Microsoft Teams, often referred to as “MS Teams” or “Teams”, is a collaborative and communicative tool, used by companies all over the world to engage employees in different locations and departments, in a single flexible and secure environment.
Over the last few years, and through the COVID-19 pandemic in particular, Microsoft Teams has had a significant impact on the world of business, redefining how teams work. Video calling is now part of everyday working life, and it's never been easier to send a quick message to a colleague. In this way, Microsoft Teams has become the average office worker’s ‘go-to’ guy!
However, most companies are barely scratching the surface when it comes to using Teams. Beyond the typical and most-utilized file sharing, video calling and instant messaging functionalities, Microsoft Teams has so much more to offer. Here are some of our team’s favourite MS Teams features:
1. Setting Message Delivery Options
When using Microsoft Outlook to send an email, you have the option to mark the email as “High Priority”, letting the recipient know that you need a quick response. But did you know you can also do this with your Teams messages?
At the bottom of the message bar, select the “!” (Set delivery options) and choose your method of delivery.
2. Forms
Collecting company feedback can often be a time-consuming and daunting task.
Even though there are various tools available for gathering feedback (e.g. Survicate, Sender, SurveyMonkey, etc.), the response rate will be higher and faster if you make it as easy as possible for employees to respond, using a channel they’re already using in their regular workday.
Within Microsoft Teams, head to the left-hand navigation bar and type in “forms”. Adding the Forms application to your Teams setup will allow you to easily create forms and polls that can be shared across your organisation.
3. Praise
With an 65% of employees saying they would work harder for an organisation that recognises their contributions, it’s never been more important to include praise in your workplace dialogue.
So if you’re impressed by a colleague, or just grateful to someone for getting the job done in a timely and professional manner, why not send them a gold star on Teams?
When typing your message, look underneath the chat bar for the medal (“praise”) icon. This will bring up lots of suggestions for types of praise to send to your colleague. It’s the little things!
4. Bookmark important messages and content
Do you need to save, or “bookmark”, information in your chat so you can find it later? Bookmarking your content will save you time when looking for important messages.
Microsoft Teams allows you to bookmark specific pieces of content, whether it is a message, or an attachment. You can save this for later by clicking on the 3 dots to the right of your message, and selecting “Save this message”.
Your saved messages can then be accessed by clicking on your name in the top right corner of MS Teams. Pretty useful, right?
5. Virtual backgrounds
This one you might know...
If you are using the Video Conferencing function on MS Teams, you can change your video background to either be blurred, or you can replace it completely.
You can also upload your own image as a background, whereby you could even create your own bespoke branded background for any important calls. This is a great way to personalise your organisation’s Teams in a way that is still professional and can easily be changed in and out, as needed, via your MS Teams audio and video settings.
Want to learn more?
With these quick tips and tricks, we have still barely scratched the surface with how powerful MS Teams can be for your organization.
At Gnosis, our team of experienced engineers will help you navigate the ever-changing IT environment to allow your business to function more effectively.
Speak to us today about implementing and getting the most out of Microsoft Teams, and helping your business stay ahead of the tide.
