Teams is part of the Microsoft 365 suite and provides workspace chat and video conferencing, file storage and proprietary/third-party app integration for businesses to adopt in an organic or controlled manner. Businesses should assess how best to incorporate it with their culture and use cases before beginning implementation.
Chats enable teams to quickly communicate among themselves. Each threaded and archived conversation serves as an invaluable data governance tool and makes for effortless eDiscovery.
Features
Microsoft Teams provides many meeting-centric collaboration tools. Loop components allow users to create and share documents, spreadsheets, or any other type of content in real-time during a meeting with all attendees – including editing – which is automatically saved in OneDrive for easy access and retrieval later. Furthermore, the platform provides end-to-end encryption for one-to-one meetings as well as safe links that protect businesses against potentially harmful websites users might click. Meeting controls such as disabling video streaming or invite only options help improve meeting management.
Meetings in Teams are powered by the virtual whiteboard app, which enables participants to collaborate on a shared canvas by writing, drawing, diagramming, annotating notes or sketches, etc. Recently updated whiteboard app boasts many new features such as over 40 templates, reactions and inking tool improvements; additionally “spotlighting” meeting participants means their video feed can be shown prominently for all attendees of larger conferences or all-company meetings – particularly useful during larger gatherings of all company meetings or all employee gatherings.
Teams’ call and meeting controls include automatic recording options, private chat during meetings, breakout rooms for more collaborative work during conferences and breakout rooms for further collaboration during a conference. You can use a search bar to quickly locate past meetings or call recordings as well as use its “raise hand” feature to signal that you have questions or comments without interrupting speakers during their speeches.
Microsoft recently implemented live transcription into Teams, providing meeting participants with written transcripts of what’s being spoken during meetings. This feature is especially helpful for deaf or hard-of-hearing meeting attendees but also offers benefits to anyone struggling to follow conversations due to hearing impairment.
Microsoft Teams provides users with a centralized directory, making it easier for users to locate and interact with team members and external contacts. It can easily integrate into existing corporate email systems as well as apps like Google Drive, Dropbox and Outlook Web App; additionally it’s possible to integrate third-party conferencing services such as Zoom or Bluejeans for improved meeting capabilities.
Getting Started
If you’re new to Microsoft Teams, getting acquainted may seem daunting at first. Thankfully, however, becoming comfortable with its program should be simple – tabs, bots, @mentions and red bangs will become common vocabulary as you use this software efficiently.
To create a new team in Microsoft Teams Desktop, log on and click “+ New Team.” Alternatively, create one from an existing Microsoft 365 group by selecting its name as well. Choose whether your new team should be private or public and decide on its status (public/private). Once in, members can be added by searching or clicking the member list; channels and privacy settings can also be managed for the team.
Schedule meetings from either your calendar or menu on the left-hand sidebar, opening a new window where you can enter a meeting title, invite participants, and add descriptions – once complete click “Save” and an invite will be sent directly to every participant’s Outlook inbox.
Alternately, you can access meetings via audio phone call by dialing in to a conference number and entering a meeting ID number. This option is helpful when participants have poor Internet connectivity or when the meeting requires voice-only participation. Furthermore, your Teams settings allow you to enable notifications for chat messages, meetings or calls and Microsoft’s tips or recommendations; plus set your preferred app and keyboard language preferences.
Microsoft Teams provides another useful feature in the form of threaded conversations, which allows you to reply directly to a message so your replies remain contextual with the original message and avoid noise-rich conversations. Furthermore, team conversations can use emoticons or stickers for fun moments!
Customization
Customization is an integral component of Microsoft Teams user experience. From meeting templates and theme options to chat and video settings, users can personalize the software according to their individual needs and preferences. Furthermore, admins may customize apps within Teams in accordance with organizational requirements or identity standards.
Personalize Microsoft Teams user interface by changing display name, background image and color palette; rearrange default apps on left sidebar and remove altogether; create and edit tabs within team interface for quick and easy access of apps; Admins may add or remove apps to menu bar as needed.
At its developer conference Build this week, Microsoft revealed several customization updates to Teams. Developers can now utilize the Fluid Components API to easily send messages containing tables, action items and lists within an application – enabling teams to more efficiently share information within teams. Furthermore, third-party apps will soon have access to an Activity Feed API which allows them to post notifications of actionable content directly into Teams feed panel, while media API allows real-time access for transcripts, translation, notetaking, insights gathering in meetings.
Microsoft has also made other improvements to enhance app administration, customization, and discovery. Administrators can now deploy SaaS apps through Teams Admin Center and configure user access accordingly; additionally they can rebrand third-party apps supporting customization by adjusting elements such as icon color or short description settings.
Administrators can now set meeting themes within the meetings menu in Microsoft Teams’ Admin Center, to better align meeting pre-join screens, lobby environments and meeting room environments with an organization’s brand standards. Meeting themes are available both for online and offline meetings in Microsoft Teams.
Integrations
For optimal collaboration experience, Microsoft Teams needs to be combined with apps that help teams do their work and communicate more effectively. There are hundreds of third party integrations that make Teams even more useful and powerful – there’s sure to be something perfect for every business type!
These apps provide users with features designed to make the experience more intuitive, including card and task modules, activity feeds, customizable chat backgrounds and automatic data syncing from other applications into Teams; you could for instance automatically sync files from a file repository into Teams folder or create tasks from messages with results showing up in your to-do list.
Integrations are designed to make you work more efficiently and effectively, whether on calls or chat. They allow your entire team to keep track of project progress – seeing what has been completed so far, as well as what needs to be completed next. Some apps allow users to mark messages as urgent so colleagues are immediately informed – this feature may come in handy for scheduling meeting time or setting a timer during virtual events.
Remote work can be beneficial, yet it may be challenging to foster an effective team culture when everyone is scattered throughout the country (or world). This may result in feelings of isolation and low morale which are detrimental to productivity and efficiency at your company. To combat this situation, encourage team-building activities and social interactions within the Teams environment through dedicated channels for non-work related communication; organise coffee chats; host casual celebrations.
Through this integration, Evernote content can be seamlessly imported into Teams chat threads for easier communication and idea exchange. Plus, eliminating switching applications leads to a more efficient workflow!
This integration combines Trello and Jira tasks into Microsoft Teams to allow for more efficient project planning. Create or update projects, set task dependencies, view project status reports and more – unlike the basic task management feature found within Microsoft Teams itself! Furthermore, this one offers advanced features like full visibility into project lifecycle processes as well as detailed progress reporting.
