What Is Microsoft Teams Good For? Why You’re Not Using Teams as Much as You Should
MS Teams is an extremely robust and capable platform. But if you’re not using it as much as you should be, you may not be seeing the benefits. Like any consolidation-based, collaboration-based system, MS Teams is only as effective as you make it. Here’s what you need to know.
What Is Microsoft Teams Good For?
MS Teams is particularly good for communicating with other people – and it’s good for many types of communication. Send an instant message to one person, start a group meeting with a dozen people, or broadcast your screen to dozens of individuals on your team. Microsoft Teams makes it easy to connect with anyone in your network, and it also makes it easy to find the people that you need to connect with.
In the MS Teams platform, you can easily review communications from different teams and groups, and coordinate things with the people that you’re working closely with. You can share documents back and forth, search for information that you shared in the past, and generally work with people as though they were right next to you, even if they’re miles away.
But that’s also why you may not be using Teams as much as you should. If you don’t know how to use Teams, you may not have set up the right Teams and channels. Employees may be communicating in different ways, such as phone calls, text messages, and emails. All of this means that MS Teams really isn’t being given the opportunity to be effective.
Why Should You Be Using MS Teams?
It’s really quite simple: MS Teams makes it easier to connect with and collaborate with employees who are out of the office, in other departments, in other countries, or even next door to you. MS Teams is an all-in-one, central communication hub, which can also be easily integrated with other third-party solutions. When used properly, MS Teams becomes a one-stop shop for everything that an employee needs to know.
Today’s workforce is highly mobile and does most of its communication online. Having to connect through phone, email, and other devices is an easy way for employees to lose track of information and tasks. MS Teams makes it easier for employees to do their job, which in turn leads to fewer frustrated employees, and more employees who enjoy doing their work.
MS Teams can be integrated with MS Planner and MS Project, both of which can keep employees on task and efficient. Further, MS Teams makes it possible to track a multitude of projects at once, and it makes it easier for managers and administrators to connect with Teams as a whole. Employees can schedule meetings in MS Teams and have those meetings ported directly to the Calendar and Outlook.
By integrating with the entire Microsoft Office ecosystem, MS Teams also makes it easier to share projects and work on projects together. But it’s not just the MS Office ecosystem: MS Teams can also be connected to important utilities such as Salesforce. And that means that MS Teams really does become a central hub of everything important in a business.
MS Teams can even improve security, by making sure that all communications are held within a single platform and securing said platform. Otherwise, important information can be revealed through a number of different products: email, Skype, text messages, and more.
What’s Holding You Back?
Usually, the problem holding people back from MS Teams relates to a lack of training. When MS Teams is first implemented, there may not be processes put in place regarding when MS Teams should be used. The MS Teams infrastructure, such as Teams and channels, may not be created, leaving employees adrift. If employees aren’t specifically directed to adopt Teams, they’re more likely to continue using their own programs, or start self-servicing their IT.
Therefore, the best way to start using MS Teams is to create a comprehensive training program, and to encourage employees to go to MS Teams first when they need to connect with each other. Teach employees about Microsoft Teams best practices, and have regular refresher courses. Have everyone use MS Teams from the top down, including the C-Suite.
Sometimes, hiring a professional can help. A professional Microsoft partner can help your company leverage MS Teams and the entire MS Office suite more effectively. By building processes for you from the ground up, you can hit the ground running and make sure that the processes are followed in the future. Having a partner who can help with additional training will also help moving into the future, with onboarding processes.
Are you ready to start using MS Teams more effectively? By improving your MS Teams processes, you’ll be able to improve your use of Office 365 overall.
Contact us today to find out more.
