The number of people working from home, or working remotely has exploded in recent years. Businesses have been seen to incorporate a more flexible policy, while also using more contractors. It is thought that by the end of 2020 half of the workforce in the UK will be working remotely, or have significantly more flexibility with their work routines. Emails, documents and a wide range of software is now available to access from anywhere in the world, from any device.
Staff who work remotely provide a wide variety of benefits to a company. Business overheads can be reduced significantly with staff working remotely, while those staff are likely to be much more productive across the working day, not to mention generally having lower levels of stress and higher levels of morale.
How to work effectively as a team?
Using Microsoft teams is an excellent way to improve teamwork and collaboration, even if some of the staff are working remotely or flexibly. Launched in 2017, Microsoft Teams is now used by organizations of all sizes across the world, for both internal projects and those specifically for clients. This cloud-based platform is accessible through a desktop or through mobile applications anywhere on the planet. It is supported by both Windows and Mac, but also iOS and Android. Really, all you need is that internet connection.
What is Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams comes as standard along with Microsoft 365. Enterprise E3 or E5 subscriptions are the complete collaboration tools which allow both your remote and office staff to collaborate seamlessly. This can be done on an individual basis or with designated groups with the online workspaces tool.
Application Integration
As a fully integrated part of Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams allows chats, meetings, attachments and notes, all allowing your company to operate in a seamless manner with your employees interacting which each other wherever they are and with great ease. Important assets like calendars, files and emails can also be shared at the click of a button.
These also include classic tools from Microsoft such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Skype for business, while also incorporating newer tools like Sharepoint, Microsoft Graph, Delve, Power BI and OneNote. The Microsoft team tools are constantly updated, and can easily be scaled if your business grows.
Meeting and scheduling tools
Microsoft Teams can sync quickly with your calendar, add any existing appointments and also check to see when is best for the whole team to meet, either online or in the same place. There is the option to choose if a meeting is private or open to all and it’s very useful to host voluntary training or brainstorming.
Once the meeting has been created it’s easy to post about the meeting in a separate chat thread, to set other agendas and to quickly send files or information to those who need it.
It’s also possible to use Skype for business to schedule or join meetings. This includes HD video, VOIP and additional dial-in audio options that can integrate with a wide range of business meeting devices such as speakers or projectors. This system allows up to 10,000 people to attend, whether internally or externally.
Outstanding user enablement via 20 Bots
To help integrate Teams within the workplace, 20 useful bots have been programmed by Microsoft that can offer help and advice, and work in a similar way to virtual agents. These operate on artificial intelligence and each comes with a specialist subject base. T-Bot can answer many frequently asked questions regarding Teams. If you need help with voting or polling colleagues you can use Polly Bot. Hipmunk is your go-to bot of you need help getting to a meeting or flying abroad, while Stas Bot can generate reports from many platforms.
Digital Transformation progression
There are numerous benefits to transferring a digital workspace into the cloud. As Microsoft Teams is a fully cloud-based solution, employees have the capabilities to access information from anywhere and with any device. Big data processing and artificial intelligence are two more major benefits from cloud services.
Voice Calling
It is now easier than ever to use Microsoft Teams instead of traditional voice calling. You can have up to 250 employees using Teams for calls on either a desktop or mobile device. The call manager/voicemail and call groups functionality is wide-ranging, while any external calls can be routed through the SIP Trunks easily. The use of Teams for all business communication alleviates the need for headsets or other equipment as everything should be ready to go on your computer.
Microsoft Teams allows video conferencing quickly and easily and makes it simple to share your screen or other documents while still on the conference call. If you need somebody else on the call to present, or even to take control, this can be done simply and allows both of you to control the screen for as long as you wish.
Real-time document collaboration
It is possible to collaborate, co-author or even edit documents together at the same time making it a hugely effective method of teamwork. Important documents can be pinned within each workspace for quick reference.
Notifications
Through the Activity and Chat windows, you can view likes, mentions and messages. While notifications can also be seen through filters, meaning you only see what you want to see.
Security
Microsoft Teams is accessed in the same way as Office 365, with multi-factor authentication and secure guest access. The information stored within Teams itself is covered by the built-in information protection software. While Microsofts Hyper-Scale Cloud allows you to restrict local date is needed. For example, for industries that their data must remain in the same country.
Microsoft Teams and all the other Office 365 tools meet the compliance standards of HIPAA BAA, ISO 27001, ISO 27018 and SSAE 16 SOC 1 and 2 report.
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