Microsoft Teams is well known among businesses are a first-rate communication tool. Over the years it has become increasingly important that businesses are able to engage in efficient communication, both internally and externally. We discussed this with a company that provides outsourced IT support London based organizations have been using for over a decade – they use Microsoft Teams themselves, and described how it makes business communication more streamlined and efficient. Internal Communication
Types of Business Communication
Internal Communication
Any communication that happens within a business is internal communication, and this is the most common type of communication – as it happens everyday when colleagues have conversations, or send an email to their manager, etc. Internal communications can be split into different categories:
- Internal Upward – Where employees communicate with their manager.
- Internal Downward – Where managers communicate with their subordinate(s).
- Internal Lateral – Where employees, namely colleagues, communicate with each other.
Nowadays, more and more businesses are favouring more flexible, free-flowing communication within their organisation.
External Communication
Whenever someone in a business communications with parties outside of the business – whether it be partners, vendors, customers, or prospects – this is external communication.
Traditionally, external communication is usually either email or telephony, but nowadays videoconferencing, and even instant messaging is becoming more common – when we found that many London IT support companies utilize videoconferencing and instant messaging when communicating with customers, because they very direct forms of communication, which is useful when providing support.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a platform that integrates multiple forms of communication into a single interface. It is suitable for both internal and external communications. Below are the 3 types of communication that Microsoft Teams facilitates:
Instant Messaging– Also known as direct messaging, or real-time messaging. In Teams, you can message colleagues directly, or create group chats with multiple participants. When you create a meeting in Teams, a chatroom associated with that meeting will also be created.
Video Communication – This is considered to be the main form of communicate on Microsoft Teams. It can be further split up into different categories:
- Video Calls – mainly for one-to-one video calls between colleagues, but video calls can have up to 20 participants.
- Video Meetings – where you schedule a meeting in your calendar; video meetings can have up to 300 participants on Teams.
- Videoconferences & Webinars – Ideal for external video communications. Conferences and webinars on Teams can have up to 1000 active participants, and 20,000 listen/view-only participants.
Telephony – Using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP), you can make telephone calls from Microsoft Teams. This means you can use any device that supports the Microsoft Teams app to make business phone calls.
Benefits of Microsoft Teams Communication
- Unifying Communications
One of the biggest benefits of Microsoft Teams for business communication is that it helps you consolidate communications. If you have ever been in a situation where you’re having multiple conversations across multiple platforms, you will understand why this is such a big benefit.
- Streamline Meetings
The process of scheduling a meeting used to involve an email thread containing the agenda, agreed actions, and more. Plus, the actual meeting would happen in a different platform. However, in Teams, you can schedule a meeting, and then use the chat that gets created with it to post the agenda and agreed actions (you can even pin messages within a chat to make them easier to find). This way, all communications before and after a meeting happen in the same place.
- Tidy Your Email Inbox
Having conversations with colleagues via an email thread can get complicated – especially if they’re just normal everyday conversations. By using chat in Microsoft Teams for the majority of daily conversations, you can keep your inbox tidy and reserve it just for important correspondence.
- Agile Communications
Microsoft Teams has a web app, a desktop app, and a mobile app (for both iOS and Android). This means that you can access your Teams communications, no matter where you happen to be. If you’re travelling, you can use your phone. If you’re really in a pickle, you could use someone else’s device and log into the web app.
- Collaboration Tools
Microsoft Teams isn’t just about communications, either. It integrates with all of the Microsoft Office apps, and there are thousands of third-party apps that can be integrated with the platform. It is a perfect space for communication and collaboration.
