depending on requirements and budget, there’s great potential for this technology to transform the way freelancers and organisation connect and drive collaboration to enhance productivity. 

 The key to using the tch to take your business further is to know how to get the most from all the available tools and how they can interact. 

 Training can really unlock the power of these tools, not just by using them as individual software packages, but by teaching users how to combine or automate them to take their functionality to a whole new level, allowing you to collaborate with more, and bigger organisations. 

 IT training support 

If you would like to explore how our team can help you get the most from your IT equipment and software, including SharePoint, through one-to-one coaching and consulting services, then contact 365 Training Consultants today.