Embracing Collaboration with Microsoft Teams
You might think that collaboration in the modern workplace is surplus to requirement with the rise of remote working, but embracing collaboration and finding people who can work with others effectively is now more important than ever.
According to a study by Buffer, 20% of respondents to a remote working survey stated that collaboration and communication was their biggest struggle when working remotely. 20% also cited loneliness as a top remote working challenge.
There are currently 4 million remote workers in the UK alone and ensuring these employees remain connected to the wider workforce is imperative for keeping morale and productivity levels high. In a nutshell, collaboration can make or break a team, regardless of whether your team work together in an office or from several remote locations.
But how do you embrace effective collaboration? In this article, we shine a spotlight on Microsoft Teams and how this application can support your business to empower your employees and create a culture of togetherness that works for everyone.
What is Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams is a chat-based workspace within Office 365 designed to bring together people, conversations and content so that colleagues can easily collaborate to achieve more.
Teams is the fastest growing app from Microsoft and is currently used by over 13 million people daily and over 19 million every week. Since it launched in 2016, the application has gone from strength to strength offering continual updates to improve the platform performance and user experience.
Learn more about Microsoft Teams
How Does Microsoft Teams Help with Collaboration?
Virtual workspaces have become the answer to problems with collaboration and Microsoft Teams was designed with this in mind; allowing users to fuel effective communication and create a collaborative workplace.
Teams is a hub for teamwork and enables teams to be more productive by offering a single and secure location. It brings together everything that the workforce/group might need to collaborate together successfully.
The main collaboration aid that Teams brings to a business is the ability for colleagues to work together on documents in real time; whether it’s a Word document, Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation. Documents are automatically saved in the cloud, ensuring that every team member knows they are working on the latest version. Users can even see edits as they’re being made which means they can get projects signed off much quicker than if they were using traditional email chains! Get Teams file management right the first time by ensuring you understand the basics before you get started.
When a Team is created, a SharePoint site and document library is automatically created which gives users access to conversations, documents, notebooks, pages and contents. When accessing the SharePoint site, users can integrate processes with Microsoft Flow or create applications with PowerApps, allowing for seamless collaboration, easy communication and faster innovation.
Communication in Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams can also improve communication in your workplace; users can use the chat function to talk to individuals or whole groups of colleagues, arrange meetings with co-workers or people outside the company, video chat at the touch of a button and call colleagues quickly and easily.
Teams is also replacing Skype for Business, with any new Office 365 customers being onboarded to Microsoft Teams without access to Skype for Business. Thanks to its richer set of experiences, Teams is now the core communications client for Office 365.
Meetings within Teams are set to become even more inclusive soon with the introduction of live captions and subtitles. This new feature will enable participants who are hard-of-hearing, have different levels of language proficiency or are connecting from a loud location to actively contribute to the conversation.
Organisations can even use the ‘Live Broadcast’ function to ensure team members are aware of the latest company news, up to date on training or simply feel connected to the wider business. This function can also be used to connect with people outside of the business, for example hosting webinars or sharing presentations.
At Nasstar, we have extensive experience when it comes to Microsoft Office 365 integration and how this can have a positive impact on your business. If you’d like to learn more about how Teams can empower your workforce to work collaboratively, download our Guide to Microsoft Teams or contact one of our team members today.