Are you currently using multiple apps, devices and email accounts to keep in-touch with people, both for work and in your personal life? Well, we’ve good news for you.
As of July 12, Microsoft has released a free version of its popular Teams app, an all-in-one chat, file storage and collaboration utility.
Previously only available for Office 365 users, this new version of Teams is free for up to 300 people in a single organization. And, it's currently available in 40 languages.
That’s 300 people that you can help keep organized. You can chat with folks on your team on individually or in a group. You can put up files in a shared repository. You can work on Office files online and work on them as a group in real time.
Here’s What You Can Do with Microsoft Teams
With Microsoft Teams, you can:
- Chat. And search previous chats.
- Use Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.
- Store team files and get 2GB per user. And 10GB of shared space for files.
- Have one-on-one or group video calls, with screen sharing.
- Communicate and collaborate with people outside of your team.
Who is this good for?
This is good news for almost everybody. It’s particularly useful for freelancers, non-profit organizations, contractors, small business owners, committees and smaller organizations like rotary clubs or local sports leagues.
If you’re tired of the email flurries going back-and-forth and communication channels that seem to come out of nowhere, this is a good start for your group.
Why is this important?
There is no shortage of collaboration tools. Email, Yammer, What’sApp, Slack, GoToMeeting, Trello, Teams, Skype and more.
Here’s what makes Teams stand out, in my opinion.
The difference I’m seeing here is that you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who isn’t already familiar with how Microsoft Word or Excel works. It’s also hard to find someone who isn’t used to the concept of a group chat or a video call.
Hence, the learning curve of Microsoft Teams is small, and it’s all within the same app. Your group may already have files in place using Excel. Those can all be uploaded to Microsoft Teams and collaborated with in real-time.
Bottom line, of all the many collaboration teams out there, Microsoft Teams is one of the easiest for nearly anyone to learn and adopt.
Want to learn how to get the most out of Microsoft Teams? Check out these LinkedIn Learning courses:
Topics: Productivity tips
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