The Apple iCloud Calendar (formerly iCal), is the calendar tool associated to Apple's productivity product suite.
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Microsoft 365
Score 8.7 out of 10
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Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is a Microsoft Cloud subscription service that includes Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access). The software can be installed across multiple devices and ensures that users always have the most up-to-date version of the included Office applications.
Especially if they use apple devices, I would recommend this over other cloud based calendars for its tight integration with apple devices. You can generally add events by simply highlighting the relevant information and adding to the calendar. Or Apple mail will often automatically detect an event and give to the option to add it to your iCal with a single click of a button.
Office everyday things since time immemorial. It's hard for Google Suite or any other to compete with Microsoft. They have everything, and it all works great, with incredible tools and capabilities. The new integrations work seamlessly most of the time, such as embedding a Power BI in a PPT. Expecting too much AI, like note taking, or LLM-based PPT, is not available in my tier at least, so depending on the budget, you won't get all you may expect from an AI leader. For diagramming and process maps, you're better off with other tools like those above.
It allows me to set multiple reminders before a meeting
When I add an address it automatically links to Apple Maps so I can see where i am going and also how long it will take me. I can easiy click on the link and it will start navigation for me, pretty cool
I would love it to have more visualizations and not just the classic one in a common calendar and that it could be customized
You have the possibility to have a face-to-face call by sharing a link that, in my opinion, could be improved by creating groups of only contacts and limiting access to the meeting.
Microsoft 365 really needs to work on protection part. In complex environment it is not reliable as compared to its competitors like Proofpoint. There are many instances where it fails to perform effectively.
In SharePoint Online the versioning feature of the document needs to be improved by Microsoft. Sometimes when we have to roll back to the previous version it does not work as expected.
In Teams messaging and app permission policies can be improved. There are some settings where we have to add a lot of things manually.
As I've said, Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal) does not work well when integrated with Microsoft Exchange/Outlook calendars. It's not very usable. Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal) does not stay in sync well at all with Microsoft Exchange/Outlook. You will waste a lot of time manually resyncing your calendars and you will never be able to fully trust Apple iCloud Calendar (iCal).
Over the past 8 years of using Microsoft 365, I have noticed that they change vendors often. This always leads to a poor experience in the beginning, then levels out after some time for the company to get things worked out. As a customer, it is really frustrating because I don't have time when something isn't working to have them "look into my issue" and get back with me. They have even closed a ticket I specifically told them to keep open. Your applications are only as good as the support.
For our Mac and IOS users, the use of the native iOS calendar and the cloud associated with it was an obvious choice for us, especially with the distribution of Apple products to our teams out in the field. For android users, it is easy to access the same services using the web-based client, and iCal allows various account types to be added to calendar invites. The iCal application allows the addition of 3rd party email and calendar accounts allow to be seamlessly integrated. All of the calendar accounts can be overlayed along with the native iCloud accounts. Google Calendar by comparison struggled to do all of these things as well, preferring their google Meet as the conference software and preferring Gmail accounts over all other types.
Its very user-friendly, collaborative and efficient that boosts productivity using cloud tools. their security is strong and it provides data protection. There are regular updates that shields us from attackers too. It offers a wealth of learning resources, including tutorials, help articles and video guide to help users make the most of the application and personally upgrade their skills.
As mentioned previously iCal provides more info to me than just an appointment
i can add attachments like notes or links to other services inside the appointment and these will synchronise across my devices.
The search functionality in iCal allows me to save items in the notes and then find them at a later stage. An example - I save key information about meetings or activities and then when I am looking for it at a later stage i can jjst search iCal and find it without having to look for documents or through my notes.
There is no default video call setting (like Google has Meet as a default and Microsoft has Teams) this is a problem in that I can't schedule video calls so the work around is that I sync to a Gmail calender and then schedule the video call (Meet) in Google
It has helped keep the high-energy culture my company has since it allows easy communication and calls.
Positively impacts responses from clients, since we can see how many times they have been contacted. (the more someone is contacted, the less likely they are to respond. Microsoft helps make sure we all know who and who not to contact)
positively impacts my ability to focus, since you can mute notifications. Since I look at my computer all day, it is helpful to lock in and not get distracted by the many emails I receive a day. You can also change preferences, so emails with high urgency are still seen.
