Now that the coronavirus (still) requires flexibility from us, we are getting a lot of questions about the possibilities for online meetings. The business world never agrees on which collaboration software is best. There are many options to choose from. But there is only one that we think stands out. Microsoft Teams.
We’ll tell you everything you need to know about this fantastic collaboration solution for businesses, freelancers, and professional teams.
Microsoft Teams is a tool of Microsoft 365. This tool is not just any tool. It is a collaboration platform with chat, document sharing, online meetings and many more very useful functions for business communication.
Having an exemplary team environment is necessary for making creative decisions and for communicating with each other. Shared workplace software such as Microsoft Teams makes achieving this goal easier. Especially if a team is part of a large company, has many home workers or is simply very large.
Many features make Teams stand out from the rest:
Teams and channels. Teams consist of a number of channels that can be used as communication boards between teams Conversations within teams and channels. All team members can see and contribute to the General channel. They can also use @ to invite other members to other conversations. Slack, for example, cannot do this. Chat function. The chat function is no stranger to collaboration apps and can be used between teams, groups and individuals. Document storage in SharePoint. Every team that uses Teams gets a SharePoint environment with a standard document library. All shared files from all conversations are automatically saved here. Permissions and security options for sensitive data can also be adjusted. Online video calling and image sharing. Seamless and fast video calling with employees and customers. A good video calling function is indispensable in a collaboration app these days. In addition, someone can also take over your computer if you need technical support or if you want to collaborate in real-time. Online meetings. This feature can enhance your communications, meetings, and even training with an online meeting feature that can host up to 10,000 users. These meetings can receive users from both inside and outside your company. You can upload files during the meeting, get help with planning, chat and take notes in the handy note-taking app. Audio conference. This is a feature you won’t find in many other collaboration apps. Audio conferencing allows anyone to join an online meeting from their phone. With a so-called ‘dial-in’ number, anyone can participate, even without internet. You do need an extra license for this. Full call functionality. Yes that too! With Microsoft 365 Business Voice you can say goodbye to the old telephone system and switch completely to calling via Teams. This means that all your employees are always available, wherever they are or with any device. This one also needs an additional license.
Simply put, Teams has a similar concept to that of other collaboration software like Slack, but with more bells and whistles. Also handy, with a Microsoft 365 license you get Teams for free!
To start with, the usability of Teams is great and it gives you a working environment where all your employees can easily work together. In addition, your projects, productions, and other business elements will benefit from Teams features.
Microsoft will (soon) stop using Skype and continue entirely with Teams. But if you now use Skype, the transition will go smoothly, because all functions of Skype will be found in Teams.
Teams is extremely simple and easy to use. It doesn’t take much to set it up properly. Still, it is useful to think carefully about how you want to use this platform as a company.
The two main options:
The Organic Approach. You can choose to implement Microsoft Teams in the ‘anything is possible’ way. Here you let everyone in your company do what they want with the platform and this way the adoption and use of Teams can grow organically. The Controlled Approach. With this managed approach, you can mandate the use of Teams for specific aspects of your business. This allows you to control who uses what part and what everyone can do with Teams. This also happens in roll-out phases throughout the organization.
You can choose to combine both options. What works for your company mainly depends on the company culture and the use cases. Everything can be managed and configured in the admin portal.
We can provide training to your employees so that they can make smart use of this software. In addition, Microsoft itself also offers online training material. Often these are short videos on how to best use the software and its features.
You can schedule a meeting via Teams from Outlook. This is how you do it:
From your calendar in Outlook you select a moment for a meeting. Click on ‘New meeting’, and a new screen will open. Click on the ‘Teams meeting’ button at the top of the screen. Fill in details of the meeting and invite people. Recipients are not required to have a Microsoft account or Teams. The invitee will receive an email with a link to the scheduled meeting and can join via the app or on the web (https://teams.microsoft.com) The organizer may mute or remove individuals. Also screen sharing, etc. Note that this functionality works best from your PC, instead of a Cloud environment.
The video below shows how to invite someone from Outlook and set up the meeting.
This option is also available via Outlook Web in your browser. When making an appointment, click on ‘more options’ and then click on the ‘teams meeting’ button.
Teams is a powerful and extremely convenient collaboration environment that will only grow in popularity. Microsoft Teams is included with a Microsoft 365 license, so every user can benefit from this collaboration solution. In other words, it makes teamwork simple by being able to collaborate, share and communicate in one platform.
Curious about all functionalities? Have a look at https://support.office.com/nl-nl/teams. Do you want to use the trial license or do you already have Teams and do you need support? Or a question about how something works? Please contact us on +31 33 789 00 33 or hello@infradax.com.
We have also written an article with general tips about working from home, which you can read here.
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