If you work for or own a small to medium business in the South Florida area, you may still be using Skype. If so, we’re sorry! Skype for Business has problems, although it has definitely improved over the years. According to iDataLabs, at least 33,799 companies use Skype, mostly businesses with 10-50 employees total. Lan Infotech, an IT company in Fort Lauderdale, and Microsoft Partner recommends using Microsoft Teams instead. If you already have Office 365, using Teams is a no-brainer.
If you’ve found Skype for Business lacking, this article is for you.
Let’s talk about transitioning from Skype for Business account to the more reliable and professional Microsoft Teams.
Skype For Business Problems
Issues you may have noticed in Skype for Business include unreliable communication, call connection problems (dropped calls, anyone?), syncing issues, conversation history storage, no private channels, inaccurate feature rollout dates, and an interface more suited to an elementary school student than a business professional.
Why Microsoft Teams is Better Than Skype for Business
Microsoft Teams is more reliable, better for collaboration and file-sharing, and costs about the same. Cost is a factor, no matter what size your business is.
Reliability
Reliability is a core need for a business — unreliable software can cost you productivity, revenue, and even clients. Microsoft Teams can help through better staff connection, productivity enhancement, private messaging, and IM to video call ability.
Better Staff Connection
If your staff spans the globe, Teams features inline message translation, cloud recording, and automatic transcripts. In case you’re working from home and you haven’t cleaned your living room, it features background blurring for video calls. Why didn’t I think of that? Team proximity detection lets you see if your team members are nearby, too.
Private Messaging
Sometimes you don’t want to share information with the whole team, and sometimes you definitely shouldn’t. It’s not about leaving people out, but protecting sensitive information, right?
Collaboration
Collaboration is at the heart of Microsoft Teams and your business. It’s one of the most important facets of completing projects on time and with the least amount of stress, making clients and employees happier.
Project Management Tool Integration
That’s right! You can integrate Trello, Smartsheet, and Microsoft Planner into Microsoft Teams, bringing your projects to the table instantaneously. No more clicking back and forth and tedious downloading and file sharing in the background. You never even have to leave Teams.
Productivity Enhancement
Microsoft Teams enhances productivity by integrating Cortana so you can use the same voice commands. In addition, mobile sharing is allowed in meetings, including live video streams, photos, or phone screen sharing instantly for all team members.
Instant IM to Video Calls
IM is handy, but sometimes you just need to have a conversation that doesn’t overlap and talk about the same thing over and over. (Plus, team members are less likely to share their thoughts on last night’s dinner or movie when they’re on a video call.) Just push that button, and you’re on.
Cost
You can’t beat the cost of Microsoft Teams; if you already have Microsoft Office 365, it’ll only cost you $5 per month. That’s right, it’s actually $3 cheaper than Skype for Business at the moment. While that may change as it becomes more popular, it’s still a great reason for small, medium, and large businesses to try it out and make the switch from Skype to Business to Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Teams is an efficient, easy to use but powerful group messaging and project collaboration tool that gives Skype for Business a run for its money. If your business is ready to make the transition to Microsoft Teams, give LAN Infotech a call or send us an IM or an email to find out how we can provide Microsoft Teams consulting in South Florida or the Fort Lauderdale area. If it makes your business run smoother, your projects more successful, and your clients happier, it’s worth a try.
LAN Infotech is a Microsoft Cloud Services Provider, IT Managed Support company and a leader in helping law firms, nonprofits and medical organizations deploy cloud solutions, manage computer networks, keep data protected and top technology management company. Businesses like yours need technology support to run highly-effective organizations.
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