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6 Things You Should Know About Microsoft Teams

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Juliana Bryant

The universal workforce experienced a rapid switch to virtual work during the COVID-19 pandemic. But that swing was never going to be entirely temporary. The pandemic simply accelerated a trend towards flexible working that was well started in 2020.

No matter whether you’re at a business researching how to manage your new, hybrid workforce, or you’re at a seasoned managed service provider brushing up on the latest offerings for your customers, Teams is a perfect dependable solution for all.

Let’s discuss the six most important things you should know about Microsoft Teams:

1. Provides secure cooperation, both internally and externally

Teams offer all of the security features of the broader Microsoft 365 suite. That contains two-factor authentication as well as encryption in transit and at rest in the cloud. Data in Teams meets ISO 27001 as well as SOC 1 and SOC 2 compliance. It can be provisioned to meet several strict industry data security standards, such as HIPAA patient data restrictions in healthcare, for example.

Teams may be secure, but it doesn’t prevent you from easily working with internal and external collaborators. Your administrator can generate guest accounts for Teams within the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, which is an excellent way to collaborate on calls on channels with clients, business partners, contractors, or any other external stakeholders you want to involve.

2. Superior data visibility and better authority

This application makes professional leaders with exceptional visibility and insight into projects performed within their business. Because all discussions within Teams are determined, conversations become valued information resources available to Microsoft 365’s authority and management tools.

For instance, files and conversations in Teams network are all protected in the Microsoft 365 cloud, making that data accessible to Microsoft Graph- Microsoft 365’s data intelligence support. You can see which networks users are functioning in, how they’re communicating and observe where work increases or slows down during desired time intervals.

This software also has valuable data governance solutions. Most information and metadata in Teams networks is journaled and open to Microsoft 365 eDiscovery tools. When you run Teams to handle all of your work discussions, it’s easy to fulfil any legal or regulatory demands.

3. Powerful Microsoft Office integration options

The application is, of course, tightly integrated with the rest of Microsoft 365. Users can create and manage Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote files within their channels and work with other content in their team’s SharePoint sites. Calendaring connects right into Outlook.

Teams is also tightly integrated with Microsoft Power Apps. Microsoft Team Services allows any user to create a low-code app and share it with their team. For example, they can script entire workflows to launch when a salesperson tells their ops channel in Teams that they’re onboarding a new customer.

4. Comprehensive third-party integrations

Last year Microsoft opened up Teams to third-party integrations. Many providers quickly jumped in, including ZenDesk, Asana, Polly and CalendarHero. Now users can use these apps right in their channels, calendars and most importantly, during live meetings.

5. Support for education, healthcare and emergency services

Powerful industry-specific features for healthcare, emergency services and education are now integrated in this application. An education Group Policy wizard allows teachers and administrators to quickly provision new channel “classrooms” which are appropriately secured for students and educators. Teachers can distribute class Notebooks via Teams and send an automated alert to every student in the class.

Teams now also support virtual breakout rooms. These are great tools for teachers asking students to work on group assignments.

For healthcare, Microsoft Teams services now has an EHR connector, which allows healthcare providers to launch a secure video call with a patient or colleague right inside a supported electronic health record system. They can also schedule visits on a Teams calendar right in their EHR portal.

6. Bots and other tools for many needs

The current version boasts a variety of different bots to automate time-consuming tasks. Statsbot pulls together reports from sources such as Salesforce or Google Analytics and drops them right in channels. Polly Bot can poll coworkers for more streamlined and automated feedback. T-Bot answers many common questions about Teams, which lowers the support burden for service providers.

Parting Words

For organizations looking for a cloud-based collaborative workspace for their distributed users, Microsoft Teams has arrived as the leading solution. Its rich mix of communication, collaboration and automation tools can bring together working groups in even the most challenging circumstances.

Think Microsoft Team services might be the right solution for your business or your customers’ needs? Contact today to get started!

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Juliana Bryant
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