Returning to the workplace: continuing with Microsoft Teams

The global shift to remote work during COVID-19 blurred the lines between the physical office and workplace, amplifying the need for robust collaboration solutions. As businesses moved to a remote workforce to enable business continuity, operational workflows have been thrust into the spotlight. In fact, a recent study found collaboration is a key factor to success with 86 percent of leaders citing a lack of it or ineffective communication, the top reason for workplace failures. So, as we start to navigate a hybrid and truly digital post-pandemic world of work, businesses need to prioritise enabling communication and collaboration in new and effective ways.

Success relies on tools that support not only virtual capabilities but deliver next-generation enterprise productivity and collaborative experience. The Microsoft Teams platform underpins the digital workplace, empowering businesses to create effective and efficient team-based cultures.

“Microsoft Teams is much more than a video conferencing app, it’s an entire platform that helps employees communicate and collaborate in the modern office. Despite the explosive uptake in the move to remote working, most companies are only using basic functionality of Teams. They don’t realise its potential, specifically that they have access to features that can maximise collaboration, enhance experiences and optimise organisational workflows.”

Collaboration is about process not proximity

While digital transformation has increased, it took a pandemic for us to take the training-wheels off remote working enablement. The association between proximity and collaboration is traditionally valid, but the recent lockdown has shown there’s more to collaboration than sitting in the same room. Only when forced to work remotely at scale, did organisations seriously examine how to transform workflows.

Digital solutions can help build clear process around effective collaboration, well before you meet face to face or step foot in a physical meeting room. Creating a place to workshop ideas and execute projects, businesses can make their objectives actionable, across locations and devices.

Microsoft Teams provides a rich set of tools to implement collaboration lifecycle management processes, providing round-the-clock productivity giving employees the flexibility needed to thrive.

Video facilitates human connection

There are times and topics that require a face-to-face conversation. Amid COVID-19 restrictions, video calls became the next best option.

Microsoft Teams offers high-fidelity audio and visual capabilities so businesses can build trusted relationships and host professional virtual conferences. It enables video call collaboration so employees can work together on documents, drawings, whiteboards or products from any location or device. Whether they’re held one-on-one, conducted with groups or used to host webinars, video calls also allow real-time message chat and can be recorded.

Peter Garner, Commercial Sales Lead ANZ, OEM, Microsoft says, “Teams saw substantial growth as countless business transitioned to work-from-home deployments during the pandemic. Video calls grew by more than 1,000 percent in March but some organisations are only just starting to discover the true value Microsoft Teams can bring to their team experience, productivity and overall business workflows.”

The meeting lifecycle

Meetings have always been a cornerstone of teamwork, so it’s no surprise they have a lifecycle of their own. To help get the most out of meetings, we need to change the way we think about meetings. Microsoft Teams was designed with a view that meetings are a series of collaborative connections and an effective meeting requires a holistic approach, before, during and after the event.

Microsoft Teams helps streamline the process around content, context and conversation, bringing relevant information and even previous discussions, into the context of the current meeting. Participants can use a variety of features to help focus attention, drive engagement and nurture inclusion for optimal collaboration and strategic outcomes. This includes high quality audio and video, live captions, real-time chat, co-creation and digital whiteboards.

After the meeting, Microsoft Teams captures all the assets and outcomes from the meeting and saves these in a live conversation that helps the team continue the discussion and drive the work forward. Review the meeting notes, search for keywords, names or topics and manage ongoing tasks with the team. Even if you missed the meeting, nothing slips through the cracks!

Optimised and integrated workflows 

Microsoft Teams works seamlessly with Office 365 to enable a single workspace, where organisations can create a ‘team’ for each project team, department, business unit or group. It then uses ‘channels’ to conduct focused conversations and task specific collaboration, as well as dedicated chat channels. It can also help guard against lost information buried in lengthy or low priority emails.

Businesses can integrate apps and services they’re using into Microsoft Teams to create a complete hub for teamwork. For example, companies can set up a Team around a dedicated discipline and leverage Microsoft Planner to create an all-in-one project management dashboard. Team members can load in, consolidate and share information, making it easy to collaborate, assign tasks and track the progress of team members across multiple projects.

Microsoft Teams is built to work on a variety of devices from personal computers and mobile products to equipment designed for the office meeting room. It is compatible with most devices from leading technology manufacturers including Poly, Lenovo, HP and Logitech.

Register for our upcoming Dicker Data Microsoft Teams meetings webinar where we'll take a deep dive into this new return to work period and how to get the most out of the platform with Microsoft Teams Rooms Devices. 

Sign up for a for a free Microsoft Teams trial.

For enquires, partners can reach out to their Dicker Data account manager, or email sales@dickerdata.com.au