Combine your day to day operations within a single application

With the ocean of tools available to us on our computers these days, it’s problematic to work out what’s best to use. Few apps are good at more than one thing, driving us to juggle abundant services to achieve our daily tasks, and worse; everyone has their own personal preferences, which means we’re often forced to jump between multiple applications to attain the same goal.Teams is Microsoft’s answer to a single-pane-of-glass application casing a full range of our day to day communication & collaboration needs. Functioning both internally & externally to your business, Teams cuts out the time that is lost in the fog of many third-party services, along with the pain & frustration that comes with more old-style team working by older methods, such as email. 

Stop the constant back & forth with emails

Do away with boundless email chains, being cc’d into emails needlessly, and losing track of the latest file version following numerous versions being passed as attachments between everyone. With Teams, you can unify the conversation.Every user within Teams, (grouped into individual Team groups on a project by project or departmental basis), can refer to the “Conversations” pane for that specific group. Just like the feature we’re all acquainted with on social media platforms, users can be tagged (i.e. @John Smith), to ensure they are alerted to a point of reference within the conversation relevant to them. Files, images and videos can all be shared and embedded into this conversation stream. The past can easily be searched from the bar at the top, and importantly all information is viewable on any device in a matter of seconds. Save hours in searching your Outlook mailbox trying to find that exact conversations from months earlier.Beyond the chat stream, your users can collaborate on files live – right within the app. Microsoft Office Web Apps are supported right within Teams, so you can have several team members, (both internally and externally to your organisation), working on the same document, at the same time. You can literally see your colleagues entering data to the same document right in front of you. 

Prefer a quick chat over the phone?

Text-based instant message conversations are great, but prefer a quick voice chat instead? No problem, Teams has that covered too. Built from the foundations of Skype, within the very same Teams application (on any device), you can access voice & video conferencing between one or multiple users. Calls can be setup on the fly or pre-scheduled – if you use an Outlook calendar, you can create a Teams appointment just like any other calendar entry. The invitation creates a web link button to join the meeting within the details of the Outlook calendar appointment. So, whether you are inviting colleagues, clients or suppliers to a call – with one click, they can join the meeting regardless of whether they are Office 365 or Teams users or not.Those non-Teams users won’t need to download software or go through a long-winded setup. They can join the call from their favourite web browser and simply have at least a microphone, (and webcam for video), active on their device.At the same time of calling, you can be sharing desktop screens or access the same Office file via the cloud and work together as though you’re sat in the same room. 

Need a hand?

If you are swimming in a sea of far too many options and are considering consolidating, Teams might well be the best response.At NetPlatforms, we take a consultative approach to working with our clients. Unlike many IT providers, we take the time to learn our client’s business, operations and processes; enabling us to better tailor workable technology solutions.If you are considering migrating to the Cloud, use Office 365 but not to its full extent or need guidance around technology solutions to your operational problems – please get in touch.

Need some support for peace of mind?

If you’re bewildered by the prospect of reviewing your it, we can help.

We’re NetPlatforms and we have years of experience in supporting small-medium businesses across London and Essex with such technology challenges.

NetPlatforms provides a full range of professional IT services, including a full suite of cyber security products, including support with Cyber Essentials & GDPR Gap Analysis.

Please contact the team today on 0207 993 9035 or hello@netplatforms.wmtemp.com.