Effective workplace communication is at the heart of all businesses. A collaborative workspace fosters a sense of community amongst employees – allowing them to easily create relationships while sharing resources and other information with their co-workers and stakeholders.
Whether you are a small business with less than ten staff, or a larger organisation with numerous departments, teamwork and communication inform every decision you make, and you need to have the right collaboration platform to ensure that you never lose momentum.
Microsoft Teams is one such application that companies have used to keep their staff connected and communicating effectively.
What is Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams (also known as Teams) is an all-purpose collaboration tool included in the M365 suite. Besides being able to integrate with over 700 applications, Microsoft Teams blends the real-time chat features of social media with the file sharing and collaboration software of project management tools.
Regardless of the sector you work in or the specifics of your daily tasks, Teams is a platform meant to facilitate communication at work and prevent your business from suffering from ineffective communication and delayed results. According to Deloitte, businesses that emphasise the importance of collaborative work are five times more likely to grow their employee base.
Whether you conduct business in a physical work environment, as a hybrid, or remote company, keeping workers connected despite distances and clashing schedules can be a struggle. Communication tools such as Teams can minimise the strain this places upon your business by giving you the ability to easily coordinate your staff and projects as if you were in the office.
What makes Microsoft Teams a great collaboration tool?
Your business was not built in a day, and there is no reason why it should not stand the test of time. But for some business owners and workers, time may not always grant them opportunities for real-life verbal communication or team meetings.
Great collaboration software offers numerous solutions to overcome the challenges associated with poor communication in the workplace and segmented employees. Teams supports a host of features that keep your and your staff’s communication skills well-oiled and optimised for more-productive collaborations.
These features include:
- Chat – a text-based function that allows employees to communicate in real-time.
- Channels and teams – allows business owners to organise their company’s communication landscape. Channels refers to message boards dedicated to specific topics or purposes. Teams are larger platforms that house channels.
- File sharing – allows users to share files and documents via chat and channels (supported by Microsoft’s cloud storage spaces, SharePoint and OneDrive).
- Video calls – a video conferencing feature for employees to communicate with each other or to outside stakeholders. It also supports screen sharing for more productive meetings.
- Audio calls – phone calls made through the internet.
Microsoft Teams’ usability and integration capabilities are the jewels in the platform’s crown. While it can seem overwhelming at the start, Teams is exceptionally user-friendly and easily integrates with pre-existing applications in the M365 suite for a more seamless workflow.
No one can predict the future, and your employees need to be ready for when changes rock the company and shift your plans. Microsoft Teams ensures that you sustain good communication with your staff no matter the obstacles you face.
How does your business benefit with Microsoft Teams?
Businesses are complicated machines and their employees are moving parts that need to be supported and updated on a continuous basis. Without clear communication, companies may suffer from incorrect procedures or the transferral of wrong information between departments.
Microsoft Teams has numerous benefits that can keep your staff from fragmenting and disrupting operations. These benefits include:
A social/collaboration hub
Teams condenses an organisation’s entire communication network into a single space. Using whichever communicative function is the most appropriate at the time, employees can connect with their colleagues, other tools, and resources, to ensure that everyone is following the same information.
A synchronised, secure workplace
When workers are in Teams, they can see all the documents, files, and information they need to complete their work. They can view and edit their co-worker’s files and share their own with others. No matter how many people are working on a document, Teams will automatically update everyone’s version of the file with each change made – keeping everyone, including external stakeholders, in the loop.
Moreover, Teams is built around a security framework that incorporates two-factor authentication and encryption. It is not like viewing a website. Only those authorised to access your Teams platform can enter it. Any data created or shared within conversations is protected from outside eyes.
Space-saving, cloud-based infrastructure
Like all M365 applications, Microsoft Teams is hosted in the cloud – an offsite server accessible through the internet. As long as your internet connection is working, you and your employees can reap the benefit of having a robust, reliable collaboration platform that does not require you to sacrifice space in your work environment.
Business is unpredictable, but your company’s ability to build and maintain strong communication channels can help power you through uncharted waters and achieve the success that you envision for your business.
The Microsoft specialists at Steadfast Solutions are experts on the ins and outs of Microsoft Teams. Contact them today to see how Teams is more than just background effects and emoji-filled messages – it can be integral to your business’s longevity.