18 Jan Bombarded by Apps? Unify Your Business With Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams – the platform that offers levels of communication, collaboration, and productivity previously unattainable in business, and this is all achievable from anywhere on the globe. The platform has experienced a period of exponential growth in recent years, and this growth has only been accentuated further by Covid-19. The app has allowed businesses to continue trading – no matter their size – regardless of where their team are working from.
Microsoft Teams is teeming with features that can revolutionise your workday, including Instant Messaging, the ‘Channel’ feature, files, calendar, and online meetings. Let’s take our time to break these down, see what they can do, and work out what makes them the best tools available today.
Teams’ features – A breakdown
Instant messaging
The instant messaging feature is a place to chat with colleagues both about work and otherwise. The ‘Chat’ feature allows you to have a conversation with someone one-on-one or with more than one person in a ‘group chat’. “But it sounds like every other messaging app on the market”, I hear you say and, yes, I agree, but the unique thing about Teams is that once in the chat you are not limited to sending just messages with text but can add emojis, stickers, Gifs – and most impressively – files and links. This ability means that you can cut down on the number of emails being sent around the office on a daily basis. With a large office this could be revolutionary – the efficiency of communication in your organisation will be changed forever.
The Channel feature
Channels are sections of Teams designed to keep conversations organised according to their specific topics, disciplines, or departments. It is your environment; Channels allows you to have the freedom that reflects that ownership by letting you easily structure it in the way that works best for your team and organisation. You can leave all Channels open to all team members, or you can make them private for specific audiences.
A particularly good part of the Channel feature is that files shared in a Channel are automatically stored in a SharePoint folder. Each team in Microsoft Teams has a site in SharePoint Online and files shared are added to the document library. The permissions and file security settings you set in SharePoint automatically carry over to Teams and apply there too.
Files
We have partially already covered Files in the previous section, but let’s recap. When you upload a file to Teams, it will go straight to the Files tab of whatever Channel you uploaded it to. Files that are shared in a private or group chat are stored in your OneDrive for Business folder and are only shared with the people in that conversation.
Calendar
The Calendar feature within Teams works in conjunction with your Outlook calendar data. This allows your users to work through Teams entirely and saves them from constantly having to switch back and forth between different calendars in order to ensure they keep up with their important events or to schedule meetings for the future. This allows your users’ experience in your cyber landscape to be streamlined, which results in less time being wasted, and increased productivity.
Online Meetings
Meetings in Microsoft Teams is one of the key ways to collaborate. The Meetings tool allows you to use audio, video, and screen sharing, meaning you can interact on more than one level with the participants of the meeting. One of the most appealing parts of Teams Meetings is the fact that you don’t even need a Teams account to join! You merely look in the invitation for quick and simple instructions to become involved in the call.
As we have explained, all the features of Teams have some sort of relationship with the rest. They are able to communicate with one another and work in unison to make your workday easier to manoeuvre. They allow you to enjoy your work experience from one platform as opposed to having to learn the functions of multiple systems.
The alternatives that are available on the market simply don’t complement each other and are unable to work from the same platform. When using them you will have to work in a clumsy, disorganised way, making for a much worse experience in comparison to Teams.
In the following and last blog in the series we will explore the advantages of working from one single system.
Microsoft Teams can revolutionise your business – Netcom
Our team of experts offer effective comprehensive cyber solutions that protect your data. Everything we do is centred around reducing the risk your business faces and offering increased productivity – we have a range of services to help mitigate risk, protect your business, and revolutionise your workplace. We are one of a handful of IASME Certified Assessors in the region, which means we not only work to the highest security standards but can also deliver and award Cyber Essentials certification. If you need help with your cyber security, have IT issues, or you need guidance with anything to do with your IT landscape, do not hesitate to get in touch.
