What is Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based collaboration tool that holds a number of uses for your work or business. As an integral part of the Office 365 suite, Teams offers many unique features and applications designed to help your business and workforce communicate efficiently and with increased productivity. The capabilities of Microsoft Teams keep increasing with each year as more features are implemented.
Communication is key in any business and Microsoft Teams focuses on this by streamlining teamwork in any workplace, either with remote teams or within an organization. Microsoft Teams utilizes the latest technologies and internet applications to stay up to date with the modern way of working, completely unifying all areas of successful business practices in one online platform.
Teams can either be used as a free stand-alone application or as a fully integrated Office 365 hub, making use of the many Office suite applications. As a stand-alone application with modern communication features, Teams gives you necessities such as business chat, video calling and meetings, cloud storage and screen sharing.
Benefits of using Microsoft Teams
The following advantages come with the use of Microsoft Teams in your business:
– Collaboration
Streamline collaboration with easier work processes by finding out what works best for your team. Using the right Microsoft Teams collaboration tools and applications creates a unified workplace, resulting in work being done faster and easier.
– Office 365 Integration
Most businesses are already familiar with the full Office 365 tools such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Utilize the variety of services available with the applications that your team already uses.
Microsoft Team offers many features and possibilities through third party applications. Integration between Teams and other applications does not only apply to Office 365 suites. As of October 2019, there are 224 possible app integrations, bots and applications available with more being developed at a very fast rate. Users can explore all the applications from a single portal and choose which would suit their business needs, either through free or paid options.
– Communication
Communication goes hand in hand with collaboration and Teams helps you combine the two to its best ability. Enjoy a variety of communication features such as voice calling, video conferencing, messaging, mentions and more.
The following areas of communication are enhanced by utilizing the appropriate Microsoft Teams features:
Meetings
Online meetings
Live broadcasts
Meeting spaces
Cloud video interoperability
Audio conferencing
Recording
Calling
Phone System
Direct Routing
Calling Plan
Team devices
Devices
Work faster and connect from anywhere
Team rooms
Desk and conference phones
Peripherals
– Productivity
Save precious time by customizing your workplace and having every tool at your fingertips.
How to use Microsoft Teams?
The following video is a tutorial on how to use Microsoft Teams: Watch Video
Office 365 Business Premium
Office 365 Business Essentials
Microsoft Office 365 Business Essentials has the same features as Microsoft Office 365 Business Premium with the only difference of Essentials using web versions of the Office applications – Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook instead of the desktop versions.
If you are interested or would like more information, contact us on 012 663 2500 or support@3gi.co.za
Here are our top 10 picks for needed Microsoft Team integrations:
(Please note each business might have unique and different needs and certain applications might not apply to them.)
Slack
Simplify everyday tasks like checking your calendar, collaborating on files, letting teammates know you’re busy and more. Teamwork in Slack happens in channels — a single place for messaging, tools and files — helping everyone save time and collaborate together.
Zoom
Zoom is currently seen as the leader in enterprise video communications, offering you the opportunity to connect with people outside of Microsoft Teams. Zoom boasts an easy to use interface for video and audio conferencing, helping you set up a secure business video call in seconds.
MindMeister
MindMeister is an online mind mapping tool that helps team members develop and share ideas in a visual platform. Use the mind map editor to take down and compare notes, brainstorm and plan your projects from a single shared page. With over 10 million users, it is no surprise that MindMeister is on our recommendation list.
AttendanceBot
Many employers fear the adoption of a digital workplace will create opportunities for team members to slack off. AttendanceBot covers this by making it really easy to clock in/out and by getting organized timesheet and payroll reports
SoapBox
SoapBox is the ideal app for managers, designed to improve communication in terms of one-on-ones, team meetings and discussions. Use SoapBox to manage meetings and discussions by setting agendas and getting feedback from the team, to better see where room for improvement lies.
DocuSign
Save time by signing or sending documents for eSignature without ever leaving Microsoft Word!
Jira
Designed for software teams, Jira is the leading agile software development tool that allows bug tracking, issue tracking and agile project management. Jira is completely customizable which allows you to set it up to your teams need.
Lucidchart
Lucidchart is a visual workspace that combines diagramming, data visualization, and collaboration through working together in real time and clear information sharing.
Salesforce Lightning
If your company is already using Salesforce, the Salesforce Lightning integration is one of the simplifies ways to boost productivity and efficiency of Outlook in Office 365. It enables you to view all accounts, custom objects, contacts, opportunities, and leads associated with appointments and emails without ever having to close Outlook.
GitHub
GitHub is a perfect tool for developers to work together on projects by sharing code for collaboration between different developers or teams, allowing developer teams to work together from anywhere in the world.