M&S opts for Office 365 in global productivity drive

Marks & Spencer has opted to roll out Microsoft's Office 365 suite of tools to help its employees be more forward-thinking, enabling them to work on the move while addressing the company's customers better.

M&S started exploring its options for digital transformation and chose to start using the company's Microsoft Office 2016 and OneDrive for Business to store, access and share files among employees scattered around the world.

"We are using Office 365 to communicate wherever we are, reducing the barriers of geography and time zones that can impede a global organisation’s productivity," Carl Dawson, IT director for Marks & Spencer said.

The retailer is also using Yammer for IM capabilities and Skype for Business Online to find people available for a call, start a video conference or share desktops to demonstrate what they're working on at any time.

Dawson added that this companywide change was made following visits to stores. He discovered employees were using laptops, tablets, smartphones and other devices to communicate with colleagues and the company needed a solution that would address this cross-device issue on a more formal basis.

Office 365 has had a noticeable impact on productivity within M&S. It means teams can collaborate better and make changes to documents in real time to make the process faster and more responsive.

"Employees are making decisions more quickly, collaborating more effectively with a wider set of people and engaging more fully with the business," Dawson added.

"Having the ability to access information and to work when and where they want to are all hallmarks of “Smarter Working” that deliver direct business benefits to M&S. Office 365 provides us with the tools to help our employees succeed at work, from the store to the back office."