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How does Microsoft Teams work for business?

What is Microsoft Teams?

Teams is a sophisticated, cloud-based collaboration platform that forms part of the Microsoft Office 356 suite of applications. It offers audio and video conferencing, chat, and file storage capabilities. It is replacing Microsoft’s other business messaging and collaboration platforms including Skype for Business and Microsoft Classroom. With the addition of Microsoft Direct Routing, Teams becomes a PBX or business phone system replacement that allows connectivity to the public phone network.

How does Microsoft Teams work?

Being a cloud-based platform, Teams requires no on-premise hardware to function. All capabilities are delivered to users either through a web browser or a downloaded client application.

Once the service is configured, users have immediate access to a range of capabilities including voice and video calling, chat, call routing and forwarding, analytics and reporting.

Teams is particularly useful for staff who are working remotely or from home. All they need is a laptop computer or smartphone to access all services and features.

How do you set up Microsoft Teams?

Setting up Microsoft teams is very straightforward. An organisation’s IT team or technology partner can configure users with nothing more than a web browser. With Direct Routing configured and a phone system license, each user can be assigned a telephone number and log-in credentials to allow them to quickly take advantage of all features.

How do you use Microsoft Teams?

Teams has been designed from the ground up to be easy and intuitive to use. After opening the application and entering their log-in details, users are greeted with a clean, icon-based interface that provides them with access to all features.

To connect with others, a user can provide them with an email link which will allow them to connect via audio or video call. Multiple parties can connect at the same time for video conferences and to share presentations and files.

What benefits does it deliver?

Teams offers significant benefits to organisations looking to improve the way their staff communicate and collaborate with each other, their customers, and partners.

Key benefits delivered by Teams include:

Reduced costs: Rather than needing to invest in costly and complex on-premise infrastructure, Teams is available for a set monthly per-user subscription. This can significantly reduce overall communications charges and upfront capital expenditure.
Simple deployment: Because Teams is a cloud-based platform, configuration can be completed using a web browser. New users can be up and running in just minutes while using the same credentials as their business email.
Ease of management: There is no longer any need to deploy and manage hardware or software, which keeps the management overhead to an absolute minimum.
Unified communications: Rather than needing different applications or services to completed various tasks, Teams provides the ability to conduct audio and video calls and conferences from a single browser. Users can also chat while sharing presentations and files with others.

Intuitive interface: Users familiar with other Microsoft products will find Teams simple to use without the need for intensive training. All screens have been designed to be clear and intuitive, allowing users to be productive from day one.
Application integration: Teams is tightly integrated with other components of the Office 365 stack such as email and SharePoint. It can also be easily connected to other popular platforms such as Salesforce.com.

Teams calendar: Allows the user to book and view meetings without the need to leave the teams app, as Outlook contacts are available in Teams. Users can also quickly create meetings with groups of people they are chatting with without needing to manually search for and add individual contacts.

Third-Party Integrations: Teams has hundreds of available apps to improve efficiency, reducing the need for app switching. Teams’ app integration allows for greater collaboration by giving users the ability to make, view and track activities they and their colleagues are working on, inside Teams. They can also display that information in meetings and chat sessions. Popular integrations include JIRA, Salesforce, Monday and Webex.

How can Access4 help?

With extensive experience in automating the deployment and management of Microsoft Teams with Direct Routing, Access4 can provide you with the collaboration solution for your customers. Talk to us today to find out how.

Tim Jackson | Aug 12, 2021

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How does Microsoft Teams work for business?

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