Tracy van der Schyff

#Office365Challenge – It’s the Big 5 Countdown (African Style). It’s the big one folks!!! On the last day of my challenge I will give you my overview of Microsoft Teams. And a couple of other opinions which you might, or might not want to hear.

Day:  365 of 365, 0 left
Tools:  Office 365, Teams
Description: Communication Tools in Office 365 – Teams
Audience:  All

To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.

Tony Robbins 

Part of my final Big 5 was giving you an overview of Stream as well as sharing an Infographic on 16 Ways to Communicate with Office 365,  Yammer, Planner and Groups.

Today’s Big 5 representative:

 Microsoft Teams

Let’s talk about why I chose the elephant for Teams. Cause it’s the elephant in the room. That’s why. 🙂

The last couple of months have been interesting to say the least. And yes, I was one of those “Another communication tool??? When do we use what – people.” But I’ve sat back and allowed everyone to voice their opinions, I tried it out, tried it again, scratched my head and read some more blog posts. Teams was released in November 2016 and it created a ‘glitter’ storm of note. I eventually had to go back and research all the other communication tools as well to make up my mind.

And it made me think of shoes (strange that I didn’t go for bikes).

We all have different types of shoes for different occasions. Common sense tells us not to wear high heels to gym (or at all like me), but if it wasn’t for your mother screaming at you not to play outside and kick the ball in your church shoes – you might still be doing it. It’s about choice, preference, a bit of common sense and some guidance.

So we’re all happy in the world of shoes. Microsoft added some new shoes called Groups a while back – and we were fine with that too. But then they added another pair. Something a bit more versatile, for Team Sports. Shoes that are a bit different – and we lost our marbles:

For me it’s all about the adoption thereof and the most important part of this is communication – yup – excuse the pun. Decide on a strategy and communicate it with your users. The fact that we now have multiple tools to do awesome stuff in makes it difficult. Train and educate your users. Help them make the decision on what’s best – when. If you wear the right shoes for the right activity – it will be comfortable and effortless. You won’t end up with blisters. Listen to your mother when she tells you not to kick the ball with your church shoes…

What does Microsoft say:  The new chat-based workspace in Office 365. Microsoft Teams is an entirely new experience that brings together people, conversations and content—along with the tools that teams need—so they can easily collaborate to achieve more. It’s naturally integrated with the familiar Office applications and is built from the ground up on the Office 365 global, secure cloud. Read more…

What makes Teams different?

According to Microsoft, this is what makes them the cool kids on the block:

1. Chat
   1. Provides a modern conversation experience for today’s teams
   2. Skype is deeply integrated
   3. Can add personality to their digital workspace
2. Teamwork
   1. Brings together the depth of Office 365
   2. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneNote, Planner, Power BI and Delve are all built into Microsoft Teams
   3. Backed by the Microsoft Graph
   4. Built on Office 365 Groups
3. Customizable
   1. Ways for people to customize their workspace
   2. Tabs provides quick access
   3. Full support for the Microsoft Bot Framework
4. Security
   1. Security and compliance capabilities
   2. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest
5. Other:
   1. Included in Office 365 Subscriptions
   2. Use Web App or download App
   3. Only for internal use

And that’s me on the challenge guys. What a journey!!! It’s been SO much fun. See you on the next challenges. Mac Friendly Office 365 and my Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 42 Week blog challenge on my journey into the mysterious world of UI, UX and CX. Have fun, stay awesome… 🙂

Overview of my challenge: As an absolute lover of all things Microsoft, I’ve decided to undertake the challenge, of writing a blog every single day, for the 365 days. Crazy, I know. And I’ll try my best, but if I cannot find something good to say about Office 365 and the Tools it includes for 365 days, I’m changing my profession. So let’s write this epic tale of “Around the Office in 365 Days”. My ode to Microsoft Office 365.
Keep in mind that these tips and tricks do not only apply to Office 365 – but where applicable, to the overall Microsoft Office Suite and SharePoint.