If you’re using Microsoft 365 mostly for Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams—and not much else—you might be overlooking a real productivity booster: Microsoft Bookings. Many businesses don’t yet take full advantage of it, but once you do, it can transform how you handle appointments, meetings, and client-interactions.
What is Microsoft Bookings?
In short: it’s a fully-integrated appointment-scheduling and booking page tool that lives inside Microsoft 365. According to Microsoft it “makes scheduling and managing appointments a breeze” and includes a web-based booking page that ties into Outlook (and Teams) and lets external clients or internal folks book time that aligns with your real availability.
Key features include:
- A public or internal “booking” page where people choose a service (or meeting type), see available slots, and schedule themselves.
- Real-time integration with your Outlook/Microsoft Calendar so you avoid double-bookings.
- Automated email confirmations, reminders, and even the ability to let clients reschedule/cancel easily.
- Integration with Teams: booking a time can generate a Teams meeting link automatically, so remote appointments are seamless.
- Customization: you can set services, lead time, staff members, buffer/prep time, embed the booking page in your website, apply branding.
In short: If your business or team spends a lot of time coordinating meetings, client appointments, resource scheduling, or internal decision-making sessions, Bookings can cut out a lot of back-and-forth emails and manual scheduling work.
Why it’s a “hidden gem”
- Many organizations already have it included in their Microsoft 365 subscription but haven’t activated it or built it out.
- It replaces third-party scheduling tools (like Calendly, Acuity) within your Microsoft ecosystem, meaning less complexity, fewer login issues, fewer data silos.
- Because it’s built into Microsoft 365, the data lives inside your secure tenant, with compliance controls, etc — good for organisations with governance needs.
- It’s versatile: not just for external client bookings — you can use it internally (HR, IT help desk, training sign-ups, one-on-one meetings) or externally (customer consults, service delivery, sales demos).
Real-world use-cases
Here are some scenarios where Bookings works especially well:
- Professional services firm: Consulting business wants prospects or clients to book time directly via a link on their website for an “Initial Discovery Call” — Bookings gives them the landing page + sync with calendar of consultants.
- HR team in a mid-sized company: New hire orientation sessions, wellness check-ins, or onboarding meetings – the HR team makes available blocks of time and new hires choose a slot via Bookings, rather than coordinating by email.
- Educational / training department: Students or staff schedule one-on-one time with a tutor or trainer, choose the time, receive confirmation and Teams link (if remote).
- Customer success team: Bookings page embedded in an email campaign: “Schedule your quarterly success review” — the customer picks a slot, and it all populates into your calendar, moving downstream tasks so you don’t manually set up the call every time.
Getting started: how you can roll it out
Here’s a simple 5-step plan for you:
- Check license: Make sure your Microsoft 365 plan includes Bookings (Business Standard, Business Premium, Enterprise E3/E5 etc).
- Enable the app: In Microsoft 365 Admin Center, enable Bookings if needed for your organisation.
- Create your first “Booking calendar”: Choose your service types (e.g., “Consultation – 30 min”, “Onboarding Session – 1 hr”), set availability, set buffer time, assign staff (or you).
- Customize the booking page: Add your branding/logo, set time zone rules, set who sees what, optionally embed the page on your website or provide direct link.
- Promote it & enforce usage: Add the link in your email signature, website, internal portals; train staff to stop scheduling by email and instead use Bookings; monitor usage and look for reduction in scheduling overhead.
Why it matters for your organisation
- Saves time: Less manual scheduling = more time spent on value-added work.
- Improves professionalism: Clients/customers get a polished “book online” experience rather than email chains.
- Reduces no-shows/cancellations: With automated reminders, buffer times, rescheduling features.
- Integrates & secures: Stays inside your Microsoft 365 environment rather than new external tool.
- Flexible for internal use: Not just client-facing — you can use it for internal resources, one-on-ones, departments.
How we can help: Let MC Services support you
If you like the sound of Bookings but aren’t sure how to roll it out, that’s where we step in. At MC Services we offer:
- Setup & configuration of Microsoft Bookings in your tenant: Defining services, staff, availability, buffer times, page branding.
- Integration work: Embedding the booking page into your website, linking to Teams/Outlook, automating notifications, training staff.
- Training & adoption: Helping your team understand the value, showing best-practices for using Bookings (and other under-utilised Microsoft 365 features) so you get real ROI.
- Extended Microsoft 365 training: Beyond Bookings, we cover the broader suite (Teams, Lists, Forms, Power Automate, etc) so your organisation gains more value from your subscription.
In other words, we don’t just tell you “you should use Bookings” — we help you make it happen, ensure your team adopts it, and measure the improved efficiency.
Final thoughts
If you’re paying for Microsoft 365 and only using the “usual suspects”, you’re missing out on value. Microsoft Bookings is a prime example of a tool that’s already available to you, that addresses a real pain-point (scheduling/meetings/appointments) and integrates smoothly into your existing workflow.
Give it a try: set up a pilot (say for one team or one use-case), see how much time it saves, then scale. And if you’d like, my team at MC Services is ready to help you set it up, train your users, and extend your Microsoft 365 adoption beyond just the basics.
Use my bookings link to set up a meeting Book time with Duane Maas
