Communications in the office still rely heavily on email and face-to-face meetings. But we won’t be surprised if your team is also heavily reliant on messaging apps like Viber and WhatsApp. Microsoft wants to simplify this entire process and help you get your work done by introducing a new feature into its Office 365 suite for businesses and enterprise segments.
Called Teams, this chat-based workspace solution was introduced earlier this year and is being officially launched in the Philippines this month. (In fact, you can already enable it from your account if your company has an Office 365 subscription.)
The app doesn’t just centralize chats within your company but it also lets you collaborate with your co-workers right within Teams. You’ll no longer have to switch between apps to edit, let’s say an Excel file or PowerPoint presentation.
Teams allows for one-on-one or team conversations. Video conferencing is possible, thanks to your access to Skype. It has all the Office applications and services your team uses—such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneNote, and PowerBI— so it’ll be easier to collaborate within the app.
According to Microsoft Philippines’ Christian Lim, they hope Teams helps boost productivity and lessen your dependence on email, which we ourselves admit are a big time suck.
Even Microsoft Philippines’ COO Cian O’Neill says they’re seeing a boost internally of productivity and performance with the use of Teams.
Microsoft says Teams offers extensive customization options for its users. You can customize your workspace with tabs, connectors, and even bots using Microsoft tools like Microsoft Planner and Visual Studio Team Services amd other third-party integrations. The tech company claims there are over 150 integrations available now or coming soon to the service as companies like SAP, Trello, Hipmunk, and the like develop connectors and the like for it. It was even demoed during the event that you can see what’s happening on your company’s Facebook page right from within Teams.
Security isn’t going to be an issue as well. Microsoft boasts that Teams is built on “hyper-scale, enterprise-grade Office 365 cloud” and it supports global standards like ISO27001, HIPAA, SOC 1, SOC 2, and EU Model Clauses to assure that any information you share is kept safe.
