4 Reasons Why Microsoft Teams Can Instantly Make Your Business Run Better
Borne from the ashes of Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams is an all-in-one communications platform that provides chat, videoconferencing, file storage, and more. It’s built around the central idea that a workforce should have everything it needs “all in one place,” and with 250 million active users, many businesses big and small seem to agree.
Microsoft Teams takes an integrated approach, designed to save time, be more efficient, and generally alleviate the headaches of handling day-to-day minutiae in the office. Rather than using email and various apps, Teams provides a streamlined approach to some of the most common tasks everyone engages in every day. Here’s how:
1) Microsoft Teams solves everything you hate about calls and video conferences.
Scheduling a team meeting the old-fashioned way? It probably goes something like this: Start with way too many back and forth emails to find a common opening in everyone’s schedule and finally send out a Zoom link. On the day of the meeting, inevitably one person will be frantically digging through their emails for that Zoom invite. Then, the presenter shares a file that was too big for email via DropBox. A third person can’t open the file because they only use Google Drive. The meeting takes far too long and everyone laments the poor use of time.
Now, take Teams. When scheduling the meeting, Teams shows the organizer a meeting planner that automatically finds and suggests open times for all parties. On the day of the meeting, a “join” button magically appears on everyone’s agenda and calendar that can instantly bring each person to the call. Files can be shared and opened directly in the meeting chat. Everyone wins because less time was wasted just trying to make things work and get people on the same page.
As the meat and potatoes feature of Teams, this list could honestly end at 1 and still be enough of a reason to get many businesses on board.
2) Find everything – from that old file you suddenly need again, to a conversation you had 6 months ago
Microsoft Teams is like having Google search for everything at work.
Looking for a client presentation someone shared in a meeting 6 months ago? Search it. What about that conversation with a key piece of client information? Search it. The time when James shared his pizza dough recipe? You guessed it, search. You can even find out who James is, if he works in another office for example, see what he looks like, and learn that he prefers to go by Jim.
With Teams, you can search for messages, files, and people, all in one search bar. That means less time spent organizing and less need to take and keep notes. Everything you need is just a search away.
3) We live in the year 2022. Stop spamming each others’ inboxes and chat already!
Email is supremely useful and important, but what it fails at is the “quick chat.” Too many quick questions and reply alls and suddenly you’ve got a clogged inbox that takes time and effort to sort through. Chat is just a more natural and streamlined channel for sending a file or having…well…a chat.
Consider the explosion of remote work due to the pandemic (as well as the general trend in that direction). A remote worker cannot simply swing by an office for a 30 second update. With 1-to-1 and group chat in Microsoft Teams, it’s so much easier to have that super fast, less-formal line of communication for matters that suit it, such as conversations that necessitate a rapid “back and forth.” It provides a social function for remote workers, as well. Imagine the only way to communicate with coworkers being email. It would be rather isolating, wouldn’t it? Chat can be a pseudo replacement for many of the quick conversations that typically happen in an office.
4) If you’re already paying for Office365, it’s included (and there’s a free version if you aren’t).
When doing a cost-benefit analysis, it’s hard to argue against literally 0 dollars. The only challenge can be getting started. That’s why amshot Managed IT Services handles all aspects of Microsoft Teams integration, so you don’t have to take focus away from what you do best.
Ready to get started? Schedule a free consultation with the amshot team.
