Microsoft Teams

Teams is Microsoft's software solution for collaborative teamwork and communication inside an organization or a business. Created with productivity in mind, Teams manages to raise the bar in the booming collaboration software market, providing a reputable competitor to other enterprise-oriented applications, such as Slack, Zoom and so on.

Microsoft Teams is a business-only tool and its free, feature-limited edition can be used at no cost by anyone with a corporate or a consumer email account. Paid Microsoft 365 commercial subscriptions offer additional functionality and features. Available in several languages, it features client applications for desktop and mobile platforms alike.

Teams is perfect for any business environment that is centered on Microsoft products. It integrates perfectly with other Microsoft services and products, providing a collaborative workspace within Microsoft 365. As such, it features full support for collaborative editing on Office files and it comes with integration for Outlook, OneDrive, OneNote, Planner, Skype video and audio calls, Power BI and so on. This allows team members to carry out their tasks without even leaving Teams to use another application.

It is worth mentioning that Teams is also directly connected to SharePoint, allowing one-click upload to the server and instant file sharing across the organization.

Microsoft Teams has a lot to offer when it comes to internal communication and collaboration. It can be used for daily meetings, screen sharing, and chatting, offering an alternative or, dare we say, replacing email communication entirely, especially in the context of the emerging work-from-home trend today.

The working environment in Teams is user-friendly, but it might take a little while to get accustomed to. Even though it might seem overwhelming at first, it is easy to get around and, what is more, Microsoft provides various demos, tips and tricks to help teams get started and learn how to use the platform to its full potential.

Teams allows users to create several teams and channels, which ultimately are group chat rooms designed for fast-paced conversations. It delivers robust messaging features, with screen and file sharing, cool GIFs and emojis to make conversations livelier. Video and audio calling quality is top notch if a reliable Internet connection is available.

Team conversations can be started and easily managed, while resources can be organized by topic or project. Every team member can access shared files, notes, websites and chats, while the activity news feed keeps everyone up-to-date with the latest changes and contributions. To increase efficiency and collaboration, Teams also comes with a built-in calendar and a meeting scheduler.  In essence, team members can communicate and collaborate with each other as if they were in the same room.

Microsoft has gone a long way to delivering what is today a top remote-work and collaboration platform with a robust feature set and a productivity-oriented toolbox. Despite being part of an Office 365 Premium subscription initially, Teams emerged as a star product of Microsoft, allowing one-click connections and collaboration and bypassing geographical restrictions, which is definitely a selling point in a world where work-from-home connectivity has become the new normal.