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Why Are Businesses Switching to Microsoft Teams?

Why Are Businesses Switching to Microsoft Teams?

Many of Protected Trust’s clients have made the switch to Microsoft Teams in recent years—sometimes to the surprise of the Protected Trust team! In today’s video, we talk about some of the possible reasons why businesses have made the move to Teams instead of Google or Apple’s online collaboration tools.

There are many reasons why a business might adopt Teams as opposed to other collaboration tools—here are a few highlights from the video:

The Shiny New Thing Factor

One of the first things that Javier Pereira highlighted as a reason for people to adopt Teams is that it provides a kind of “wow” factor for businesses. In the video, Javier talks about an encounter he had with a client. This client did high-end talent placement, with an office that was state-of-the-art… in 2012, at least.

Teams wasn’t this company’s focus. They had the Office suite and a guy who was helping them with collaboration and productivity. While their operations were stable, they wanted more. As Javier put it in the video, they wanted to know: “what’s new, what’s exciting?... they’re looking for an advantage—anything that makes them look more sleek, more modern.”

Making the switch to using Microsoft Teams provided the company with that sleek, modern new tool that they were looking for to gain a competitive advantage over other C-level talent acquisition service providers.

To Simplify Collaboration on Office 365

Another reason companies might want to use Teams is that it helps them simplify their use of Microsoft Office 365—which helps improve team collaboration and productivity by making Office even more user-friendly.

Here’s an excerpt from the video where we debate what Teams really is to the businesses that use it:

  • [Ingram] “Installing Teams isn’t just installing Teams, is it?”
  • [Pereira] “No, it’s too big an animal.”
  • [Ingram] “Because, Teams is really the thing that sits on top of the entire platform and simplifies it, right?”
  • [Pereira] “That’s right.”
  • [Ingram] “So, what is Teams to you?”
  • [Pereira] “Teams really is Microsoft’s collaboration platform. It is a unified platform that links together and integrates Microsoft’s four flagship products—Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype for Business Infrastructure. So, that takes all of your communication and collaboration pieces, this is your one stop for everything.”

Basically, using Teams allows companies to combine multiple Office 365 solutions into a single, easy-to-use resource. This helps remove some of the potential frustration factor. Instead of having to switch between several apps to send a message, link a file, and then edit that file, Teams allows users to do all of these things from the Teams app.

Many Professionals Already Use the Office Software Suite

In the video, the discussion turns toward working with some of the newer up-and-coming companies that are being run by younger people who are Millennials or even members of the Post-Millennial “Generation Z.” One thing that’s mentioned is how a lot of these startups didn’t have a ton of money to throw around. Here’s the quote from the video:

“It looked like a lot of the younger people starting businesses don’t have a lot of money. So, they go to Google. Google had everything in the suite. What I found out recently, though, was that you still had to communicate with the real business world which is already using Office.”

While Google’s software suite is pretty convenient and affordable, if it’s too hard to collaborate with business partners and customers on it, does it really help? Teams integrates seamlessly with the Microsoft Office software suite that established companies are already used to. By using Teams, these startup companies were able to make interacting with their clients and sharing important files easier.

Not using Microsoft Office-related software meant cutting off a potentially enormous client base from convenient collaboration. So, these businesses switched to using Teams.

Teams is Convenient (Is Teams the Better Alternative to Google’s Tools?)

Back in the day, if you wanted to buy the MS Office Software Suite for your computer, you’d have to get a box from a retailer or store. Then, you’d install a CD loaded with the right software and verify CD keys while configuring the software. And, to keep it up to date with the latest features, you’d have to go out of your way to download periodic updates.

A subscription-based software service like Teams eliminates many of these hassles. Instead of installing software from a CD (assuming your computer even has a CD drive nowadays), you can simply download the software from anywhere without having to visit a store or wait for a physical box to be shipped to you.

Also, as an always-online service, the latest software patches and feature updates are applied to Teams (and all of the Office 365 software you get through Teams) automatically. This simplifies your software management process considerably—especially when users have to access their Microsoft Office 365 software across multiple devices.

Clearly, the Protected Trust team are big fans of Microsoft Teams. Want to know more about Teams, or about Protected Trust? Reach out to us for more information.

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