How to Use Microsoft Teams’ Biggest Features

If your organization is interested in transitioning to Teams, the first step is to understand how to properly utilize the platform. Channels, chat, voice, and applications can all be accessed through Microsoft Teams, for better communication, collaboration, and consolidation. Here’s how to use Microsoft Teams to improve productivity in your business.

How to Use Microsoft Teams Channels

At the center of Teams communication and collaboration is the “channel.” When teams are created, channels are also created to distinguish different conversations from each other. These channels may be related to specific projects or a general channel may be created for all team communications. Regardless, a channel represents a data feed of all team communication, including text chat, voice chat, and meetings.

Using Microsoft Teams channels is as simple as connecting to the Teams platform and selecting the channel you want from the menu to the left. Once a channel has been selected, different types of communication can be used.

Chat

Instant chat is one of the fastest and most effective methods of communication over the Office 365 Teams channels. To text a channel, just type and send a message at the bottom. Individual users can be tagged by using an “@” sign before their name: this will alert them that you are asking a question or referencing them directly. You can also “@” the entire channel if there is something that everyone needs to pay attention to.

Teams chat will display messages along with their time stamps in a format that is easily searchable. Files and documents can be attached in the chat to send them to other team member and private conversations can be introduced by messaging team members directly.

Voice

Calls can be either performed directly or through a team meeting. If they are performed directly to an individual (or a group of people) they won’t show up in the channel chat. In order to start a voice call, the user selects “New Chat.” From there, they can select either “video call” or “audio call” and one or more recipients.

Voice calls are useful for end users to immediately connect with each other, but they don’t provide a searchable transcript the way that messaging does — consequently, they are often better for fast answers than archived communications. However, they can also be logged as meetings.

Meetings

Within a channel, there is the option to start a video or audio meeting. This is distinct from starting a new chat, as it will appear within the team channel and will go out to the entire team. Team meetings are an easy way to keep the entire team on the same page and can easily fulfill the role of stand-up meetings or daily check-ins. Team meetings are particularly effective for teams who are working from different offices or other geographic locations.

O365 Apps in Teams

In addition to connecting users to other team members, Office 365 Teams also connects directly to apps. From the side bar, individual apps can be launched including BI Collaboration, Adobe Creative Cloud, and other Office 365 integrated products. These products can be used with core Teams functionality, such as the ability to share, annotate, and modify files among team members. Teams can work both in the Office 365 ecosystem and through external tools more efficiently through the Teams interface, which also reduces needless back-and-forth.

Microsoft Teams provides a complete collaborative infrastructure that encompasses chatting, calling, meetings, and even application use. If your business is ready to migrate to teams — or needs to know how to use Microsoft Teams –Red River can help. Contact Red River today.