Remote work and remote teaching are methods that we have known for a long time, but by current events have become particularly popular and important in the effective execution of daily work.
In order to proceed with remote work, we need to consider three basic elements:
I Technical preparation organizations (powers, availability of services)
II Readiness of the organization for such work (change of mindset, trust towards employees, proper procedures)
III Technical platform
In this article we will focus on the last element, the technical platform. However, let's keep in mind that the other aspects are no less important, if not decisive, if we get to this stage.
Microsoft Teams is one of the Office 365 services for communication (successor to Skype for Business) and collaboration between employees. It is a universal service that we can integrate with others and extend with additional functionality. It includes a dedicated desktop application, a browser version and an iOS/Android version. For this reason, it works great as a BASIC for building a remote working environment.
COMMUNICATION
This is one of the core features of Teams. As a successor to Skype for Business, it covers all its functionality and adds quite a few new ones. What do we find inside?
Chat
The basic functionality of any instant messenger. In addition to sending text messages, we can also send files and images, format messages, edit already sent messages.
A very useful feature is the ability to categorize messages as 'Important' and 'Urgent' - These are specially marked so that those 'Important' will not be lost among others, and 'Urgent' will send us notifications for 20 minutes until read.
To chat we can invite more than one person and thus create our own groups. We can give such a group its own name and use it for subsequent conversations (the group is saved along with the history).
All our messages are archived. We can return to them at any time, as well as search them.
Audio/Video
A natural extension of text messaging. We can attach audio and/or video to a conversation with one or more people. During such a conversation, we have access to the chat room at all times and can send text/files at will.
If you are using a camera then a very useful feature is background blur - As a result, everything but the person in the camera's range will be blurred (our room, the board with a sketch of the project, etc.).
Files
During the chat, we can send any file as an attachment. After sending, we can open and edit Office files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) directly from the chat window.
In addition, all sent files are in the chat history and we can search for them similar to chat.
Collaboration
During the conversation, we can also share our desktop or a specific application. After sharing, we can discuss an issue by showing the indicated application. We can also hand over control to a specific person and thus, for example, help solve a problem.
MEETINGS
A natural extension of communication is holding online meetings. Teams have dedicated features that streamline the organization and conduct of meetings.
- Teams are integrated with Outlook calendar and all the meetings we have scheduled are automatically visible in both tools. From both tools we can also schedule them and send invitations.
When creating a meeting, we can check the option to generate a link to such a meeting (when clicked, the Teams application will open).
- During the meeting we have the ability to share a screen, a designated application or a PowerPoint file. In the case of a presentation, a special presenter mode will be activated, in which each participant can independently go to any slide or return to the presenter's presentation.
- During the meeting we can also create notes, as a OneNote file, which will be saved in the meeting.
- We can record the meeting and make it available to participants or those who could not attend. All content, talks and presentations will be recorded and made available as a link to a dedicated portal With recordings. The presenter has the ability to manage access rights to such a recording.
- Live Events - it is a special type of meeting in which a person or group of people presents content to a large audience (Up to 10000 people!). Such events, of course, can also be recorded.
TEAMS
This dedicated work areas for group work (e.g., at a project or in a team). Each team includes a place to exchange information (in the form of a publicly accessible group chat), a place to store files and work on them, and additional tools specific to our work (e.g., a PowerBI report, a connection to JIRA or a whiteboard with Trello). The team has a dedicated permissions model and we decide who has access to it and to what extent.
- Channels
They perform an orderly function in the team. Enable separation of information and file exchanges into different categories (e.g. Main, Billing, Scrum Meetings, etc.). Each channel has dedicated space for conversations, files and for additional tools.
If we need a channel with limited permissions (for example, to store financial information), we can use a Private Channel. This is a special channel with dedicated permissions - both for conversations and for files.
- Bulletin board
The centerpiece of each channel - group chat. It is used to quickly exchange information in text form. We can share files or exchange project information. All information is saved and searchable from the Team.
- Files
Each channel has a dedicated file storage area. However, just storing files is not enough, as the on Office files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote) we can work without leaving Teams. This is a very convenient and practical solution. In addition to reading, we have the ability to edit these files in the application. Other Team members can work on a single file simultaneously. The changes we make to a file are visible in real time to others viewing or editing the file. On top of that, we have automatic file versioning, content preview, quick sharing and file synchronization with OneDriv.
- Additional Office 365 services
In the Canal we can embed other applications or services from Office 365 as bookmarks. This is a very practical solution - for example, we can plug in an important report or presentation and access it without having to go through files and folders. We can also embed other Office 365 applications as bookmarks - a PowerBI report, a Forms form, a whiteboard from Planner, a list from SharePoint Online.
- External services
The possibilities for using bookmarks are not limited to Office 365 applications. Within Teams, we have a number of off-the-shelf third-party applications - JIRA, Trello, Zoho, Zendesk, WEBCON BPS, Confluence, GitHub, among others.
EXPANSION OF TEAMS
Based on the capabilities of Teams, we can quite freely build our comfortable place to work. However, if ready-made components are not enough, then we have two options for expanding Teams:
1) use of Power Automate/Power Apps services to extend functionality (e.g., by automating the creation of Teams, embedding a business application in a Team, etc.),
2) programming additional functionality - we can create a missing connection to our internal system, use Azure or other cloud components to build new functionality, or create a bot to assist us in our work.
When creating our own apps, we also don't have to deal with the issue of Teams accessibility vs. app deployment - installing an app doesn't affect Teams - once it's completed, it simply appears as available in the list of apps.
Of course, we don't have to wait until we build our dream Team to start working. On the contrary, we should start with the simplest version, and add new functionality as we need it and get to know the platform.
COOPERATION WITH PEOPLE OUTSIDE THE COMPANY
Teamsy also make it possible to work with people outside our organization. We can invite, for example, a contractor or partner to our Teams meeting - he will receive an email invitation with a link to log in as a guest. We can also invite him to our Teams - then he will be able to chat with us on the channels, work on the app and exchange information.
INFORMATION SECURITY
A particularly relevant topic in the age of cloud services - how do I control my data and access to it when it's not with me on a local server? Teams support many of the features that Office 365 already had in place and allow you to control your information. These include:
- Data loss preventions - Protection against leakage of sensitive information (e.g., PESEL numbers) in messages and documents (here it matters what license we have).
- Sensitivity labels - labels, on the basis of which we classify content (e.g., confidential, publicly available). Based on this, we can encrypt documents or watermark them in further steps.
- Data encryption - Teams provide data encryption for the files we add to them.
- Access policies - It is up to us to decide whether to allow external user access and under what conditions.
Summary
Chats, file sharing, group work, meetings, integrations with external services, custom extensions... Microsoft Teams is a powerful tool and it takes some time to learn all its capabilities 😊 Its greatest power is precisely the amount of functionality with which we can assemble our work environment as if it were made of building blocks! A very big advantage is also the fact that since it's a cloud tool, we can access it from anywhere - all we need is Internet access (of course, remember to adjust the security settings to suit our own requirements).
From my experience and active use of Teams for more than 3 years, I can say that it is an extremely practical tool that changes our habits and expectations. I am not tied to my desk, I can work from anywhere and have all the necessary information at hand. Even when I'm on the go, I can attend meetings thanks to the mobile app. Remember, it is also not worth waiting until we build a polished Team - the sooner we start (even with a simple Team) the sooner we will see results 😊.
Marcin Siewnicki, ISCG Office 365 Consultant & Architect
Want to learn more or download free trial version of Teams? Write to us at pracujzdomu@iscg.pl Or fill out the form: