Microsoft Teams brings chat, phone calls, meetings and file sharing together in one central place – with integration into other Microsoft and third-party apps for seamless use.
Users can communicate in private chats, use channels organized around specific topics or projects, and access a default documents library.
Teams has features built into it that facilitate quick calendar booking and sharing detailed meeting notes, as well as offering an app store with approved Microsoft and third-party software solutions.
It’s easy to use
Teams is Microsoft’s answer to chat, communications and video meetings. While often considered a competitor to Slack and Zoom, it offers much more than simply chat: it includes collaboration tools and workspaces for real-time and asynchronous work.
This chat-based collaborative platform facilitates group and individual messaging as well as threaded discussions that include voice and video conferencing. Users can elevate any thread to become a call, share files and elevate a conversation into voice/video call format. Pinned channels act like folders for quick access to important conversations or files while private channels within teams provide exclusive conversations between select few users that remain distinct from larger, overall teams.
Microsoft Teams stands out from other chat platforms by being all-inclusive; everything needed for collaboration can be found within one application – OneDrive for file sharing and SharePoint for storage are built-in apps designed specifically to support project collaboration; additionally it’s capable of connecting to external services like GitHub and Zendesk seamlessly.
Microsoft Teams’ most attractive feature is its full functionality across desktop and mobile devices, including iPhone, iPad and Android phones. Its mobile app supports screensharing, hand raising and recording for up to 20 participants in any meeting – including screensharing with screen share control available via handover if necessary – plus additional features like direct routing to existing telecom providers as well as audio conferencing for up to 10,000 (or 20,000 with an Advanced Communications license add-on).
Microsoft Teams offers organizations looking to automate workflows an integrated platform for document management and project planning. Its bots can carry out actions such as creating new tasks, updating status of existing ones and searching for information. Furthermore, its API framework facilitates integration of other internal business apps.
Microsoft Teams’ key feature for managing calendars and meetings is its calendar management features. This platform was created to make collaboration among teams easier by making scheduling meetings faster; its scheduling assistant finds times that suit everyone to book them on your calendar automatically. You may even choose to sync Outlook calendar with Teams so your meeting invitations appear automatically in the app.
It’s secure
Microsoft Teams takes great pains to ensure its security, but most security breaches result from employees. IT administrators can set policies to ensure users are using it appropriately; these may include restricting who can share or post content; record videos; attend meetings; enforce two-factor authentication; encrypt data at rest; restrict locations where accessing Teams is possible and so forth.
Microsoft Teams’ sensitivity labels provide admins with another great feature to use to protect conversations and files from being made available to certain groups, whether public or private channels or both. Applying tags helps admins maintain compliance with privacy and security standards such as HIPAA or PCI DSS.
Teams is equipped with both sensitive labels and a security policy designed to safeguard its platform against malicious code and attachments, using Microsoft Defender and a “Safe Links” feature to identify any known threats before allowing users to click them. These measures help safeguard data while preventing security breaches.
MS Teams offers administrators the capability to restrict third-party apps that require access to user and company data, helping prevent security breaches such as those experienced by Marriott when hackers exploited a third-party app for guest information access.
This platform uses TLS (Transport Layer Security) and other industry-standard technologies to encrypt all data during transit and storage, with Tier D compliant servers to protect from man-in-the-middle attacks and Azure DDOS protection to mitigate network attacks.
However, it’s essential to remember that all security measures depend on user diligence. Employees should be encouraged to take extra measures such as locking their devices when not in use or refraining from sharing sensitive data on unsecure platforms; additionally they should contact their IT department if they notice any potential security lapses.
It’s mobile-friendly
Microsoft Teams was designed to work seamlessly across devices – be they mobile phones, tablets, or laptops. The mobile app provides the same functionality as its desktop program with additional features to make working remotely more convenient for workers on the move. Users can access chats, meetings, calls and files stored within channels within Teams as well as edit personal settings directly in the mobile app – allowing real-time collaboration on files stored therein.
The mobile app also includes the latest features for meetings and calls. It supports one-click video conferencing with up to 49 people at once and allows participants to share their screen, with advanced security measures including two-factor authentication and encryption of data in transit and at rest. In addition, its dark theme makes use more comfortable even during low light conditions.
Chats are threaded and indexed so users can quickly locate information, while conversations can be pinned directly to the top for quick reference. Furthermore, this app offers basic instant messaging functionality including emojis and GIFs; in addition to being muted when necessary for focussed work.
Teams is designed for use both standalone or as part of a larger enterprise productivity suite. It integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft applications such as Shifts for scheduling worker shifts and Kaizala (a chat app similar to WhatsApp but with enhanced security features), plus has capabilities that allow it to replace email communications for many businesses.
Microsoft has significantly upgraded the mobile experience of their app since its debut. The new user interface (UI) is much easier to navigate and offers all of the same features found on desktop versions; such as tapping and holding messages to access actions such as editing or deleting. Unfortunately, on mobile devices this feature may not be as useful. Nonetheless, you can still select an ellipsis to respond to a message.
It’s flexible
Microsoft Teams is an all-in-one digital work hub designed to facilitate communication among team members and streamline project management and file sharing activities. It supports open API integrations and automation via Power Platform integrations; and can be easily accessed on desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones alike.
Microsoft 365 gives businesses full control of security and administrative control with this app, complying with industry standards such as ISO 27001 and SOC 1.
Teams is equipped with an intuitive calendar feature that enables you to quickly book detailed meetings both inside and outside your organization, as well as an integration with Outlook that syncs upcoming events and invitations with Outlook calendar. Teams also offers a free plan with unlimited one-on-one online meetings and 30 hours of conference calls per user along with 5GB cloud storage per user, supporting unlimited one-on-one online meetings per day and up to 1,000 participant webinars!
If you prefer taking a more moderated approach, the app allows for greater customization to suit your preferences. Notifications won’t appear all at once on the desktop app and you can set times you wish Teams to remain quiet as well as select which types of notifications you would like. There is even an eye strain-reducin dark mode and noise suppression settings built into this tool!
Teams’s other advantage lies in its ability to generate transcripts for meetings and conversations, which all members can view. Furthermore, its search function makes finding specific pieces of content quickly and efficiently a reality; especially helpful when conversations span days or weeks. Furthermore, Microsoft recently implemented a feature enabling users to record audio of meetings.
While Team may offer great flexibility, its open communication and file-sharing approach runs counter to secure data governance practices that mandate enterprise-wide labeling, monitoring and tracking as well as retention and removal policies. Microsoft is taking steps to address this with new tools such as eDiscovery and archiving capabilities.
