Ever since the world went into lock down, businesses and employees have been stuck at home. We have therefore been relying on internet-based video calling platforms. Does the term ”Teams” ring any bells? Microsoft has taken full advantage of the home working phase when it first surfaced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever, businesses are realising the benefits of Microsoft Teams for remote working.
75 Million Users
In case you didn’t know already, Teams has amassed over 75 million users. This is more than double their client size since 2019. Since the turn of the year, Microsoft has also regularly implemented crucial updates to their collaborative portfolio. This helps to keep them one step ahead of the likes of Zoom and Slack.
If you haven’t discovered Teams yet, there have been some important updates coming up. These will make it very appealing for schools and businesses alike. 250 participants will be able to be in a single call. 49 participants video feeds can be on screen at any one time. The 7-by-7 layout for having up to 49 participant’s webcams on one screen is set to be trialed throughout June/July, with an autumn roll-out looking likely.
Integration
It seems as though more organisations are hitting a bit of a brick wall with Zoom. This is mainly due to the lack of integration with other key aspects of work. Microsoft Teams allows direct integration with the Microsoft 365 suite. Most recently, Teams has also expanded the number of users in one organisation to 10,000.
With the 10,000-user capacity and the 49-user video view, it’s easy to see why Teams is also an essential tool for schools and larger organisations. Being able to give students and employees a way to access meetings and files remotely, in-line with their emails, is vital.
Package Deal
Microsoft Teams appears to have hit the nail on the head with their offering. The M365 suite and Teams in a single package is a deal you’ll struggle to find anywhere else. Perhaps Slack could have a good go, but it doesn’t have the levels of flexibility and integration that can work with all sizes of organisations.
Compare this to Teams, and you’ll see that most schools and businesses already use the Outlook email client, and a good majority probably utilise the M365 suite for their paid plans. Simply having the ability to integrate file sharing, video calling and instant messaging with the 365 suite makes Teams the real winner of the remote collaboration era.
The free version has an upper limit of 300 users and does good enough to cater for the typical SME. The paid version of Teams is surprisingly affordable and is a great option for any school, university or SMB that might need a unified solution while remote lessons and home working remain a prominent way of getting things done.
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