Our Blogs

For small to medium-sized businesses, Microsoft 365 Business Premium offers a robust suite of productivity tools coupled with advanced security features. However, many organisations are not taking full advantage of the security capabilities included in their subscription. In this post, we’ll explore the key security features of Microsoft 365 Business Premium and how you can...

Traditional security measures, while still important, are no longer sufficient to protect your organisation from sophisticated attacks. Enter Conditional Access Policies: a powerful tool in the Microsoft 365 suite that can significantly enhance your cybersecurity posture. In this post, we’ll explore how these policies work and why they are becoming an essential component of modern...

Data protection isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a critical business imperative. Australian businesses face an increasingly complex web of regulations designed to safeguard personal information. But here’s the good news: if you’re using Microsoft 365, you’ve already got a powerful ally in your corner.  Let’s dive into how Microsoft 365 can help you navigate the choppy...

Remote work has become more than just a trend – it’s now a fundamental part of how many Australian businesses operate. While this shift brings numerous benefits, it also presents new challenges in data security. With team members accessing sensitive information from various locations and devices, how can you ensure your data remains protected? This...

Are you unknowingly overspending on your Microsoft 365 licences? You’re not alone. But the impact of poor licence management goes far beyond just your bottom line.  As IT professionals, we’ve observed that licence management is often overlooked, despite its significant impact on a company’s operational efficiency, security posture, and overall productivity. Let’s explore why this...

You’ve likely heard buzzwords like “cloud services” and “mobile device management” floating around, and perhaps “Microsoft Intune” has come up in conversations with your IT provider or tech-savvy colleagues. But what exactly is Intune, and why should you care about it? Let’s break it down in plain English, so you can understand how this tool...

The Power of Integrated Lifecycle Management  Managing the lifecycle of users and devices is a critical aspect of IT operations. From the moment a new employee joins your organisation to the day they leave, and from when a device is first enrolled to when it’s retired, there are numerous considerations involved in maintaining a secure,...

The digital landscape has seen a fundamental shift in how businesses operate, with remote work becoming more than just a trend. While this flexibility brings numerous benefits, it also introduces new challenges in securing business data and maintaining a robust cybersecurity posture. As your team members access sensitive information from various locations and devices, how...

Tips on choosing the right Microsoft 365 plan for your business Understanding Microsoft 365 pricing is crucial when navigating the various options and selecting the right plan for your business. In this blog post, we’ll help you cut through the confusion, simplify the choices and guide you to make the most informed decision based on...

Updated 19 January 2024 with new licensing details.  2023 has well and truly been the year of Generative Artificial Intelligence, triggered by the release of ChatGPT in November 2022. Not only have we seen an entire wave of AI based start-ups spring into existence, but big players like Meta and Google have also launched their...

The question of whether you should be backing up your Microsoft Office 365 data will often illicit passionate arguments from both sides. On one hand, you have those who argue that Microsoft 365 already has built-in backup and disaster recovery features, making an additional backup unnecessary. On the other hand, you have those who swear...

How the app can connect your staff and share ideas Microsoft Office 365 is designed from the ground up to enable seamless collaboration and encourage greater team communication. With this philosophy built into every app, it’s not surprising that there is some crossover between what each app can be used for. Yammer, SharePoint, and Teams...

Manoeuvre your Windows PC with just your voice When Pam (a busy property manager) broke her wrist roller skating over the weekend, she thought she wouldn’t be able to get back to work at the real estate agency until she got her plaster off. However what Pam didn’t realise is that Microsoft has some pretty...

Tips for installing Word and Excel A lot of Microsoft Office 365 plans include what’s called Desktop Licensing. This is the bit that lets you install the Microsoft Office applications such as Word and Excel on your computer. In this post we show you how to install Office 365 on your computer. 1. Sign in with your...

4 tips for avoiding an embarrassing mistake Have you ever experienced that sinking feeling as you realise you have accidentally sent an email to the wrong person? If you are lucky, it could just be an embarrassing blip on your day, but there is the potential for some very real damage. There is the occasional story on...

For most of us, the goal of achieving Inbox Zero (“a rigorous approach to inbox management, aimed at keeping the inbox empty”) is not an easy task to work on. It’s just a lot to have to go through tons of emails from who-knows-when with the goal of clearing up unwanted emails from your Outlook Inbox then,...

People do business with people, so your profile picture is a great way to represent you and your business. Whenever you send an Outlook email to your contacts, a little circle icon of you should be visible to the recipient and it should be something striking. Who wouldn’t want to look good in their email profile picture,...

Microsoft Teams Calling is a cloud-based PBX phone system built right into the familiar Microsoft Teams platform. Microsoft Teams already lets you make both voice and video calls to other Teams users, irrespective of if they are within your organisation or are external parties. By enabling Teams Calling, this functionality is extended even further to allow you to make and receive calls with people using traditional phone systems.  

Email has long been the mainstay of team communication and collaboration. Indeed, despite also being the bane of effective collaboration, for many organizations it remains at the heart of how teams communicate and work together.Part of the Microsoft 365 suite of cloud services, Microsoft Teams is the modern alternative to email, enabling clear, efficient and effective communication and collaboration both with...

The Microsoft Power Platform is the collective term for four Microsoft products: Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate and Power Virtual Agents. More than the sum of its parts, the Power Platform is a no-code to low-code platform that users with no coding experience can use to analyse data, build solutions, automate processes and engage online. Although perfectly at home integrating with third-party apps, the Power Platform truly shines when used with your Office 365 subscription, and being a low to no code platform means it can be used without the need to rely heavily on IT or coding experts.

Every business has a multitude of processes and functions that must be performed in order to deliver value to stakeholders and ultimately remain in business. With technology at the heart of modern business this means that (as we hear so often) – “There’s an app for that”. The prevalence of cloud apps sold on a...

Tips for maintaining a happy & engaged workforce With a team covering three countries, remote working is at the core of how Grassroots IT functions, and our daily huddle is crucial to maintaining a high performing, happy and engaged team. Microsoft Teams is critical to the way we run our daily video huddle, with the...

On 21 April 2020, Microsoft revealed in an online announcement that its line of Office 365 subscription plans would be renamed, substituting it with the Microsoft 365 branding instead. Don’t hold out high expectations for an out-of-the-box name idea though (sometimes causing a little confusion, Microsoft tends to keep its product names pretty similar). Moving...

Collaboration has always been a foundation for organisational growth and efficiency. To put it simply, when we share ideas, knowledge, passion and skills, the outcome is better than if we had have done it alone. Organisations with employees who feel connected to their team members and workplace are also more likely to have increased engagement and retention rates, which can lead to greater productivity and profit, so it’s well worth pursuing a culture that supports and celebrates collaboration. So, how can we make it easier for collaboration to occur in the workplace?

So many communications apps and collaboration tools are readily available these days, with more being developed daily. With an abundant amount of options to choose from, how do you pick out one that is perfect for your business needs? If you’re looking for the best option to choose as your organisation’s collaboration channel and wondering...

Most people are aware of the Microsoft Office Suite. Office has been around for a very long time, in fact you used to be able to buy it on CDs, remember those things?  Of course, these days, we are all used to a much more convenient and powerful way to create, collaborate and generally get...