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Microsoft 365 innovations across AI, payments, and collaboration tools help small and medium businesses grow

Updated: Jul 26, 2024



Small and medium businesses (SMBs) play a crucial role in the US economy, comprising 99 percent of all businesses and employing over 60 million workers, nearly half of the US workforce. From the expansion of remote work to advancements in AI, SMBs stand to gain significantly from the latest technology innovations that support business growth and scalability.


Today, 11 million SMBs rely on Microsoft 365 solutions to enhance their productivity and achieve new milestones. Discover how Microsoft is making fresh investments to empower SMBs to reach greater heights than ever before.


We're excited about our recent AI advancements that will revolutionize work processes and streamline business operations. These new AI capabilities include a groundbreaking Teams Payments app developed in partnership with GoDaddy, PayPal, and Stripe, enabling seamless transactions directly within Microsoft Teams meetings. Additionally, we're introducing a project organization app to enhance collaboration among employees and foster creativity. Moreover, new security features are being introduced to safeguard your team's devices.


Furthermore, we're proud to partner with the Small Business Association to sponsor National Small Business Week (NSBW) in the United States. As an advocate for small business success, I'm personally looking forward to presenting at the NSBW Virtual Summit. Join me to discover how AI can help your business achieve its goals and thrive in today's competitive landscape.



Get ready to put the power of AI to work for your business


We introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot, designed to revolutionize your work processes and allow you to concentrate on what matters most to your business.


Copilot enhances productivity by automating everyday tasks, streamlining workflows, and offering insights to facilitate informed decision-making. By harnessing your internal data—such as documents, presentations, chats, and emails—Copilot assists in drafting emails, summarizing meetings, and other tasks. Let's explore a scenario to illustrate how Copilot can benefit small and medium businesses.



Copilot for work


Drafting customer responses: The clothing store owner requests Copilot to condense the morning's emails, highlight messages containing customer feedback and supplier concerns, and generate personalized replies to each inquiry.


Analyzing data: Using Excel, the owner breaks down sales by type and channel to assess profitability, forecasts the impact of expanding the store's online inventory, and transforms data into visual charts to visualize how inventory changes might affect gross margins.


Business planning overview: Utilizing Microsoft Word, the owner synthesizes customer feedback from emails and Teams chats, integrates newly analyzed data, and evaluates the advantages of increasing online inventory.


Creating a proposal: Next, in PowerPoint, the owner tasks Copilot to draft a concise two-page project proposal based on customer feedback and previous analysis, then uses Copilot to condense the information into a single slide.


Summarizing meetings: During a meeting with the retail store team, the owner directs Teams to summarize key discussion points and viewpoints, and suggest actionable items in real time.


These are just a few examples of how Copilot can benefit your business. To learn more about AI and Copilot, read the Microsoft 365 Copilot blog or deep dive into the technology and science with Worklab: AI-a whole new way of working.




MS Teams meeting.


Use the new Teams Payments app to help you close your business and get paid


Collecting payments for appointments, classes, and webinars—essentially any meeting hosted in Teams—has been simplified with the launch of the Teams Payments app. This app enables SMBs to conveniently manage and process payments directly within Teams meetings on both desktop and mobile devices.


We've collaborated with industry leaders in the payments sector to integrate core collaboration features of Teams with robust commerce capabilities in this innovative app. Partnering with GoDaddy, PayPal, and Stripe, we share a common goal of supporting SMBs, making interactions with customers smoother, and accelerating payment processing.



Teams Payment app.


The Teams Payments app is now in public preview on the Teams Store, accessible to Teams Essentials and Microsoft 365 business subscribers at no cost for businesses registered in the United States and Canada. PayPal and Stripe are currently integrated within the app, with GoDaddy expected to join soon. For further details on this announcement, visit our Teams Payments blog.



Think, plan, and create together like never before with Microsoft Loop


We have recently introduced the Loop app, designed to streamline your employees' project management by consolidating all their needs—thoughts, links, and documents—into a single centralized platform. Loop enhances productivity by suggesting relevant files to include as you set up a new workspace and offers a flexible interface for organizing your workspace according to your preferences. Unlike traditional tools, Loop allows you to create portable components of content within your workspace, ensuring synchronization across Teams, Outlook, Microsoft Whiteboard, and Word for the web. This seamless integration enables teams to collaborate effortlessly by co-creating lists, tables, notes, and more.


With the upcoming integration of Copilot, you'll harness its capabilities within Loop to enhance collaborative ideation. Collaborate with your team, revisit previous prompts, refine language, and customize responses to achieve more personalized and refined results.


The Loop app is currently available in public preview. Enable Loop for your team and visit Microsoft Loop to start leveraging its capabilities today.



Safeguard your business with security solutions built for SMBs


Protecting your business against the constantly evolving threat of cybercrime is crucial, and we are dedicated to providing security solutions that empower small and medium businesses to defend against cyberattacks effectively. We are pleased to introduce new security enhancements to Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Microsoft Defender for Business, making security more accessible than ever.


Defender for Business now offers streamlined mobile device security, safeguarding against threats like malware and ransomware on iOS and Android devices—no additional add-ons or device management required. This ensures your employees remain secure even while on the move.


In addition, monthly security reports have been introduced to simplify your business's security status across identity, devices, information, and applications. These reports offer actionable recommendations to enhance security, address vulnerabilities, and build confidence among stakeholders.


For more information on these updates, please read our latest blog and visit the SMB Security webpage.



Looking ahead


At Microsoft, we are committed to providing robust tools that support the growth of your small business. Explore our latest Microsoft 365 products designed to prepare you for AI integration, along with these valuable resources tailored for SMBs:


  • Small business help and learning: Discover how to set up and maximize your Microsoft 365 subscription, access tips and templates to streamline business tasks, and optimize hybrid work environments.

  • Small business resources: Access free resources, technical training, and expert guidance to foster continuous growth and success.

  • Microsoft 365 Copilot: This AI tool harnesses language models and your data to transform your communications into impactful insights.


Find out more here.













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