For over a year we have been loving Microsoft Teams as a primary communication tool in the office.
It is one of Microsoft’s takes on business messaging apps (Skype for Business and Yammer have previously occupied this space). But it actually goes a lot further than other apps you may be familiar with, like Slack or when people use WhatsApp in a business context.
We’ll say upfront that you may find all the added functionality over these other simpler tools makes the user experience a little more complicated. But if you invest time in mastering it, then we’ve found it becomes a really powerful tool.
What is MS Teams?
Teams is a cloud-based messaging app. But as well as messaging, you can use it to make voice and video calls, screen share, store and share files. On the messaging front, it stands out from rival apps with the sheer range of ways you can communicate. Sure you can fire across word-based messages to each other. But it also has great GIF and meme functionality to inject a bit of personality and creativity into what may otherwise be mundane conversations.
It sounds simple but it is great fun and gets everyone communicating.
Built into Office 365
Another attractive feature is that it is part of the Office 365 suite of apps.
First, this means that if you already pay for O365 there is no further cost for full functionality – a big selling point when you consider that Slack costs about £5 – £10 per user per month for the standard and plus subscriptions. There is a free version of teams too if you do not have O365 subscriptions. It’s still good but does not have complete functionality.
Second, it has really good integration of these office apps making it easy to co-work on documents and schedule advance or regular calls for example.
And third, being part of O365 means that it is strong on compliance and security features which are becoming increasingly important.
Using Teams beyond your O365 ecosystem
As well as compatibility with the Office 365 programs, there are plenty of third-party apps you can integrate too, such as project management tool Trello. And if you work with freelancers or other people outside your organisation, you can still include them on your channels – they just sign in with their own credentials. It is great for collaboration, managing projects or communicating with clients and suppliers.
Help with MS Teams
We now live in a time when we are blessed with a good choice of business messaging apps. If you are already invested in MS Office 365 we would recommend checking out Teams to see how it can improve the way your staff work together. And if you don’t use Office 365 yet, MS Teams is yet another reason to consider switching.
If you want assistance getting started with Teams or would like to discuss how it could help your business be more productive, call us on 01454 534 009. We are a leading Bristol IT company for SMEs and would love to share our enthusiasm for MS Teams with you and your business.
