If You’re Not Using Microsoft Teams, Then You’re NOT Collaborating

TEAMS COLLABORATION DEFINITION
“The ability for everyone, from all employees to small groups
to work in real time together, with live document editing, chat, and conferencing,
all delivered and governed through a single administratively managed interface.”

In my opinion, this is where Microsoft Teams truly shines and provides benefits to users that they can’t find anywhere else.  Well, they could (and do) find similar apps from different providers, but that’s so un-unified it’s literally maddening, if not dangerous. 

So, unless you’ve used Teams or seen it in action, then it’s impossible to fathom how far behind every non-Teams collaboration system would be.

And that’s a big problem.

It’s very easy to think you’re collaborating, basing it solely on the fact that you’re working with other people.  But that’s not really collaboration, it’s just normal work.   

Again, to be clear here, it’s my stance that if you’re not using Microsoft Teams, then you’re not really collaborating.  Just because you email files to your workmate(s), and chat occasionally using whatever program you managed to get to work properly by yourself, then you might assume you’re collaborating. 

And I guess possibly you are… albeit poorly. 

Very, very poorly. 

But how would you know that’s the case?  How would you even know to ponder how much better a real collaboration system could be for your employees?   

Well, that’s exactly my task at hand here today, to try to illustrate the difference.  And to do so, I think it would be very helpful to look at two very different organizations, and the ‘collaboration systems’ they have in place.

Example One: A Company that ‘Kinda’ Collaborates

In this scenario, employees basically just use whatever they want… whatever they can get to work on their own… possibly whatever app the person they want to communicate or collaborate with is currently using.  Something like that.

And that’s exactly where the problem begins because coordination or strategic use is either nonexistent or more commonly, VERY disparate.

Again, email is not real-time collaboration.  While it does allow you to share files and thoughts with multiple people, it is not the same as real-time functionality like instant messaging and secure storage/sharing. 

Similar, somewhat, but not the same.  I’m guessing most people here use Outlook (probably by decree), with a small remaining portion using anything from Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or even Comcast and/or host-based resources like GoDaddy mail.  Point being, these are all still very disparate.

In this scenario, where there’s typically no set of programs pre-approved for download and use, it leaves the inevitable decision to the end user, which goes against many Cyber Security policies.  It also leaves updating each app by said end user, which may or may not even happen, which is also risky because every update aspires to fix potential exploits, so when they’re not updated, that’s another security risk to your network. 

One that you would never even know exists.

Even if your employees ARE currently using real-time messaging, and God help your business if you’re not, then it’s not uncommon to find multiple clients installed everywhere, from Slack to Basecamp, to Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and even Discord.

I’m telling you, at this point, I have seen it all.  And all this discussion is just for messaging!

Probably hadn’t thought about it.  You’re busy, I get it… 

But since we’re on the topic, surely you remember that every single login from each employee, into each different system, is a security risk.  That every time a user passes login data, you’re at risk.  But you already know that, as well as that you’re trusting them, the app provider, to secure everything on their side, which they mostly typically do.  Right? 

Mostly…  “They mostly secure their apps properly… Mostly…”

But again, the real problem is that you’ll never really know this risk is out there, well, you won’t until it’s too late.

So that takes care of the first example scenario, largely based on real-time messaging as one easy to understand example.  Now watch what happens.

So…. Um… Lol, what are you using for video meetings?
Zoom?  Skype?  BlueJeans?  Google Meet?  Cisco Webex?  Ring Central? 

And here we go again.  Let me guess, some of those?  Well, I may have mentioned it, but we use Teams…

Surely you see the pattern forming here?  That each communications aspect here equates to a variety of disparate programs, all made by different companies, all with different thoughts about security and risk?  Shouldn’t be hard to understand, after all, you’ve been living it for years.  Probably even feel like it works pretty well because it’s largely what you know.

While we could go through the same reasoning and risks of each individual communication and collaboration aspect, like scheduling, file sharing, calendaring, scheduling, and making/receiving calls to name just a few, and all the administrative duties that come along with them, I’d rather not. 

Instead, let me share with you the glory of what a best-in-class Unified Communications and Collaboration system looks like.

Example Two: Your Direct Competition Who REALLY Collaborates

My basis of this discussion is that I’ve now used Microsoft Teams for almost three years, every day, so I get it, and I do realize there’s really no way for you to know what you don’t know. 

Because what you don’t know, is what it’s like to use Microsoft Teams for literally EVERYTHING. 

Did I just say EVERYTHING?  Yes! I did, and before I forget, EVERYTHING also includes all the administrative duties like provisioning, recalling, monitoring, and reporting on individual accounts.  Side note, we do include all these administrative duties for some clients, and for others we integrate and give them access and training.

To be clear, it’s my goal here today to relay to you how much benefit a Unified Communications system has, and how it quickly and exponentially increases productivity.

This is because Microsoft Teams is…

The Leading, Best-in-Class Unified Communications (UC) Platform by Microsoft,
for ALL your Meetings, Chatting, Messaging, Grouping, Noticing, Structuring,
File Sharing, Secure Storage, Calendaring, Conferencing, Scheduling, Calling,
and Live Collaborative use and editing of every MS Office 365 Application,
ALL seamlessly delivered, Live in full High Definition Audio and/or Video,
ALL managed through ONE Single Pane of Glass Dashboard Interface,
ALL located in the same place, ALL available on any Internet device,
ALL usable from any practical location, by ALL employees,
ALL without compromising a company’s existing
and future organizational security policies.

Isn’t that a mouthful?   Not bad for one sentence, eh?  Grammatically correct and everything…

But seriously, the best part here is that Microsoft Teams really does do all of that.  It really is seamlessly delivered live.  You can edit documents live with many other employees.  There really is a single pane of glass dashboard interface to manage everything.  It is all located in the same place.  It does work on any Internet enabled device, from any location. 

Because what Microsoft Teams really does provide to an entire organization, is what’s become known as “Technical Equality.”

Technical Equality means that all your employees are using the exact same tools and apps, and that everything is accessible and usable from anywhere, on any Internet enabled device.  On top of this, it’s all made by the same company WHO ALSO PROGRAMMED YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM, IF NOT YOUR PREFERRED WEB BROWSER! 

How’s that for Unified?  With all updates controlled by you (through a single pane of glass management dashboard), with all external data handshakes and functionality being handled by Microsoft.  This will leave you knowing exactly what programs are being used, if they’ve been updated or not and can confidently say, “There is no security risk here.”

Here’s Another Thing You Probably Don’t Know…  Are you ready for a funny secret that you probably haven’t put together yet? 

GUESS WHAT?