How Microsoft Teams Supports Work Group Collaboration

Microsoft has released Teams a new cloud collaboration application to boost work group productivity. The app, which was made available to corporate users on March 14, is essentially a Slack clone that allows for team chatting, file sharing, and collaboration. But the factor that could allow Teams to overtake the rapid adoption of Slack is Office 365 integration. Microsoft Teams comes with Office 365 Business Premium and above and lets users do everything from place Skype calls to collaborate on Word documents within the app. Take a look at this slide show about Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft Teams is firmly in competition with Slack, the business-productivity app that has focused its efforts on reducing email overload in the workplace. Slack offers channels, private chat, the ability to share files, and more. And it just so happens Microsoft Teams does all that — and more.

Microsoft Teams is baked into Office 365, allowing users to collaborate and communicate without needing to sign up for another service. It’s important to note, however, that Microsoft Teams is available to Office 365 Business Premium accounts and above. Those who have an Office 365 Business subscription will need to upgrade.

Chatting stands at the center of the Microsoft Teams experience. Users can chat with an entire company or team, or individually in private chats. The chats support text, photos, and just about any other file a person wants to upload to the recipient, and all that data is archived over time.

Like Slack, Microsoft Teams allows for the creation of workspaces within companies. Administrators can create public rooms where folks can communicate, as well as private channels where only team members can chat. Depending on privileges, users can also create private channels with other team members.

Microsoft Teams has a feature Slack can’t match: Office 365 apps integration. That means the Teams app offers built-in access to SharePoint, OneNote, and even Skype for Business. Customers who are already using SharePoint might find even more value in the collaborative (and synching) features available in Teams.

In addition to support for SharePoint and Skype, Teams offers access to documents within the app. Better yet, teams can collaborate and edit the documents from within the workspaces and then save those to their OneDrive.

Microsoft has teamed with third-party developers to give companies a bit more flexibility and options in the app. For instance, users can integrate apps like Trello, GitHub, or Asana into Teams.

Microsoft says that Teams comes with impressive security features. Notably, Teams has eDiscovery and legal-hold for channels, chats, and files, according to Microsoft. All of the app’s data is encrypted and multi-factor authentication is used to safeguard data.

Microsoft Teams works for users both in the office and on the go. It’s accessible in the browser, of course, but it can also be accessed through desktop apps in Windows and Mac. On the mobile side, Microsoft Teams works with iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

Microsoft Teams doesn’t cost anything additional beyond the price corporate users pay for Office 365 Business Premium. So, companies paying $12.50 per user per month or more are now offered access to Teams for no additional charge. Those who want Teams access and are already Office 365 Business users will need to boost their $8.25-per-user-per-month subscription to the Business Premium subscription.