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Microsoft Teams is by far the most popular business communication platform in 2023. According to Statista, there were 270 million daily active users of Microsoft Teams in 2023.
Microsoft Teams is more than a messaging and video conferencing platform. By now, we’ve all had first-hand experience of using it for cloud-based calling, video meetings or for education.
However, did you know that there are several apps you can add to Microsoft Teams to increase its functionality? These include task management, document approval, polls and even human resources capabilities.
Here are 11 Microsoft Teams use cases that you may find useful for your business:
1. Internal announcements
Internal announcements allow companies to communicate important information to all employees in a timely and effective manner. This can include updates on company policies, new initiatives, or changes to existing processes.
Microsoft Teams can also be used to send company-wide announcements and messages, as well as to facilitate communication between departments and teams within an organisation.
By using Microsoft Teams for internal announcements, you can be sure that all team members have access to the same information in one place. We can use an announcement template to draw employees’ attention to upcoming events, for example.
2. Customer service
Customer service teams often have to simultaneously manage a high volume of inquiries from customers, which can be stressful and time-consuming.
Microsoft Teams makes it easy for team members to provide support to customers no matter which formats they prefer. You can use Microsoft Teams to provide customer support through chat, voice and video calls, to communicate with customers in real time and resolve issues more efficiently.
Using Microsoft Teams, you can ensure that all customer inquiries are routed to the appropriate team member and that responses are tracked in one place.
3. Event management
Microsoft Teams can be used to collaborate on event planning, especially to share resources and materials, and communicate with event attendees.
Event organisers can create and manage events easily through Microsoft Teams; this includes event registration, waiting lists and communication. The organisers can promote events, send out notifications, keep track of attendees and waiting lists, and enable both internal and external users to register.
4. Task management
When collaborating on files and projects in Microsoft Teams it can be useful to have all of your tasks organised within Microsoft Teams itself. Tasks in Microsoft Teams helps you manage projects and deadlines. Tasks helps you bring together a group of people and provide them with the information necessary to complete their projects.
Tasks shows active items, their assignees and the projects that specific tasks fall under. End-users can check the progress of tasks assigned to them or their team members so they can meet deadlines.
Tasks is a significant part of the overall project management scope in Microsoft Teams, as it encompasses meetings, scheduling, conference calls, etc.
5. Approving documents
Traditional approval processes might include you sending a Word document via email and waiting for an approval to appear in your inbox. This process can become more complicated when you have several people to track and manage.
Migrating to Approvals in Microsoft Teams essentially allows you to revise, make edits and approve documents in the same window. Microsoft Teams clearly indicates the status, source, requestor and approvers, so that everyone involved is on the same page.
6. Polls
Have you wondered what the benefits might be of receiving real-time feedback when on a video call in Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Forms allows you to create a poll or send out forms to initiate company-wide conversations that help end-users get answers without switching between email or Excel to track votes. Microsoft Teams captures it for you and provides you with the relevant information.
You can leverage Polls in regular team meetings, large training sessions, or when teaching remotely.
7. Collaborating with external parties
Microsoft Teams offers External access and Guest access to enable file collaboration and communication with clients or others outside of your business. Both types offer different experiences for the external user; they may be able to interact with some Microsoft Teams features in your organisation and not others. It is important that you compare both to gauge what you need.
You can create a specific Team for each customer that you work with. This allows you to share documentation, files, reports, and calendars in a secure environment. It makes it easier to connect and interact with your customers because you can call, chat, or meet them with the click of a button.
8. For the classroom
Microsoft Teams for Education offers digital collaboration solutions tailored for universities and schools. The platform allows teachers, students, and parents to stay on top of remote or hybrid learning.
Users can integrate third-party applications, enabling Microsoft Teams to be more powerful and personalised to their educational needs. Moreover, you can access insights for the schools, using integrations and applications to reduce workloads.
9. HR Employee Portal
Microsoft Teams can simplify how you structure HR-related tasks. The Dynamics 365 Human Resources app within Microsoft Teams is a space where users can request leave and review their time off.
Users can easily set up message boards to quickly mark holidays or sick days with the appointed attendance bot. You can also fetch, track and store essential HR files. The PowerBI integration allows HR professionals to monitor surveys and reviews from new hires.
10. Video meetings
Microsoft Teams allows you to plan video meetings, where you can share screens, and view data in real-time with your colleagues. When you schedule appointments via your Microsoft Teams client you can access end-users’ schedules automatically and you no longer need to send emails to confirm availability. If you need more people on a particular session, you can invite them to join you with just a few clicks.
11. Cloud-based calling
If your company has been struggling with a traditional phone system, consider replacing it with Microsoft Teams. It includes capabilities for hosting external and internal conference calls irrespective of the device you access it from, including your mobile, browser applications, or desktop.
Microsoft Teams also facilitates operations as an all-inclusive, cloud-based substitute for your phone system. You can view it in your existing Microsoft Teams client alongside calendars and files, making external collaboration simpler and more effective.
Experteq can help you define Microsoft Teams use cases
At Experteq, we understand that successful Microsoft Teams deployment requires you to first define use cases. To ensure that Microsoft Teams empowers your organisation into the future, you need to focus on the value of Teams to end-users.
We leverage Teams every day at work and wholly believe in its benefits and capabilities. Please visit our Microsoft Teams solutions page to learn how Experteq can help you define Microsoft Teams use cases.