By Patrick Laffey
Microsoft Teams is a communication and collaboration hub for your team to chat and communicate instantly via IM, voice, and video, as well as share files. Leveraging the power of Microsoft 365, it integrates your people, files, and applications in order to stay connected and be productive. So, how do you create a meeting in Microsoft Teams? In this guide, we'll give you step by step directions on how to create a meeting, whether in the office or remote.
You can create and schedule a Teams meeting from Outlook directly. To do this, open Outlook and look in the bottom left corner. You should see a calendar icon. Click it to access your calendar.
If you do not see these icons, you will need to change your “Folder Pane” view to “Normal (see image below). Go to “View” at the top of Outlook, then under “Folder Pane” switch to “Normal”. You should now see the calendar icon in the bottom left part of your screen.
Once you have clicked on the calendar icon, your calendar should appear. If you are in your “Home” menu at the top, you will see a button that says, “New Teams Meeting”. Click on that option and Outlook will open a window that resembles an email.
Fill out the prompts with the appropriate information for your meeting. You should create a title which makes it clear to other attendees what the meeting is about. Below the title field, you enter the attendees. It works like an Outlook email where you can start typing their name, and you will see your contact pop up. Click on the contact to add them to the Teams meeting.
Once you’re done with the title and attendees, you’ll set the meeting time and location. If this is a reoccurring meeting, you can select the “Make Recurring” text and icon next to the meeting date which will open an options window.
In the “Appointment Recurrence” window you will be able to select options for your recurring meetings. For example, if you have a weekly meeting on Mondays at 5:30 you will set up the fields as shown in the image below. You can also tell Teams what day you want the recurring meetings to start and what day you want them to end. When done, select “OK” to save your settings.
When you’re done filling out all the required fields, click the “Send” button. Clicking send will schedule a meeting, put the meeting in everyone’s calendar, and send everyone a link to join the meeting. People can join the meeting by clicking the link in their email or they can join the Teams meeting by clicking the meeting in their calendar.
How to Create a Meeting in TeamsCreating a meeting in Teams is very simple! Make sure you are viewing your calendar in Teams by clicking the “Calendar” icon on the left-hand side of the Teams window (see image below).
Once in your calendar, you can click “Meet Now” or you can click “New meeting” on the top right section of the Teams window (see image below).
“Meet Now” allows you to instantly start an ad hoc meeting. When you click the “Meet Now” button, you will be taken to a meeting settings screen. In the picture below, you can see the different options for your meeting. Make sure you change the title of the meeting at the top, check your audio, video and any other settings that may apply. When ready, click “Join Now” which will take you into a meeting.
Once in the new meeting, you will notice you are the only participant. Invite others to join by typing in a name or number on the right-hand side of the screen under the “People” heading. Notice that you can add people directly from Teams here or you can have someone join in via telephone. If you type in a team member’s number, they will receive a phone call and be able to participate as if it were a conference call.
In the “Calendar” tab, you will the “New Meeting” button in the top right of the window. From here you have the option to create a live event or schedule a meeting.
When you select “Schedule Meeting,” you will be prompted to set up the meeting details. Here you will need to add a meeting title, add attendees, schedule the time, specify if you want the meetings to repeat, add a channel, add a location, and add meeting details.
If you want to invite several people from your team into a meeting, but do not want to add them individually, you can save time by adding a channel in Teams. When you are creating a new meeting, you will see a field that says, “Add channel.” Click in the field and select the channel you want to add. Everyone who is in that channel will be invited to the meeting, plus a post will be sent out to the channel. This is a great way to save time and know you invited everyone who needs to be invited!
Notice when you add attendees to your meeting, some people’s names might light up with colors indicating that they are not available. To check availability between all attendees, click the “Scheduling Assistant” tab at the top of the window (see below). Once inside the Scheduling Assistant, you can easily see who is free and when. This makes scheduling a breeze and will help you avoid schedule conflicts!
Once you have created a meeting, it will be visible in your Calendar tab in teams. If you click on the meeting you will have additional options to further enhance meeting productivity. A great feature is being able to attach documents which other attendees can download. This is useful if you need to attach PowerPoint slide shows, business documents, Excel spreadsheets, or just about anything that may be useful to the attendees.
To add a file, click on the meeting in your Calendar tab, then click “Files” at the top of the window. Once in Files, you can share by clicking the “Share” button. You can upload files from your computer or straight from your OneDrive cloud storage (see image below). Once you select a file, it will be available to all attendees by accessing the Files tab.
Download our Getting Started with Teams Guide that goes over all the basics in Teams
Visit our Teams Migration Services page to see how we can help support your business with Teams
By Bryan Timm
While Skype is putting people in touch with their loved ones in a socially distant world; Skype for Business is saying goodbye to companies across the globe. It was announced last summer that Skype for Business Online would be retired on July 31, 2021. This leaves less than a year for companies still utilizing Skype for Business (SFBO) to transition to Microsoft Teams; the replacement product launched in 2017. It is much more than a replacement though, as Microsoft Teams brings together chat, meetings, calling, coloration, app integration, and file storage into a singular product; with an easy to navigate interface.
A Forrester Consulting survey done in 2019 shows us that utilizing Teams has so many benefits including:
The countdown has begun to start thinking about your business’ shift to Microsoft Teams. A true Teams deployment is more than just downloading the application, however. You’ll need to review your current configuration, and ensure that all appropriate pieces are moved over to Microsoft Teams. And if you need help, you can rely on technical experts like us!
One of the biggest questions asked: What’s the difference between Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams? Microsoft breaks this down:
Channels.
Channels allow your departments, teams, or sometimes your whole organization a single place to communicate, store files, and integrate apps; without cluttering up the view of other departments or teams who do not necessarily need it (ie: the Marketing team vs the Finance team).
You'll still be able to communicate 1:1 or in any sized group with chats as well. You can A Forrester Consulting survey done in 2019 and take the conversation wherever you go!
Microsoft Teams is in use at one of the most recognizable names in the sky, Air France. Prior to utilizing Teams, frontline employees struggled to communicate effectively with each other. After its implementation, it allowed them to utilize Teams to collaborate in real-time on a OneNote; to share a summary of daily activities, schedules, and notes that are shared effectively through the cloud.
CenturyLink, a telecommunications company, is going through a strategic growth into a technology leader. Microsoft Teams is helping the company fit it’s new vision “One Company, One Culture” by helping employees stay connected. Cristi Robb, Manager of Information Technology, states that everyone now “works together on one platform to solve corporate problems and achieve our goal to serve customers better”.
Li & Fung, a global supply chain orchestrator, has leveraged Microsoft products & services, including Microsoft Teams, to help serve as a communication platform for their digital product development (DPD) solution. This DPD has helped saved them thousands of dollars and weeks of design time; keeping their business efficient and lean.
Here at Managed Solution, we use Microsoft Teams for nearly everything. It allows us to call and stay connected through 1:1 calls, group calls, meetings, and Live Events; as well as serving as a document management solution that is accessible by only members of that Channel. Our team is located across North America and by utilizing Microsoft Teams we stay connected to each other 24/7 (when we aren’t out volunteering our time in the community).
The most important question is: Are you ready for Teams?
Whenever you’re dealing with the implementation of a new system inside your company’s workflow, you need to know that everybody won’t respond in the same way. The level of enthusiasm shown during the process will vary from one department to another, and also from one employee to another. Knowing how to prepare for Office 365 migration will benefit you immensely.
The best way to prepare for the Office 365 migration process is to start by analyzing in advance the necessary steps to be taken to assure a smooth and efficient transition. If you have made your plan in advance, the change will go faster both from a technical standpoint, as well as from the employee performance side. If you don't know where to get started, we can help with your Office 365 migration.
Want to explore the Microsoft tools to determine if it’s the right for you? Request a Customer Immersion Experience where our certified experts come on-site (free of charge) for a hands-on, exploratory demo with Microsoft’s suite of productivity tools.
1. Choose the best-suited migration method for your business
Many businesses don’t consult with specialists in this field when it comes to migrating to Office 365, and they don’t realize that this process can differ from company to company. As you would expect, a smaller company will undergo a faster migration, as opposed to a bigger company which will undertake a more extended transition period.
It is where you need to choose the right migration plan for your business because it could be easier than you would expect. Microsoft supports three migration types: cutover, IMAP migration and a hybrid migration (a mix between the two kinds of movement mentioned above.)
2. Give a fair estimation of how long the migration period will last
Business owners, or directors, can often estimate the duration of a process and be far off, due to their (understandable) constant desire to cut costs and to make everything more efficient. Although this method is not necessarily a bad one, when it comes to a technical process, like the migration to Office 365, a fair estimation could go a long way, and it could also be more cost-efficient than initially expected.
A normal migration to Office 365 usually experiences a throughput of 10 Gigabytes – 14 Gigabytes per hour, so you should calculate in advance the volume your company possesses and calculate a decent time estimate.
3. Leave it to specialists to secure the job
After the initial assessments are complete, be sure to leave your specialized IT department to do the job, or hire external professional consultants in this field if you want to ensure that none of your valuable data is lost during the process.
Sometimes it pays to hire external help, due to their experience of handling several migrations to Office 365 processes for companies operating with various amounts of data. It means an outside IT department could offer more support and solve any unexpected problems that may appear at a faster and more efficient pace.
Businesses are leveraging video conferencing tools more than ever before and therefore Microsoft Teams and Zoom are making headlines daily. We'll compare Microsoft Teams vs Zoom here so that you can make the decision on what's best for your business,
In this article, we'll look at the most popular software for video conferencing on the market today: Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Both have been making headlines since the world went remote, and we're going to compare them to let you know their similarities and their differences so you can make a better decision on what's best for your business.
These two tools have a lot of similar functions, but the details are where they differ. At a high level, some of the similarities include:
While both have some of the same main features, they do differ a lot when you dive into the details. Let's take a look at what makes these two tools different.
Teams and Zoom both offer video conferencing either 1:1 or large groups as well as chat/instant messaging. Teams allows for 250 users to join where Zoom's plan starts at 100 and you have a choice to upgrade your plan or add additional licensing to include up to 500 users.
Teams also has the ability for more customization within your communication options. In Teams you can create different Teams and Channels to organize your different groups. For example, you could have a Sales & Marketing Team with Channels like "Marketing Collateral" and "Sales Training & Resources." Zoom only allows you to create Channels without subgroups. Within each, you can choose to add who you wish and make these Channels private or public. In Teams, you can also @ mention different groups and subgroups for specific messages to notify the people within those groups. Both tools feature both group chats or one to one chats, and they allow you to set a status of whether you're available, offline, or away and customize an away message. You can also schedule meetings both out of the native application or within an integrated calendar like Outlook.
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For virtual events like webinars, both have the ability to deliver. Teams webinars are included in its paid plans, whereas Zoom requires additional licensing for this. When creating a webinar in Teams, it's similar to creating a meeting and you invite people the same way. Zoom creates a registration page for your webinar where people can sign up and automatically get emailed their unique attendee link. Teams allows for up to 10,000 attendees and Zoom's starting plan allows for 100 attendees and goes up as you get a higher tiered plan.
You can store and share files within both applications, however Teams, again, is much more customizable and much more organized when it comes to storing and sharing files. Teams allows you to edit documents (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, etc) directly within the application itself. Zoom does have a place for shared files, but you can really just store and access them while Teams acts as a collaboration hub for all users. Because Teams natively integrates with the rest of the Office 365 applications, it increases the ease of use of your tech stack and makes it the ultimate collaborative workplace. Both have search functionality to find previous chats or files, but Teams is second to none and can search content within files as well as the file name, making it a much quicker process to find what you're looking for. In the end, Zoom's file sharing is comparable to sending a file via email, whereas Teams' major functionality is file-storing and file-sharing as it sits on top of SharePoint.
Microsoft natively bakes in security to all its application so naturally, Microsoft Teams is going to be hard to compete with at the security level. That said, while Zoom's security features aren't as robust, both tools provide security layers. Zoom offers SSL and advanced encryption and has enabled features like blocking or removing participants and restricts certain users from being able to share screens or rename themselves. Zoom, like Teams, also has waiting rooms or "lobbies" to approve people to be let in and you can also enable passwords for meetings.
Teams absolutely has an edge here, though, largely due to its integration with the Microsoft Admin Center, allowing for Microsoft admins to control security and compliance policies across all applications within their suite of products. Teams offers features like two-factor authentication, channel controls, and data loss prevention. Additionally, Microsoft has Advanced Threat Protection, communication compliance, secure guest access, cloud app security, sensitivity labels and more. If you’re in a highly-regulated industry or are concerned about compliance and security (as all businesses should be), then Teams without a doubt has the advantage here.
Both tools have a few different pricing plans and have freemium versions available. Teams freemium includes video and audio conferencing, scheduled meetings, 1 to 1 chat, file sharing, screen sharing, and data encryption. Zoom's free version allows for video and audio conferencing (only up to 40 minutes), scheduled meetings, screen sharing, and chat.
Teams pricing plans range from $0 to 12.50/user/month whereas Zoom ranges from $0 to $19.99/mo/host
In the end, Zoom is a great tool if all you're looking for is video conferencing or webinar delivery. Microsoft Teams, on the other hand, brings all business applications and tools of a workplace together and allows for ultimate collaboration -- and video conferencing is just one feature benefit of its all-encompassing solution. However, if you do need just a conferencing tool, Teams does deliver that, so it really is up to what your business is looking for. In the end, when all things considered, especially (and most importantly) security and productivity, Teams takes the cake.
Considering migrating to Teams? We'd love to help.
When it comes to office collaboration and communication tools, Microsoft Teams and Slack are the significant competitors that come to mind. Slack is best known around start-ups and digital agencies circles. It has been the first such collaboration tool of its kind, providing companies and organizations with chat and file-sharing capabilities.
With so many businesses now partially or fully remote, these tools are more important than ever, and even have benefits for teams in the same building. In this article, we'll compare the two and look at both similarities and differences so you can make a well-informed decision on what's best for your business.
Since both Slack and Teams are communication tools, there is some similar functionality between the two. The major commonalities include:
Slack’s strength is that it was built for startups so it's easy to get started - plus it integrates with ~800 third party applications. Microsoft Teams' strength is its built-in security features and strong integration with Office 365.
Truth be told, these two tools share a lot of the same features but the differences are in the details. Let's dive in and take a closer look.
With over 800 third-party apps that it can integrate with, Slack beats Teams, which can integrate with over 200 apps. That said, Teams can integrate with all Office 365 apps (Skype, Outlook, etc.), making it the ultimate collaboration hub on top of its communication features. Teams is constantly adding new third party app integrations to try and keep up. If you're an Office 365 user, Teams is definitely the way to go when it comes to integrations. If you use Google or otherwise, Slack might be better suited for you.
If your primary collaboration source is Google Drive, Slack allows you to create and share these kinds of documents easily while Teams operates on the Office 365 package. You can view, collaborate on, and edit files within Teams, without having to leave the platform, which is not possible in Slack. This is a game-changer when it comes to productivity. Teams users can access, share and edit files with just a few clicks and within one single application. It also allows for co-authoring documents and simultaneously working on a document with your colleagues in real-time.
Both tools are built for communication and therefore instant messaging, calls, meetings and video conferencing are built into both tools. However, with Slack you can only video conference with up to 15 users at a time. Within Teams, you can have up to 250 users in the most basic plan. So again, if you're a startup or small business, Slack will work, but if you have an organization with more than 15 people, then you should look at Teams. Both have features within their video conferencing to change the background, share screens, and more, but this does depend on the plan you have.
Both tools provide users with security measures to encrypt files, data, and messages. They both offer two-factor authentication, channel controls, and data loss prevention, but Teams has the edge over Slack thanks to its integration with the Microsoft Admin Center and Slack only provides some of these features at the Enterprise plan level. Microsoft is known to bake security into every product and because of its integration with Office 365 the security policies spread across platforms making it extra secure. Additionally, Microsoft has Advanced Threat Protection, communication compliance, secure guest access, cloud app security, sensitivity labels and more. If you’re in a highly-regulated industry or are concerned about compliance and security (as all businesses should be), then Teams has the advantage here.
Both systems are fairly easy to deploy, though due to some of its security and accessibility layers, Microsoft Teams takes a bit longer to add a new user. Depending on how sophisticated you want your Teams to be, it may require someone with technical skills to set up and deploy Teams, where as with Slack, you can get set up pretty quickly. However, once Teams is set up by your admin, it's quite user friendly and easy for new users to set up new Teams, channels, and start sharing files. If you're a startup or without a technical resource, then Slack is the way to go.
Regarding cost-effectiveness, both platforms have a free version, making them available for small companies that don't need the extra features. The open Teams version offers more capabilities than Slack. Also, companies that have an Office 365, Teams is available in many different licensing SKUs or is an easy add-on. Slack's plans start at $6.67/user/month and Microsoft Teams starts at $5/user/month.
In summary, both tools are great options for communication in the office. If you're a startup or small business that is simply looking for a communication tool, Slack should solve your needs.
However, if you're looking for something secure with more features (even in its free plan) that not only has many communication avenues, but acts as a collaboration hub for your business, then Teams is your answer.
Skype for Business will be sunsetting on July 31, 2021. Have no fear though, as Microsoft Teams will replace it for all your communication needs and empower you to do even more.
What's Teams? Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines instant messaging, calling, meetings, file sharing, app integration and everything you essentially need to collaborate with your team, no matter where you all are.
If you are a current Skype user, the below still applies and will until it's expired. However, new users that wish to sign up for Skype for Business will be redirected to Teams.
Whether you're new to Microsoft or have been a long time user of Skype, you should be very excited about the transition to Microsoft Teams. Skype is very limited in its capabilities - sure you can chat, make calls and have meetings, but the functionality ends there. Microsoft Teams does all of that and more. Here are some awesome features of Microsoft Teams:
On top of all these great features, you can organize and sort them by different "teams" - clever, right? For example, you can have a "Marketing" Team within Teams that the marketing and sales team to access collateral. You can also have an "All Staff" Team in which everyone in the company has access to. Additionally, you could have an "Executive" team where only the leadership team has access. With these different permissions, you can restrict and control which employees have access to what and keep communication and collaboration organized.
If you found this article interesting, you might want to check out some of our information on Microsoft Teams. Learn more about Microsoft Teams here.
What is the best collaboration tool for your business?
As many of us know, Microsoft Teams has replaced Skype for Business Online. For years, Skype has been the go-to tool for business communications. However, in more recent times, its popularity has been slipping and Microsoft is now slowly sunsetting it. As such, Microsoft has decided to make the transition to Teams which is now considered the best collaboration tool on the market.
Microsoft Teams is a unified communications platform that incorporates several features such as chat, phone calls, video, file storage, and app integration under one roof. It can integrate with all Office 365 tools and extensions as well as numerous non-Microsoft products. Another reason why Microsoft has phased out Skype in favor of Teams is its full integration into the Office 365 environment.
That said, let's take a look into what Microsoft Teams has to offer and what makes it the best communication tool on the market.
As we said, Microsoft Teams is fully integrated with Office 365. As such, it's somewhat intuitive to understand why using it would make sense if you are already using O365 for your business. Within the centralized Teams application, you can store documents, communicate with coworkers, and organize notes without having to change between different applications.
The platform also keeps the lines of communication free and flowing by maintaining an in-line conversation. This means that, if you moved away from Teams for a bit, you could pick up right where you left off in the conversation. You won't have to sift through tons of unread email threads.
Aside from O365, Teams is also compatible with an entire host of third-party applications. For instance, you can use Twitter, Facebook Pages, or Bing News to send information to specific Teams channels. Similarly, you can use Google Analytics to regularly update your analytics teams. This simple and flexible functionality allows you to keep track of important business updates, specific for each job role.
The Phone System feature, part of Office 365, makes it possible to use Teams to make phone calls outside of the organization. You can make or receive calls from anywhere in the world and from any other device that runs Teams and has an internet connection.
What's more, this feature also comes with several Calling Plans, depending on your business needs. Your finance team, for example, can be limited to domestic calls while the sales department has access to both local and international calling capabilities.
In addition, the feature provides call answering and initiating based on name and number, simultaneous ringing, voicemail, call history, call holding, emergency calls, etc. In terms of devices, you can use the Phone System from the Team app on your phone, laptop, tablet, conference-room speakerphones, headsets, etc.
The Intune security tool, part of Office 365, will help keep corporate data safe when using Teams. This will allow users to access data from any device while still maintaining compliance. Intune will protect and manage your employees' devices, the mobile apps used, as well as manage all sharing rules put in place.
Another key issue for organizations is transparency. With Teams, everyone is in the loop as you won't have to worry who to put in cc or who to invite in a meeting. The platform allows you to post your message in the relevant channel, @-mention people you want to be notified, and leave it for everyone else to read if they want. This way, nobody feels left out of the conversation, increasing transparency, and enabling people in the channel to pop in the meeting. At the end of the day, we love it and truly believe it's the best collaboration tool available.
While many users have already made the transition to Windows 10, others have yet to make the jump. Either because they got used to their current version of Windows or other similar factors, they will be, more or less, forced to do so in the immediate future. As of January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer support Windows 7 on laptops and desktops, and it will stop patching it with security updates.
While those using Windows 7 Pro and Enterprise can still extend their security updates until 2023, this will come at a cost based on the number of devices. What's more, this price will increase over time. That said, what are the best features that Windows 10 has to offer in comparison to its previous counterparts?
For starters, Windows 10 offers better overall security. It gives you the option of subscribing to Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, which is a cloud-based service that manages various security threats across all of your Windows 10 computers and devices.
Likewise, the operating system also comes with Windows Defender Exploit Guard. This is a system that finds, quarantines, and removes any malware or ransomware that finds its way into your network.
In addition, it includes several other tools that can stop zero-day attacks, block malicious programs, or isolate any infected devices on your network. If you're using Windows 10 Professional or Enterprise, you will also have access to Windows Defender Application Guard.
This lets you use your Edge browser inside a virtual machine. This way, if your device or those of your employees get infected with malware or ransomware, your devices won't be affected since these will be restricted to the virtual machine.
Windows 10 also comes equipped with a Timeline feature. This feature will take a "snapshot" of all Windows apps you were using at any given time. By clicking on the "Task View" icon on your taskbar, you can select any of these snapshots and continue working where you left off.
The best part about this feature is that you can access these snapshots on all Windows 10 computers that are signed on with the same account. In other words, you can start working on a project on your home computer, then continue working on it in the office.
Another simple, yet useful Windows 10 feature is My People. This lets you pin ten business contacts as shortcuts in your taskbar. Once pinned, just click on a person to email them or start a conversation.
Staying focused while meeting a deadline is becoming increasingly difficult. There are plenty of distractions without Windows having to contribute to them. Focus Assist is a Windows 10 feature that allows you to toggle some or all notifications on or off, thus helping you concentrate on the task at hand.
Nearby Sharing in Windows 10 is a feature that allows you to share all sorts of documents, photos, links, and videos with nearby devices by using either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Granted, you can share links relatively easily over the browser, but when it comes to large documents, images, or videos, things become a bit more complicated. This feature helps streamline this operation if both PCs, the one you’re sharing from and the one your sharing with, have Windows 10.
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