Team Calendar Outlook®: The Benefits of Using a Group Calendar

17 Dec 2023

Outlook Group Calendar vs Shared Calendar

There are different organizational tools aimed at enhancing productivity and seamless coordination, and a well-working calendar is crucial. There are different options, such as an Outlook group calendar, and simple shared calendars. Both have things in common and serve as collaborative scheduling solutions, streamlining planning and project management within teams and extending their utility to efficient visitor management. The Outlook Group Calendar provides a specialized, feature-rich, and tightly integrated solution within the Microsoft ecosystem, offering a high degree of customization. It allows you, among other things, to group calendars and to keep up to date with an overview of multiple Outlook® and Microsoft 365 calendars.

The Benefits of a Shared Calendar

Studies have shown that properly managed remote workers are more productive than full-time, in-office workers, and a key tool that enables companies to effectively manage remote workers and coordinate team projects is a web-based team calendar.

A team calendar software for Microsoft Outlook^® keeps hybrid or remote workers and employees who are frequently on the road connected to your company. It offers a centralized way to set up meetings and projects. A group calendar can be viewed 24/7 from any web-enabled device. Project managers, consultants, salespeople, and other employees can access their team calendar when they are out of the office visiting clients or attending to other matters. They can use the group calendar to keep track of meetings, conference calls, and project deadlines. Not only can employees view their own schedules, but they can also get an overview of their colleagues’ calendars.

Improve Communication and Efficiency

Easily plan projects and more with a team calendar – also when you’re out of office

Forgetting an obligation you have with a client could be disastrous for your company, which is why it’s essential to be able to access your group calendar while on the go and keep track of appointments. Employees can use shared calendars to manage their own assignments and appointments, while team leaders can use group calendars to coordinate meetings and other tasks. If changes are made, the calendar is updated automatically, doing away with back-and-forth emails and phone calls.

A group calendar makes coordinating meetings and events with your team a breeze because you can get an overview of everyone’s schedules and don’t have to contact each person individually to schedule a meeting. For instance, you could schedule meetings without sending out meeting requests. This simplifies the planning process for project managers and others in charge of coordinating meetings and managing others. Sales managers could use a team calendar for Microsoft Outlook^® to assign customer visits to sales personnel or assign consultants to different projects.

Balance Out Assignments Among Employees

Boost your planning effort with a team calendar

An added benefit of using a shared team calendar is the ability to balance out assignments across your team. Managers can look at a team calendar to get a better idea of each employee’s obligations and availability. This enables them to optimally plan out their team’s tasks and appointments. Looking back on past team calendars is also beneficial. Managers can look at past calendars to determine how employees or departments spent their time, what clients they met with, which tasks they performed, etc. A project manager could look back on the previous month’s calendar to determine how much time was spent on a project and then use that data to aid in the planning of future projects.

Customize Your Group Calendar

A team calendar can be customized according to your specific needs. You can organize calendars by group, such as by department. If you’re a project manager, for instance, you could group your team members’ calendars together for the duration of a project, so you can easily assign tasks and book team meetings.

Enhance Visitor Management

Not only does a team calendar improve internal communication, but it also enhances the visitor management process. When visitors come to your office building, the receptionist can go into the team calendar to get a quick overview of employees’ schedules. This enables the receptionist to provide the correct information to visitors regarding an employee’s whereabouts or availability. The receptionist also has the ability to click on an employee’s calendar to call or send an email, letting them know that a visitor has arrived.

Use WebTeam Central to Improve Communication and Simplify Project Planning

WebTeam Central is a web-based team calendar for Microsoft Outlook^® that provides you with an overview of your own schedule and your colleagues’ schedules so you can keep track of your obligations, plan meetings, and assign tasks anytime, anywhere. WebTeam Central is user-friendly and provides the flexibility needed in today’s increasingly mobile environment.