Communication is the backbone of all businesses, regardless of your industry. Whether you work remotely, or have multiple sites, in order for staff to collaborate – they need to communicate. Although email is the most common way that businesses communicate (there are about 124.5 billion business emails sent and received each day), it might not be the most efficient when work is time critical. Especially when working apart, where the volume of online communication will be a lot more than the usual.
If your business is new to working from home you might find the first few days frustrating and inefficient while communicating amongst colleagues – especially without the correct tools in place to do it properly.
Your business needs a solution that does it all and instantly– and with platforms such as Microsoft Teams you can have that.
The great thing about Microsoft Teams is that it may already be part of your Office 365 package, so you don’t have to pay for it – your IT provider should be able to check this for you.
For An Introduction To Microsoft Teams, watch our YouTube video below.
Instant Messaging with a Twist
With the ability to send instant messages without the usual delay of an email server and email filters, instant messaging is the best way to get your message across exactly when you need to. With private one-on-one and group messaging with those in your organisation, this platform is perfect for businesses.
You might find that messages don’t convey urgency as much as you need them to, which Microsoft have cleverly created a solution for. Teams allows you to mark messages as important, as well as urgent – whereby the recipient will be notified of the message every 2 minutes for 20 minutes.
Voice and Video Calls
The great thing about Microsoft Teams is that along with being able to instant message, you have the addition of voice and video calls in the same platform. This includes group calls, which is particularly useful for team meetings.
Top Tip: Arrange a team video meeting every morning to make sure everyone is ready for the day ahead.
Watch guidance on how to add people into a Teams call below.
Schedule Meetings with Staff
Microsoft Teams can also synch with your Office 365 Calendar. With a ‘schedule’ icon at the bottom of each chat, you can organise virtual meetings instantly. If you ever find that you need more in-depth discussions about business, you will find this feature beneficial.
Screen Sharing
For those of you who may need to explain or show things on your device to others within your business, screen share is a great way to do this. Whether you want to present your screen while instant messaging, or through an audio call, this can be done in a couple of clicks.
Give Control of Your Screen During Screen Share
Not only can you share your screen with others on a call, you can also choose to give permission. This means that you can collaborate with others on screen share and have them work on your device at the same time. This includes editing documents.
Invite Clients to Video Conference Meetings
For those of you who have remote meetings with clients, you can also do this with Teams. It does this by sending the recipient a link to the meeting, which they can access by simply clicking. The link will prompt the recipient to install Teams if they don’t have it already, before directing them to the video call.
Need more Remote Working tips?
Check out our last blog on How to Be More Productive When Working From Home, and keep an eye out for more remote working blogs.
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