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Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based team collaboration solution from the Microsoft 365 suite that allows teams to work together within one window to enhance teamwork.
When Microsoft Teams was launched in 2017, it became a rival to its trailblazing industry counterpart, Slack. A few years later, Microsoft Teams made history by quickly becoming the fastest-growing collaboration business tool anyone has witnessed.
All thanks to a pandemic, Teams saw 75 million active users daily during that time. They now boast over 270 million monthly active users compared to the industry pioneer of team collaboration, Slack, at 10 million.
What you are probably trying to find out is, whether is it the right tool to fit the needs of your growing business. Is all the buzz surrounding using Microsoft Teams worth it?
We created this guide as a support if you consider adopting this fantastic tool.
Microsoft Teams is the heart of team collaboration across Microsoft 365. It has features to help your employees communicate and collaborate and a handful of ways to connect with other Microsoft Teams users. These functions are as follows:
Microsoft frequently releases updates to Microsoft Teams, allowing the platform to evolve as a cloud-based service.
Like others of its kind, Microsoft Teams uses a display of workflow icons on the left-hand side of the desktop screen and a list of teams. In the center of the desktop screen, chat collaboration occurs, where most team collaboration tools use the same terminology to identify distinct parts of the UI.
Terminologies in MS Teams:
Microsoft Teams integrates well with an array of communication, productivity, HR, finance, and project management apps and other software. Some of the more common ones are OneDrive/SharePoint, Planner, PowerPoint, Excel, and Word, to name a few.
Outside the Microsoft 365 platform, MS Teams integrate with other tools such as Twitter, Trello, and even our remote software tool, Vineforce, which makes merging incredibly seamless.
Other integrations include Dialpad, Lucidchart, Hive, and Health Hero Polly, among others.
Microsoft Teams has six paid subscription options and one free version. The free version of the Teams app has fewer features but is still very functional. It allows you to have up to 100 users at a time minus recordings of meetings. If your team only needs basic means of communication and collaboration, then you should consider this one.
The paid-for subscriptions offer more functions and integration with other apps and software. They can be divided into business and enterprise plans.
Since March 1, 2022, the current prices are as follows (price per user):
To learn more about subscriptions for MS teams, just go to www.microsoft.com or click this link: Microsoft Teams pricing and plans.
The more expensive the plans, the more features they carry, like more storage and meeting-participant capacity than less expensive plans. These same plans will have specific features included, but they will only be available as add-ons in less expensive plans.
Depending on the payment plan, specific security and compliance features will be included or available as add-ons. In addition, those higher-priced plans have more advanced security features.
When using Microsoft Teams you are offered security features such as two-factor authentication (2FA), single sign-on (SSO), and data encryption to manage access to data. Teams' workflows can also take advantage of the security features of other integrated Microsoft apps.
Your data is not shared with the vendor and your content and team data stay within your control. You will not have to worry about your content or teams being scanned for purposes unrelated to the service.
In addition, all data is stored in cloud storage form along with the added protection of those mentioned above.
Like the rest of Microsoft Teams' features, its security features are continually updated.
Vineforce was built from the ground up for Microsoft 365. Whether you use the MS Teams app or the browser version, you can download the Vineforce app from the 'Apps' store option on the toolbar within Teams to the left of your screen.
Search for Vineforce, add/install, and pin it to MS Teams’ toolbar.
It perfectly integrates with Microsoft Teams allowing you to sign into the app directly in Teams to help you optimize your productivity by analyzing your meetings, work hours, emails, and contacts. Then suggests what to add to your day, connections to nurture, and alerts you when you are overbooked for the day.
With our bot for Microsoft Teams, Vinny, you can create tasks from conversations and get notifications when tasks are assigned to you, when meetings are about to start, or as reminders to check out or take breaks
With Vineforce and MS Teams, you will spend less time organizing your day and more time getting things done.
Meetings are no doubt one of the most effective ways of group planning, demonstrations, and brainstorming. In addition, especially for the remote work scene, it plays a crucial role in assembling your staff. How well you manage your meetings is paramount. But effective meeting management can be daunting, especially if you have many other responsibilities.
Fortunately for you, if you are a Microsoft 365 user, they have one of the best tools to make it easier to manage your meetings and appointments.
So, you want to access MS Teams, but you are not sure how.
The good news is that MS Teams comes with your Microsoft 365 subscription. There are two ways to get started:
(a) access it from the web or
(b) download the desktop version or the mobile one to your mobile device from the Microsoft store.
To access Teams through the web, sign in to https://www.office.com with your Microsoft Account. Once you are signed in, click on the app launcher on the left side of your screen and select Teams.
To download a desktop and mobile version of Teams, you can go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-ww/microsoft-teams/download-app and click on 'Download for desktop' or 'Download for mobile.'
The mobile app version of Teams is available in the iOS App Store or Google Play Store. Type “Microsoft Teams” into the search bar and follow the installation prompts.
If you are a first-time user, you will need to create your first team.
1. Click on Teams on the left side of your screen.
2. Select Create Team.
3. Click on From Scratch.
4. Select Private or Public.
5. Assign a name for your Team and add a brief description.
After creating a Team, you can add people from your organization to it. In a private Team, only the added people will see it. Anyone in your organization can join after the Team is created if it is public. At Vineforce, we use a single public team for the entire company.
Once a Team is set up, you can organize it using Channels. Channels group resources within a Team.
6. Select the Team you created (the team’s ‘General channel’ and click on Create More Channels. “Tech. Inc” is the Team's name in the example below.
At Vineforce, we use channels to send announcements, such as news and general updates within the company. These may be "coming-to-work issues" or deployment alerts for changes in our app, to name a few. Depending on your organization, Channels can be used as a hub for departmental information or for specific projects.
Scheduling a meeting can be a tedious process, especially when you need to coordinate schedules. Depending on the purpose of the meeting (for example, a meeting for a team-building activity), MS Teams allows you to see your colleagues' calendars, enabling you to create a meeting without disturbing their busy schedules.
One unique feature of Microsoft Teams is the ability to create meetings quickly for specific people within my team or outside my organization.
1. Click on the Calendar tab on the left side of your screen.
2. Click Meet Now at the top right corner of the screen and click Create a meeting.
3. Select a Meeting Name and click on Get a link to share to generate a shareable link.
1. Click on the Calendar tab on the left side of your screen.
2. Select New Meeting at the top right corner of the screen.
3. Add the Meeting Name, Attendees, Meeting Location (if necessary), Date and Time, Duration, and other details of the meeting to the description.
4. Click Save.
1. Click on the Calendar tab on the left side of your screen.
2. Select New Meeting at the top right corner of the screen.
3. Add the Meeting Name, Attendees, Meeting Location (if necessary), Date and Time, Duration, and other details of the meeting to the description.
4. Set the recurring schedule of the meeting (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly) or customize it based on your preferences.
5. Click Save.
Because you can see the availability of your colleagues, you can choose the best time to meet. Instead of limiting yourself to only choosing between today, tomorrow, or next week, you can click More options and choose from any day(s) of any future month.
MS Teams is not just for group chats, group calls, and video conferencing. If you need to have a one-on-one call with one of your colleagues or a person outside your organization, MS Teams makes it super simple. Read this article further to learn more about creating and scheduling meetings.
Teams provide participants with different ways to join a meeting, whether scheduled or not.
1. From a link or email invite, select Click here to join the meeting. (See image below)
2. You can use a dial-in number and conference ID from the email to call in. (See image below)
The number in your invitation may not be local to you. Select Find a local number to get one that is.
3. Open Teams on the desktop/ web or from the mobile app, go to Calendar and select the meeting. When it opens, click Join. (See image below)
4. Open Outlook on the web, desktop, or mobile app, go to Calendar, and click on the meeting; when it opens, click Join now.
If users are outside of your organization when they join, they will be added to the "lobby,” and someone within your organization must let them in.
Your meetings are also integrated into your Outlook calendar, which is one of the critical features of MS Teams. If you go to your Outlook Calendar, you can join the meeting in two ways: Select "Join" or "Click here" to join the meeting if you expand the scheduled meeting. Both options work for desktop and mobile apps.
When you create a meeting, a group is automatically created. Everyone in the meeting will be automatically added to this group.
You can send messages and share files or documents with anyone in the meeting from this group.
Teams truly enhanced collaboration in meetings because all participants work together in a single stream rather than requiring individual chats in separate windows.
When arranging a meeting, you can do an audio-only meeting or turn on cameras for video conferencing, making your meetings more personalized and interactive. If you desire to share information or do presentations, the screen share option allows you to do so.
Watch Video: How to manage meetings in Microsoft Teams
TIP: Use the Vineforce app to optimize the way you use Microsoft Teams, so you can manage all your work and meetings without leaving Teams.
