Microsoft announced the launch of its new Office 365 Planner service on June 6 that offers users team collaboration tools as an alternative to apps like Trello.

Simply called Planner, the new team project management app began rolling out for free for all Office 365 customers with eligible subscription plans. It is expected to be fully released worldwide to those customers within the next "several weeks."

This includes those with Office 365 Enterprise, Business Essentials, Premium and Education subscription plans. Those who are eligible for the free app will see Planner appear in the Office 365 app launcher when it becomes available.

Microsoft previously rolled out a preview of the app back in December 2015 as a tool to help companies easily create plans and organize workload while allowing all team members to chat about their projects.

Planner allows teams to do everything from assign new tasks to messaging and sharing files. Businesses can create new plans and set due dates on projects and keep assignments organized, and co-workers can collaborate on tasks and send each other related documents and messages so that all things related to the "plan" are in one centralized place. The app's dashboard features all plans organized in columns, similarly to Trello or TweetDeck.

All users can also stay in the loop with the team's progress both in the dashboard and via email notifications.

However, can Planner really kill the competition like Microsoft hopes?

Planner is competing against related apps like Trello, Slack, Basecamp and Asana, and the work management solution isn't doing anything particularly innovative that the competition isn't already doing.

One of the main perks of Planner is that it comes free for those who already have Office 365 subscriptions, making it worthwhile for business purposes. Options like Office 365 Business Essentials for small businesses costs as low as $5 per user per month when paid for annually, whereas Slack costs just under $7 per user per month annually, and a Trello Business Class subscription costs $8.33 per user per month when paid for annually.

Planner is all backed in the cloud like the other Office 365 apps, and when Microsoft launches iOS, Android and Windows versions of the app, it will be accessible via phones and tablets. Microsoft plans on releasing the app versions soon.

Along with being able to manage and organize work visually (just like Trello and some of the others), Planner also integrates with other software from Microsoft, like Outlook and OneNote. The app might be ideal for businesses that are still using Excel, need a better productivity solution and trust in Microsoft's products.

Planner is certainly Microsoft's version of the other work management apps already available, but the company plans to add more features in the coming months as it gains feedback from users. New features already in the works include the ability for team leaders to assign tasks to multiple users (something that can be done on Trello) and plan templates.

It's only a matter of time until we see if it succeeds.

Source: Office Blogs