I’ve come to think of Microsoft Teams as the most misunderstood app by IT professionals. I keep hearing that Teams is just chat, so why use it? Teams is for meetings, so why use it? We can’t talk to our customers, so why use it? We can’t share things, so why use it? Teams isn’t secure, so why use it? I’m so disappointed. Teams is an amazing application filled with so many tools, so much security and so much opportunity for business and yet so many IT people can’t manage to figure it out. I think they just haven’t taken the time to learn how to manage, secure and load up features that their clients are going to love. Businesses that do have qualified IT professionals who understand Teams are finding it indispensable. It’s one of those tools that you didn’t know you needed until you started using it.
Microsoft Teams
- Chat
- Meetings
- Presentations
- Data storage
- Phone system
There’s more
There’s a lot of features under those broad headings. Chat can be internal, external or with guests. Each having different permission and feature availability. It’s encrypted. Subject to security and data loss prevention policies. Accessible from desktop to phone without compromising security or privacy. Meetings offer not only everything that chat does but also data collaboration and breakout rooms. If you don’t need all of the meeting features, you can enter a less interactive mode and schedule a presentation instead. Teams links to your data storage in Sharepoint and OneDrive and third parties too. Apps can be installed to add functionality and fun. (see my class on this topic and learn how to implement them) The phone system is really powerful. It’s free if you just want to talk internally. A license adds full functionality you’d get from any phone system. It’s been a huge seller for my MSP.
It’s complicated
It is complicated. There’s a lot of possibility but this is what Microsoft does best. They make a product, and let the IT professional deploy it in a customized way to the business. Microsoft has done what they do best, now IT people need to get onboard and do what they should be doing best. Helping business get more advantage through the use of technology. It’s not always simple but simple isn’t why we went into IT.
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