Productivity
Simple Setup Checklist for Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a lot of things. It is a video conferencing tool, a team messaging platform, and a tool for in-app co-authoring, just to name a few. During the pandemic, the popularity of Teams skyrocketed.
Microsoft Teams is a lot of things. It is a video conferencing tool, a team messaging platform, and a tool for in-app co-authoring, just to name a few. During the pandemic, the popularity of Teams skyrocketed. Microsoft reported that daily active users jumped from 20 million in November 2019 to 75 million in April 2020, and by October 2023 it reported more than 320 million monthly active users, the last count it published.
But one of the things that makes the app powerful is also what can make setup complex. Microsoft Teams has many moving parts, and to use them effectively, they need to be well organized from the start. Users also need the opportunity to learn the system and train on best practices.
What Can Microsoft Teams Do?
You can think of Teams as a virtual office in the cloud. It is a centralized hub where teams can communicate, collaborate, and manage tasks. You can also use it to video conference with anyone and invite external guests into chat channels. Features include siloed chat channels, secure team communications, integration with Microsoft 365 apps, integration with third-party apps, file sharing, video and audio conferencing, VoIP phone capabilities with an add-on, and a single place to keep all team resources.
Microsoft retired the free business version of Teams, Teams Free (classic), in April 2023. Today the free Microsoft Teams app is meant for personal use, not for running a business. Businesses get Teams through Microsoft 365 business plans or through Teams Essentials, a standalone paid subscription for small businesses. Since 2024, Microsoft has also sold many Microsoft 365 plans in versions without Teams, with Teams licensed separately, so confirm which version your subscription includes before you plan a rollout.
Easy Checklist for Setting Up Microsoft Teams.
1. Set Up Your Teams and Departments. One of the core advantages of Teams is the ability to create specific collaboration spaces for each group in your organization. Do not let users set these up on their own, or you will quickly end up with an unorganized mess. Microsoft 365 lets administrators limit who can create teams. Set up teams by department such as accounting and marketing, add a company-wide team where everyone can collaborate, and consider teams by role such as office managers or executives. Mirroring your organizational hierarchy is a good starting point. When you create each team, choose its privacy setting carefully. A private team is visible only to its members, while a public team can be found and joined by anyone in your organization. Use private teams for departments such as accounting or HR.
2. Add Team Members. For each team, add the members who belong to that group. These are the people allowed to see resources posted within that team area, typically the members of the department or role group the team is designed for.
3. Set Up Team Channels. Beneath each team are channels that help organize conversations by topic. For example, within a marketing department team you might create channels for Website Management, Social Media, and Offline Advertising. This keeps conversations focused and makes information easier to find. As with teams, control who creates channels and require a plan before doing so.
4. Set Up Tabs for Key Resources. Tabs are a great productivity tool. If employees on your accounting team need to access a tax reporting website regularly, add it as a tab at the top of their team channel by clicking the plus sign. This eliminates time wasted searching for links or logins, especially when someone is filling in for a colleague.
5. Schedule Microsoft Teams Training. One of the most common reasons company technology initiatives fail is that users were not properly enabled. If employees are not trained on Teams, they will revert to whatever they used before, which negates the benefits of moving to the platform. Work with a Microsoft professional to train your teams on the most productive features and shortcuts. Survey users afterward to ensure they feel prepared and identify whether additional training is needed.
Need Help Implementing Teams in Your Organization?
The team at Cyber One Solutions can help you navigate the most common roadblocks organizations face when getting started with Microsoft Teams. Contact us today for a consultation to enhance your collaboration and productivity.