Building the case for Microsoft Teams

In today’s workplace, there are many demands for a worker’s attention – be it email, chat, calls, file management or something else. It can often be time-consuming and complex to navigate through the different applications and platforms to get work done.

What’s clear is that the workplace is changing and the most effective teams are working smartly and strategically. In recognition of this, Microsoft announced Skype for Business Online will be retired in July 2021. Why? In short, it doesn’t offer the capabilities to support and empower the modern workforce. Microsoft Teams however, is essentially the next chapter and opens the door to an entirely new way of doing business suited for the modern workforce.

Let’s take a closer look at the key benefits Teams offers and how they can improve business outcomes.

Building team cohesion

Today’s workplace often comprises many nationalities, languages and cultures which can be spread across the globe. Microsoft Teams reduces complexity and transforms workplace communication by bringing everything into a single, shared workspace where they can chat, meet, create and make decisions as a team from anywhere – hence its name!

Teams users also enjoy a deep integration with Office 365 applications that Skype for Business users don’t, such as SharePoint, Groups, and OneDrive. Documents can be edited by the whole team in real-time, straight from the chat thread.

Increasing operational efficiency

We touched upon the rise of remote working in our previous blog – today, employees want to work more flexibly from any location, on any device, securely without visible  boundaries or controls, yet still be able to interact and work collaboratively with colleagues. Teams enables just this – providing rapid access to resources at users’ fingertips. Microsoft commissioned the Forrester whitepaper to examine ‘The Total Economic Impact of Microsoft Teams’ and 88% of respondents said Teams makes it easier to communicate securely and ensure privacy.

Skype for Business has been known for its inconsistent call quality and other performance issues; whereas Teams’ intelligent cloud meeting solution is reliable and has very high audio-video quality, resulting in less time spent addressing setup and call-quality issues. This reduces the total number and duration of meetings, freeing up workers to focus on higher-value activities.

The Forrester study also reported that companies had reduced web conferencing, long-distance, mobile phone, and on-premises telephony solutions costs by switching to Teams.

Unlocking team potential

Ultimately, business goals are achieved by people. It is through knowledge sharing, building relationships and interaction that success is achieved.  And so, cutting-edge communication solutions like Microsoft Teams help workers to interact more effectively and work better together which offers so much potential. It can reduce operating costs, accelerate time to market, foster greater innovation – and so much more.

Comms-care can work with you and your customer to implement Microsoft Teams Communicate from consultation to full deployment, depending on your in-house capability and the customer need. Get in touch for more information about how we can support you to deliver a comprehensive end-to-end solution.