Ever wondered how Microsoft Teams power business to go further in 2021? Say no more, in this article, we’ll do just that and explore with you some key features and benefits that you need to know. Keep on reading.
In April 2021, Microsoft announced that Teams had 145 million daily active users. As compared to the other 5 most popular chat apps out there, Microsoft Teams is by far one of the highest.
But that is only from April. We are pretty sure the number keeps growing every day as on 7 July 2021 they released the Q4 FY21 earnings announcement.
According to Gartner, the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, Microsoft Teams has achieved a 4.4 stars rating. This shows that people have kept relying on the Microsoft Teams ever since the pandemic started.
But of course, before we go deep, you would need to understand what Microsoft Teams is all about and why it is so important for the business to go further.
What is Microsoft Teams?
According to Luke(2021), Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based team collaboration software where it is also part of Microsoft 365 and Office 365. The essence facility in Microsoft Teams includes business messaging, calling, video meetings, and file sharing. What’s more, Microsoft Teams can be used by organizations of various sizes. It is not limited to those who have big businesses.
To simplify, Microsoft Teams is a chat-based collaboration tool that comes with online meetings, document sharing and offers more highly convenient features for business communication. Microsoft Teams is being used consistently throughout the organization and not limited to company departments.
Microsoft Teams accommodate well with other Microsoft business applications, such as Exchange, PowerPoint, and SharePoint. Also, Teams allow workers to cooperate on content in real-time over different devices like laptops and mobile devices, locally and remotely. Sounds pretty amazing? but how can it enhance your business activity? Let’s go deeper.
Microsoft Teams Features
- Calendar – Users can keep track of their work such as meetings, tasks, daily appointments. Microsoft Outlook email and Microsoft Teams are incorporate deeply together. You can create new events or meetings, accept or decline existing ones, you can jump into the meeting right from the calendar window. You can also send a message to the participants if you’re running late or if you have some important information to share. The main advantage of the Teams calendar is that it is easy to access, navigate around it and manage Teams meetings.
- Document storage in SharePoint – Microsoft Teams will provide a site in SharePoint Online to each team who uses it. This site will act as a default document library folder. Every time a team member shares their files in the conversation, the files will be displayed in this folder automatically. For permission security, it can be customized for sensitive information.
- Messaging chat – It’s more than just chat. Need to share a file? Just attach it in the chat. Then simply call or video call your colleague to discuss the file straight from the window. Or schedule a meeting without leaving the chats. Chat’s integration with other Microsoft products like OneNote and Microsoft Office means no more switching between apps throughout your conversation. It’s all right there in chat. Want to make sure that you can find the information you need in a hurry when you’re working on a project? Microsoft Teams comes with the option to save specific pieces of content, whether it’s a message or an attachment. You can classify the content is important to you and spend less time searching for crucial data.
- Online video – With Microsoft Teams, the users will get to use phone calling features, and video conferencing where it allows users to personalizes their virtual backgrounds, record meeting, transcription, whiteboard, and breakout rooms. They can also share their screen which would enable further collaboration. This online meeting can be hosted up to 10,000 users and can also be include both from outside and inside a organization.
Benefits of Using Microsoft Teams for Your Business
1. Boost Digital Transformation
Companies without a digital transformation strategy have undoubtedly encountered difficulties as a remote workforce becomes the norm. Investing in a powerful collaboration solution, such as Microsoft Teams, a wonderful beginning for business leaders to start developing their transition to a digital workplace.
Because Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based solution, data storage locations can be reduced and optimized for better accessibility and document availability.
Microsoft Teams also makes information and data sharing significantly easier for users. Because of its powerful feature set and digital capabilities, employees can work faster and smarter by cutting out time-consuming processes.
2. Encourage Connectivity
Because of its flexibility, BYOD(Bring Your Own Device) rules have become widespread in many workplaces. This has been especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic, when potential employees are interviewed and hired remotely, BYOD allows them to start working immediately.
With BYOD, employees can access the company’s enterprise system and data utilizing their chosen hardware. Having technologies in place that are conducive to these policies, such as Microsoft Teams, ensures employees can easily access the necessary applications to effortlessly collaborate with their colleagues.
The Microsoft Teams application can be downloaded onto a variety of devices, whether it be a laptop, desktop, mobile phone which eradicates the limitations of hardware or software preferences. Teams is supported on Windows and Mac as well as iOS and Android, allowing employees to stay connected across their portfolio of technologies.
3. Microsoft Application Integration
Try to imagine Microsoft Teams as a buffet restaurant where you can eat everything that you want. Yes, that’s right, because Microsoft Teams do have everything that you need, all in one place and you can access it anytime and anywhere. With Microsoft Teams, it integrate every tool you use on one platform.
With app integration it’s easier to manage emails, messages, and files. Microsoft Teams lets you access everything without having to go anywhere else. You can have many different browser tabs open at once.
Within the Teams interface, you can use and manage all these apps. If you are transitioning over from Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Excel, you can use everything at the same time. No more shifting through multi-app conversation windows.
4. Meeting and Scheduling Tools
Well, food is necessary in your life, same goes with meetings. But scheduling a meeting will be quite frustrating sometimes. So, how can scheduling a meeting be easier? My answer is simple: use Microsoft Teams! Microsoft Teams also integrate with Calendar where you can find it on the left menu in Teams.
By selecting the calendar, you can hover around your mouse directly to the “New Meeting” button, then you can also click the “Scheduling Assistant” button if you want to see whether others are available. By clicking it, then you are set for the meeting as simple and easy as that. Moreover, your calendar is consistently available in teams and syncs smoothly.
Microsoft Teams
To summarize, Microsoft Teams has a number of stand out features that make it a worthy successor to Skype for Business, and a clear leader in the company communication space. With large amounts of customization, integrations and productivity tools, almost any business will benefit from deploying Microsoft Teams.
There are a lot to gain with using Microsoft Teams in your business activity and it is your choice whether to enhance your business or keep your competitors ahead of you.
If you are considering implementing Microsoft Teams in your business, contact us today at Enfrasys. We specialize in consulting organizations about cloud solution services.
Working close with Microsoft, Enfrasys is certified as Microsoft partner. We have the experience and expertise to make this task a quick and easy transition, allowing you to enjoy enhanced communication as quickly as possible. For more information, please visit our website
If you wish to learn more about Microsoft Teams, here are some article suggestions:
- Microsoft Acquires Peer5 to Improve Teams’ Live Video Streaming
- How to enable Microsoft Teams for your office 365 tenant
- Let’s take your business up a notch with Microsoft Teams
You can also check out our other articles here – What’s New