Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform integrated with Microsoft’s Office 365. The tool combines workplace chat, video meetings, file storage, file collaboration, and integration with other apps. So, why use Microsoft Teams? Like many other productivity applications, benefits of Microsoft Teams include streamlined communication and file organization.
What is Microsoft Teams Used For?
How does Microsoft Teams work? Basically, collaborating on the platform lets you essentially keep all information and communication under one room. Microsoft Teams features many integrations that allow for further communication and file sharing. Microsoft Teams comes on Mac, Windows, and mobile. As with any productivity tool, it comes with pros and cons.
Pros and Cons of Microsoft Teams
Pros of Teams
- Improved communication – The productivity tool allows users to communicate via channels which streamlines communication between team members. You can also use Microsoft Teams to call or video team members.
- Increased productivity – Microsoft Teams’ features help employees get more work done faster through a platform that facilitates both sharing and communication.
- Easy file sharing – Share files quickly and easily with teammates by uploading documents through Teams. You can then use the search feature to find them later. You can also use the tab feature to keep a file you’re working on separate from other files and conversations.
- Microsoft tool integration – All of your Microsoft tools, such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, are available while working inside Teams.
- Third-party app integration – The platform integrates with several third-party tools.
Cons of Teams
- Too many similar tools – Microsoft is its own worst enemy in the sense that it offers too many similar tools to Microsoft Teams, making it difficult for users to know which tools to use.
- Limited channels – Microsoft limits the number of channels to 100.
- No unified search for all products – Microsoft offers no unified search feature for conversations that take place across all tools.
- Lack of notifications – Teams doesn’t alert users if they create a team with a name that already exists, potentially causing confusion.
- No choice – Organizations that use Office 365 may dictate that employees use Microsoft Teams instead of other tools that may be a better fit.
Let’s dive deeper into the pros and cons of Microsoft Teams.
Benefits of Microsoft Teams
Improved Communication
Microsoft Teams allows users to create channels to house communication across organizational groups. The ability to quickly message team members improves communication and helps teams work more efficiently. The Teams search function can help users go back to review old conversations as needed.
Increased Productivity
Employees are busy, and Teams helps streamline communication, file sharing, and collaboration. With everything centrally located, co-workers are able to quickly and easily access the people and files they need, cutting down on the time spent sending emails and searching for files.
Easy File Sharing
Rather than sending files back and forth via email, Teams allows users to upload files directly to the tool and share them with other team members. Thanks to the cloud, users can work on the file in a collaborative manner, even in real time, similar to the way one may work in Google Docs. Plus, sharing via Teams saves email storage space and the built in search function helps find files quickly when you need to access them.
You can access any Microsoft tool such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or SharePoint inside Teams. The company does a good job of integrating their own tools into the mix, further improving productivity and communication.
Third Party App Integration
Got a third party tool you really love and don’t want to give up? Many apps, including Droplr, integrate with Teams so you can use both simultaneously.
Microsoft Teams Limitations
One of Microsoft Teams’ biggest cons is that Microsoft offers too many similar tools, such as Skype, Microsoft Stream, Yammer, even OneNote. Many organizations find employees use several tools in similar ways, instead of keeping all of their work in one place, thereby splintering productivity.
Limited Channels
Teams limits the number of channels per organization to 100. While that may be enough for smaller organizations, larger corporations – which tend to use Office 365 products company-wide – may find they run out of channels for communication.
No Unified Search for All Products
Microsoft offers no unified search feature for conversations that take place across all tools. As already mentioned, Microsoft offers a number of tools similar to Teams and organizations may use several. For instance, companies use Yammer for company-wide distribution of information such as announcements. Although Teams is instead meant for more granular communication across departments, organizations may use them interchangeably. There’s no way to do a global search for a file or conversation that happened in a tool outside of Teams.
Lack of Notifications
By default, Teams allows any user to create a team name. It doesn’t alert the user that that name may aleady exist. This becomes a problem when an organization has multiple teams within Microsoft Teams named the same thing. A large corporation may have several customer service units, for example, and each one within Teams could be named “Customer Service” with no other distinguishing factor.
Why Use Microsoft Teams?
Organizations that use Office 365 may dictate that employees use Teams instead of other tools that may be a better fit for the organization. This is often simply because Microsoft Teams comes as part of the Office 365 package, or because IT feels it is the best solution for their organization.
Microsoft Teams Review
Our review of Microsoft Teams is although it is a great productivity tool to use, it may not be for everyone. The application is a great choice for those working in smaller teams or organizations. However, for those working in larger companies, the tool might not offer as many channels as you need to communicate. Because the application does not have a unified search feature, it’s important that you stay organized as the tool won’t be helpful in finding lost or hidden files.
Microsoft Teams can be a good fit for an organization if you also consider the cons. Other organizations may find a tool like Slack more beneficial. If you want to compare Teams and Slack, check our article comparing the two programs. You can also read our article comparing Microsoft Teams to Discord, a free alternative.