With the introduction of Microsoft Teams a lot of the functionality that already has existed for quite a while in other application is now being pushed into Microsoft Teams.
The Past
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Microsoft Teams includes many features from applications such as:
- Skype for Business
- Office (Word, Excel etc)
- Outlook
- SharePoint
All of these applications used to work well and we have been happy with this wooden cart wheel. Ok, it might not always look the best but in general things work.
But we wanted more!
So we’re going to update the look of our vehicle. Small pieces at a time. and every now and then we might have to remove some of the functionality temporarily just to make some progress.
This is where Microsoft Teams has come in.
The Present
Microsoft Teams now offers a good platform to organize your team’s collaboration. Since this week we are now even able to invite guest users to our teams.
So we now have a better looking car but there are still quite a few things that aren’t 100% right.
But I’m sure that once the edges are taken off my square wheels, we are going to end up with a very good tool. All the application that we used to use can now be accessed within a single application. Maybe the tool isn’t ready for everybody, but it is the time to start planning for this transition.
Ok, Maybe things will work for you or maybe they will not, but things are taking shape very rapidly. If you are in a position where yo
u can accept that a lot is working well and you can workaround some of the issues that you might find in the beginning. Then you will see the benefits very soon.
In recent months, I’ve seen companies reducing the emails and improving communication. If you want to start looking at how your journey could be improved then feel free to contact me.
Should you implement Microsoft Teams today? It totally depends on your situation.
The Future
As Microsoft is publishing the updates through their Office 365 products and Microsoft Teams things are getting better and better. Quite often this might feel like reinventing the wheel.
But compare the old style SharePoint sites with the new style SharePoint sites (Fully responsive, easy to maintain etc). Compare Skype for Business with Teams (discuss documents, Co-Authoring documents, Assignments, etc) and soon you will realize that the wheel is already taking shape.
With the current and future changes coming through it isn’t too hard to imagine what we will end up with:
So, yes Microsoft is reinventing the wheel but it will be a different wheel and it will be worth it!