How Microsoft Teams works

Teams makes it easy to create dedicated spaces for project teams, business units, staff cohorts and other groups to communicate and collaborate. By creating a ‘team’ and assigning users, organisations can establish private group chat rooms (called ‘channels’) to plan, manage and deliver work.

Teams makes it easy to create dedicated spaces for project teams, business units, staff cohorts and other groups to communicate and collaborate. By creating a ‘team’ and assigning users, organisations can establish private group chat rooms (called ‘channels’) to plan, manage and deliver work.

Channels are easy to use, offering a familiar experience to other popular messaging apps. Conversations are grouped in a thread so you can access all group chat messages in a single place. Users receive notifications when there’s a new message available. Group calls and video chats can also be started with one click from within each channel.

Microsoft Teams and Office 365: a winning combination

The benefits of channels aren’t confined to team-based chat. Microsoft Teams integrates a range of Office 365 capabilities including:

• SharePoint
• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Planner
• Power BI

Team members can use channels to create, edit and collaborate on documents and tasks, with each user’s changes visible in real-time. Changes can also be automatically synced to OneDrive or SharePoint to ensure that the latest version is always available and accessible.

Microsoft has big plans to continue improving Teams over time, with almost 200 updates currently in development on the product roadmap.

This includes the release of new functionality (like the new schedule management feature) and services tailored to the needs of specific industries (such as a coordination service for patient care in the healthcare industry).

Key features include:

Instant messaging

• Connect instantly with team members across locations and devices
• Private one-on-one chat-based messaging
• Group chat-based messaging with access controls
• Minimise email volumes between team members
• Enable team members to work more flexibly
• Easy-to-read conversation windows with a complete chat history visible
• Seamless toggling between chat, voice calls, video calls and screen sharing
• Receive and customise alerts for chat-based messages
• Access GIFs, stickers and emojis to support team culture and communication

Voice and video calls

• Make high-quality voice calls and video calls to individuals or groups
• Call people anywhere in the world and from any device
• Start voice or video calls with a single click
• Use screen-sharing to collaborate in real-time from any location

Meetings

• Host meetings, presentations and events for users anywhere in the world
• Provide a high-quality interactive video experience for up to 10,000 participants\
• Easy access to documents and data stored within Office 365
• Record meetings and calls so no-one misses out

Accessibility

• Work flexibly by accessing Teams on the device that suits – phone, tablet or laptop
• Enjoy a seamless user experience, with Teams versions optimised for different devices
• Switch between devices without hassles or delays
• Experience high-quality video and audio from any device
• View, edit and collaborate on documents in real-time from any device

Apps and integrations

• Integration of Office 365 capabilities in a single workspace including chat, voice and video calls, file sharing, collaboration and planning
• Access to add-ons such as Twitter, Trello, Google Analytics and more so teams can access tools they need outside of Office 365 in one place
• Build your own custom application, like QBot, for your team or organisation

Security and compliance

• Built-in security, compliance and management tools to streamline IT security
• Advanced data protection capabilities
• Granular access and security controls