Microsoft 365's price increase may make you reevaluate the value of its software for your team. Though, Microsoft has continued to offer its users exceptional applications with additional features while signaling their decision for a price increase.

According to Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365, "since introducing Microsoft 365 we have added 24 apps to the suites—Microsoft Teams, Power Apps, Power BI, Power Automate, Stream, Planner, Visio, OneDrive, Yammer, and Whiteboard—and have released over 1,400 new features and capabilities in three key areas".

Microsoft 365 features can make your team more efficient. Let's look at three applications and their role in team collaboration: Jira Cloud for Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Whiteboard, and Microsoft Viva Connections.

1. Access to Jira Application on Microsoft Teams

Project Management on Phone with Reports and Desktop

Jira is an agile project management software developed by Atlassian. Agile methodologies are effective for software development teams because they require constant communication between the team and the client.

Microsoft Teams can now integrate with the Jira application. Work management gets easier as you don't need to switch between apps. For instance, with Jira Cloud, you can convert chats to Jira issues, add comments from Teams, or sort Jira tickets directly during meetings.

Collaboration is easy with clients, as they can be involved with the entire project. Your clients have full access to changes and any progress made.

Atlassian has other applications you can use with Microsoft Teams, such as Trello, Assist, Confluence Cloud, Jira Server for Teams, and Bitbucket. These are also issue management and agile project management tools available for Microsoft 365 users.

Download: Jira Cloud (Free)

2. Microsoft Whiteboard for Virtual Meetings

Your brainstorming and collaboration sessions will be more interactive with Microsoft Whiteboard. You can have meetings and use the virtual Whiteboard to present your thoughts and ideas to the rest of the team. Your team can also use Whiteboard, allowing everyone to make adjustments during the meeting.

It is convenient for client proposals, as the Whiteboard makes for more interesting and kinetic presentations. You can complement your persuasion skills while visualizing your insights with diagrams. You can demonstrate your solutions to clients when they state their problems in real-time.

Microsoft Whiteboard is available as an application included in the Microsoft 365 plans. You can also download the application from Windows, Android’s Google Play, and iOS App Store.

Download: Whiteboard for Windows | Google Play | App Store (Free)

3. Microsoft Viva Connections App for Organizational Culture

Microsoft Office Apps

As remote jobs become common, every organization must keep its teams informed about the workplace. Microsoft Viva Connections provides a custom dashboard with relevant news and organizational information.

Microsoft Viva allows you to reach out to your team and provide relevant resources to any project. In addition, the dashboard has shortcuts to help your team navigate via a curated display.

You can source engaging content from your organization using SharePoint, Yammer, and Stream. It is a perfect branding tool for your team and clients.

Download: Microsoft Viva Connections (Free)

New Prices of Microsoft 365Microsoft Office Applications with Guy in Cape

The new prices are for business users only. There are no changes to the pricing for education and consumer products now.

  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic (from $5 to $6 per user)
  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium (from $20 to $22)
  • Office 365 E1 (from $8 to $10)
  • Office 365 E3 (from $20 to $23)
  • Office 365 E5 (from $35 to $38)
  • Microsoft 365 E3 (from $32 to $36)

How Should Your Organization Value Microsoft 365

The value of Microsoft 365 will depend on your organization's finances, team objectives, and the culture of using Microsoft products.

Microsoft 365 is a legacy tool for many organizations and part of the long-existing workflow. The latest enhancements can add tremendous value to your team, whether on-site, remote, or in a hybrid office. Organizations can adopt the new tools to seamlessly plan and communicate with each other.