Article Introduction

Most small and medium‑sized businesses rely on Microsoft 365 every day. Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams are familiar, dependable, and form the backbone of day‑to‑day operations. But the reality is that Microsoft 365 offers far more than these headline applications. Packed within your existing subscription are powerful productivity tools that many businesses never touch, often because they don’t realise they’re already included.

At Extech Cloud, we regularly work with organisations across London and the Southeast that are unknowingly paying for third‑party apps to solve problems Microsoft 365 can already handle.

Below, we explore some of Microsoft 365’s productivity such as Planner, Forms, Whiteboard, Loop and Bookings, and the benefits of using them properly.

Why These Underused Microsoft 365 Tools Matter

If your business is already investing in Microsoft 365, it makes sense to unlock every advantage it offers. Understanding the full suite leads to three key benefits:

1. Cost Efficiency

Too many businesses pay for project management apps, survey tools, scheduling platforms or digital whiteboards without realising Microsoft 365 already provides them.

2. Better Collaboration

Microsoft’s ecosystem is built to connect your people, whether they’re in London, Brighton, Crawley, or working remotely across the UK.

3. Improved Security

Keeping everything inside Microsoft 365 reduces the risks associated with spreading data across multiple cloud services.

Put simply, optimising your Microsoft 365 environment is one of the easiest ways to modernise how your teams work.

Planner: Simple, Effective Project Management

If your business currently uses Trello, Asana or other task‑tracking tools, Microsoft Planner could replace them entirely, and it’s already included in your subscription.

With Planner, teams can:

Create project boards
Assign tasks and deadlines
Track work visually
Integrate updates directly into Teams and Outlook

For example, a marketing team planning a campaign in West Sussex can collaborate in real time without multiple versions of spreadsheets or external project platforms.

By using Planner, businesses remove the need for additional log‑ins or paid tools and keep project visibility clear and centralised.

Forms: Quick Surveys Without Third‑Party Tools

From customer feedback to staff surveys, many businesses still rely on standalone survey apps. Microsoft Forms delivers everything most SMBs need in minutes:

Simple, professional surveys
Automatic chart summaries
Secure data stored within Microsoft 365
Easy export to Excel for further analysis

Whether you’re collecting client satisfaction scores after a consultancy session or gathering internal feedback from your team, Forms offers a fast, secure way to capture and interpret results, without extra costs.

Whiteboard: Real Collaboration for Hybrid Teams

With hybrid work now standard across the southeast, teams often miss the creativity that comes from face‑to‑face workshops. Microsoft Whiteboard fills that gap by offering a digital canvas accessible through Microsoft Teams.

Teams can sketch ideas, add notes, vote on concepts and brainstorm visually, whether they’re in the office, at home, or working between sites. It is particularly powerful for strategy sessions, product design, service development or planning meetings where ideas evolve quickly.

Many businesses pay for dedicated digital whiteboard apps, but Microsoft Whiteboard provides the same flexibility, fully integrated into Teams.

Loop: A Smarter Way to Work on Shared Content

Microsoft Loop is one of the newest and most transformative tools in Microsoft 365. Instead of emailing versions of documents back and forth, Loop enables real‑time collaboration across apps.

You can create a “Loop component”, such as a table or checklist, and share it in Teams, Outlook or OneNote. When one person updates it, everyone sees the latest version instantly; no merging, no confusion, no outdated information.

This can be especially valuable for business leaders working on strategy builds, financial plans, or client proposals where accuracy and speed matter.

Bookings: Professional, No‑Fuss Appointment Scheduling

Scheduling meetings by email is time‑consuming, especially for service‑based businesses. Microsoft Bookings eliminates the back‑and‑forth by letting clients choose from available slots directly.

A consultancy in London, for example, can send a Bookings link that syncs to staff calendars automatically. Clients book themselves in, receive confirmations instantly, and the business maintains control of availability and buffer times.

It saves administrative time, improves customer experience, and keeps personal data within the secure Microsoft ecosystem.

Unlock Value Hidden in Your Existing Microsoft 365 Subscription

Many businesses are surprised at how much capability they already own within Microsoft 365, and how quickly these tools can reduce costs, streamline operations and enhance teamwork.

By embracing the full suite, organisations can:

Reduce spend on duplicate software
Improve productivity through integrated workflows
Support hybrid teams more effectively
Strengthen security by keeping tools within one ecosystem

At Extech Cloud, we help businesses get more from the tools they already pay for. If you’re unsure which Microsoft 365 features could improve efficiency in your organisation, we’d be happy to assess your setup and highlight opportunities for quick wins.