by Argantic CEO Garry Ackerman
Despite Microsoft’s constant reminders, many businesses are still struggling to migrate from Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams. With the end of Skype for Business fast approaching, companies need a safe, secure and effective migration plan. Customers need to move to Microsoft Teams before the end of July 2021.
There has been a major shift to Teams since remote working empowered more people to move to the cloud. Microsoft Teams is the hub for team collaboration in Microsoft 365 that integrates the people, content and tools that any team needs to be more engaged and effective.
Changing from one technology to another is difficult and although Skype and Microsoft Teams have many similarities, it may take some time to get used to. For companies that have been using Skype for Business for a long time, it could be a challenge.
To make the transformation seamless, business leaders should inform the staff about the impending shift to Teams, as soon as possible. They need time to prepare for the changes because people are scared of change.
One needs to identify early adopters, staff who have used Teams before and those who feel more comfortable with using new technology. They could be mentors for others who feel uncomfortable about using Teams for the first time.
The next step is to help everyone understand the features and benefits of the new technology. It is good to share information and documentation about the Teams environment. Also, reassure them that new technology has much better functionality.
Create a list of new features and show staff how those capabilities are going to benefit them. One could even integrate apps into Teams to ensure that staff don’t have to switch between different apps to get work done. They can now easily find, share and edit files in real-time – using familiar apps like Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
Next, each business needs to determine what kind of functionality it requires. For example, one may want to connect an existing telephony system to Teams, creating a central hub for communication. Teams Voice opens the doors to cost-effective business communication, offering business calls from anywhere, at any time.
Make and receive calls directly in Teams with advanced features like group calling, cloud voicemail, and call transfers. Teams is for everyone, instantly go from group chat to video call with the touch of a button. Users can now securely connect, access, share and co-author files in real-time.
Microsoft has improved the way its other solutions integrate with Teams, from Outlook to Microsoft 365 productivity tools. Remote workers can now collaborate from anywhere, they can stay organised and improve collaboration with all their conversations, files, meetings and apps in a shared workspace.
Every business has unique processes and ways of working, they often require solutions that need to be tailored for them. Our expertise of Teams and other Microsoft technologies enables us to solve the toughest challenges facing customers.
