How to Navigate Business Excellence in 2024

What does business excellence look like in 2024? What do organisations need to do to thrive? Gallup has defined it as the year of the “relationship reset” as both employers and employees are looking for better ways of doing business while putting people at the centre of what they do. Employees are still stressed, struggling to find balance and engagement while organisations remain on a steep remote- and hybrid work learning curve.  

This year will be defined by how organisations support employees and help them thrive while retaining a competitive edge and agile mindset—a sentiment echoed by Forbes.  

For this reason, collaboration between humans and machines will continue to dominate in 2024. Companies will need to find a balance between the benefits of using generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) and leveraging the expertise, soft skills, and creativity of employees.  

This view is backed up by McKinsey, which sees Gen AI integration as a major priority for CEOs in 2024, and a strategic asset for organisations that seek to “outcompete with technology” by leveraging their tech investments to move faster, pivot more effectively, and increase revenue exponentially.   

Organisations need the right technologies to ensure they are able to navigate these complexities to drive business excellence and optimise employee experiences throughout 2024. The past few years have been intensely challenging, making it more important than ever for organisations to smooth the road for employees and customers. 

This focus aligns with the Microsoft 365 roadmap and innovations entering the business space over the next year.  

Several important releases are set to go live in 2024, including:  

– Copilot in Excel (February 2024) 

– Copilot for classic Outlook in Windows (February 2024) 

– Coaching by Copilot in Classic Outlook (February 2024) 

– Copilot in Viva Goals (February 2024) 

– Copilot for Microsoft 365 in Teams Chat (February 2024) 

– Copilot in SharePoint (March 2024) 

– Copilot in Viva Engage (April 2024) 

– Copilot dashboard from Viva Insights (June 2024) 

And this list doesn’t even cover the host of other Copilot features due for rollout in 2024, but it does underscore Microsoft’s ongoing investment into a technology designed to make life as easy as possible for employees and organisations.  

This tech has the potential to play a significant role in reducing employees’ admin load while streamlining operations and improving creativity, productivity, and collaboration—regardless of whether employees are in the office, remote, or working within a hybrid environment. 

As for Microsoft Dynamics 365, there are some interesting releases planned for 2024 riding on the back of the 2023 wave 2 plan. These include: 

– Integrated analytics designed to provide you with out-of-the-box dashboards and help you optimise Dynamics 365 Marketing and Sales. It provides a shared view of the pipeline along with the ability to analyse the impact of marketing messages and content. This is due out as of February 2024. 

– Also out in February is the ability to build custom reports using the Microsoft Fabric      integration. The latter has become an increasingly invaluable ally for organisations looking to unify their data and analytics.  

Supporting businesses in dealing with tech-related change 

Mint sits at the forefront of Microsoft innovation, providing businesses with intelligent support and solutions that leverage the latest technologies to your organisation’s advantage. From Dynamics 365 to Copilot, we can help your organisation navigate change effectively with friendly, hands-on support and technical expertise that enables business excellence.