For the majority of businesses, making it through the pandemic meant relying on cloud-based solutions that had the ability to support remote work setups and connect multi locational workers. IT administrators received a lot of the operational burden as their roles became more key and challenging. Microsoft aims to relieve that burden by streamlining the processes through the use of their new 365 Apps admin center features.
OneDrive sync health
The OneDrive sync health feature makes maintaining data integrity easier than ever before. Information Technology administrators can now easily scan for sync statuses or errors by going to the OneDrive sync health dashboard and creating reports designed to address specific administrative issues. This dashboard allows the admins to generate insights that range between executive summary reports to detailed, specific statuses of certain devices. This enables them to sort the information they need so they can take immediate action in the even of sync issues.
Intelligent insights
Intelligent insights include features like Add-In Inventory, Apps Inventory, and Security Currency that enable IT admins to quickly discover and alleviate any issues. These tools can help give you a deeper understanding of the organization’s Microsoft 365 environment and be privy to information such as:
- What devices are running Office apps and which versions they’re running;
- What Office add-ins are installed or running; and
- Which servicing channel each device belongs to.
Having this information can help admins to better identify and manage unsupported Office versions and add-ins to ensure security and compliance.
Servicing automation with controls
The servicing automation with controls feature streamlines and automates Microsoft 365 Apps to eliminate manual deployment and accelerate the rollout of updates and security patches. This new feature allows IT admins to apply a specific servicing profile to a set of devices to automatically deliver monthly updates for users or groups.
Admins can also specify exclusion date periods, or when Office apps updates should not run, such as during holidays or company meetings. They can schedule these dates to happen only once or regularly, depending on their organization’s schedule.
Servicing profiles: Roll back to a previous version
For businesses that use a servicing profile, admins can now roll back devices to the previous version if users encounter issues with the most recent version of Monthly Enterprise Channel. For instance, if there’s an issue in Outlook’s latest update that hampers employee productivity, your IT team can revert Outlook to the previous stable version.
IT administrators can also view, pause, and resume updates on a per-device basis. If a user experiences issues during rollout, for instance, administrators can pause that user’s update and restore their software to a previous version while an IT personnel troubleshoots the issue.
Microsoft 365 Apps health
Microsoft 365 Apps health calculates an organization’s overall app health based on three criteria: app reliability, app performance, and supported versions. It also gives pertinent information such as Office app session crash rates and who reported such crashes, making it easier to identify issues and see how well Microsoft 365 apps are running during and in between deployments.
With these new features, administrators can better manage Microsoft 365 apps, and users can count on better experiences and fewer downtimes. If you want to learn more about how technology can increase your business’s operational efficiency, call us. Our IT experts are always ready to help.
