Microsoft Teams facilitates effective communication across all lines of business – between internal employees, remote workers, outsourced teams and external clients. Productivity is at it’s core. When people communicate effectively, high quality work is produced.
Teams makes a massive difference at Certum. In light of recent circumstances this fact has come through boldly.
At Certum, here is how we get the most out of Microsoft teams whilst working from home:
David Wilson, one of Certum’s Director’s, states how Teams has enabled us to maintain the same level of productivity in the unforeseen covid-19 crisis:
“I’ll be honest without teams we would have really suffered.
Internally, the ability to talk and video call each other – as well as share and collaborate on documents if we need to – means being out of office doesn’t hamper the flow of communication. Particularly since the simplistic way of involving segments of the business keeps noise down from emails, which can be overwhelming.
Each day we have a department heads meeting which is critical for running the business. Without teams we’d have to look for a secondary product outside the platform we currently have.
Finally, with Finance Manager Janice at home, the ability to screen share and demo how to do things that would normally be an issue is eradicated. You can show each other what to do step by step as if you’re in the same room.”
Collaboration that mimics the office work style is enabled by Teams. No one’s productivity suffers because circumstances change or the pressure’s on.
Some key features from Microsoft Teams that you should find useful:
1. @Mentions: Activity Filter
Mentioning @somebody prioritises info and/or tasks that could otherwise be lost amidst conversation. This places the most high-priority, relevant content automatically to the top of your to-do list.
2. Search Content
Similarly, the ability to bookmark high importance content means you don’t have to waste time searching for it. However if you forget to bookmark, this function eliminates the need to scroll through various teams and chats. Instead, you’re taken straight to what you need.
3. Slash Commands for Efficiency
Making use of the slash commands function is beneficial for busy workers eager to complete tasks quickly and efficiently.
/Files – shows recent shared files. /Call – directly calls a team mate. /Help – a bot instantly pops up to answer your systems related questions. You can also set your presence status with a slash command. If you have a meeting or call crop up you can /away and back to online when available. This saves yours and colleagues time who may have tried to collaborate.
All commands are searchable with / in the Teams command bar.
4. Collab securely with guests
Teams isn’t exclusive to members of the system and Office 365. Access can be safely opened to guests external to the business. All they need is a consumer/business email to contribute to chats, file share and meetings.
This access is monitored by you. Team owners can adjust permissions based on preference, with a ‘How-To’ guide by Microsoft outlining this process.
External communication is made safe, secure and efficient.
5. Utilising BI and Analytics
As with all business areas, it’s important to gather data and understand how well the system works. Teams generates insightful usage reports – available in the admin centre for service admins – that shows you it’s impact. This way you understand how useful it’s been and what improvements can be made to increase productivity.
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Teams is great for any business as it’s used to suit your specific needs. Bringing your Team together as colleagues and peers, all under one system, is a dependable method to boost collaboration and productivity.
If you don’t have access to this handy system, but do have office 365, check your license type. It may be bundled in – just not yet utilised.
If you don’t have it you can sign up for the free version. This has some usage restrictions but still gives you: unlimited chat; built-in group and one-on-one audio or video calling; 10 GB of team file storage and 2 GB of personal file storage per user. You also get real-time collaboration with the Office apps for web. This includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
If you require full functionality and security, you can take advantage of Microsoft’s free 6 month trial of E1.
If you need any help configuring or securing your setup just get in touch.