Microsoft 365 is the foundation of digital collaboration for many companies. Teams, SharePoint, Exchange, OneDrive - all connected, all in the cloud. In theory.
In practice, things often look different: access rights are wrong, workflows don't work, mailboxes are misconfigured. Yet the most common technical mistakes can be avoided with a clean setup from the start.
1 No clear permission structure in SharePoint
The most common problem: Either everyone has access to everything - or the wrong person can't access the files they need.
SharePoint permissions should be structured by roles and departments from the start. Retrospective corrections are time-consuming and error-prone.
2 OneDrive instead of SharePoint for team documents
OneDrive is for individual users' personal files. SharePoint is for shared team documents.
Storing company documents in individual OneDrive folders risks: When an employee leaves, file access is lost. New colleagues can't access documents.
3 Power Automate not used - manual processes remain
Many companies use Microsoft 365, but hardly anyone uses Power Automate. Yet routine processes can be automated:
- Automatically forward vacation requests to the manager
- Automatically notify via Teams when new SharePoint entries are added
- Automatic deadline and follow-up reminders
4 No standardized company templates
10 employees - 10 different email signatures. Everyone uses their own Word template. PowerPoint presentations look different every time.
Microsoft 365 enables company-wide templates for Word, PowerPoint and Outlook signatures, centrally managed through the Admin area.
5 Licenses incorrectly or inefficiently assigned
Microsoft 365 offers different license types: Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium - and more.
Incorrectly assigned licenses mean either: paying too much or missing features.
Conclusion
A clean technical setup of Microsoft 365 saves more time in the long run than it costs. A structured approach from the start prevents later correction efforts.
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Denise Kriechbaumer
Founder of SmartOffice - Digital Office IT Services. Technical setup and management of digital office and IT infrastructure for European B2B companies.