In this post, we’ll focus on Microsoft Teams, its core functionality, and setup.
As thousands of businesses have transitioned to remote work over the last couple of months, the ability to manage distributed teams has become a critical competence for business continuity.
In a nutshell, Microsoft Teams is a chat-centered communication and collaboration platform that enables the following:
- shared workspaces and secure, real-time document collaboration
- chat and instant messaging between individuals and teams within the company
- internal and external calls and video meetings
Setting up
Start by watching a short intro to Microsoft Teams. Set up your team and create standard and private channels. Standard channels are open for all members, while private channels are made for private conversations with designated members. Add team owners to manage access, add members, and set permissions. Watch how to collaborate in teams and channels.
Running effective meetings
Microsoft Teams brings employees together for meetings, calls, chats, and document collaboration. During video meetings, you can blur your background or choose an entirely new one. Remind attendees to use the meeting chat window to share their thoughts and questions. Recorded meetings and automatically generated transcripts are available for those who could not attend.
Some useful articles for holding meetings
Collaborating on documents
The platform helps teams stay focused and organized in one place. You can add tabs for favourite tools, collaborate on documents (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint) in real-time, and store and share them easily and securely with other colleagues. The document collaboration functionality that Teams brings to the Office 365 is comparable to G-suite. Your team can work together on the same document, see changes, and chat right in the document. Documents are always up-to-date, sharable and accessible on any device.
Some useful articles for document collaboration
Hosting live events
A standard Teams meeting accommodates up to 250 participants. Teams Live Events accommodate up to 10 000 attendees in one-to-many communication format where audience participation is primarily to view the content shared by the host. Organizers can create an event, invite attendees,
specify attendee permissions, designate event team members and select a production method (using native hardware or external devices).
How to run a Teams Live Event
While, undoubtedly, challenging to implement as an emergency measure, establishing effective remote work practices and learning to use new collaboration tools presents a great opportunity for all. Microsoft Teams enables a new kind of team productivity that will serve the business long after COVID-19 is no longer a public health threat.
With 20+ years’ experience of successfully managing distributed teams, DataArt can help businesses support remote work, while helping teams stay together and collaborate productively. We are happy to answer questions related to remote working arrangements and distributed teams management. We’d like to help everyone stay connected, productive and positive.
If you have more questions on Microsoft Teams or need help setting up remote team work, contact us today!
