Since the pandemic began, Microsoft Teams has been instrumental in enabling organisations to work remotely and continue business as usual activity without being together in the office.
Teams is a secure, powerful and intuitive platform that provides users with a centralised hub to collaborate and communicate, and has seen record deployment numbers over the last twelve months.. It integrates seamlessly with the whole Microsoft stack, and can integrate with other third-party applications to maximise its power and potential.
Many of the applications, dashboards and tools you already use and are familiar with can be added right into Teams to enhance its functionality, and so can a host of third-party apps which are available in the Microsoft app store.
Most of us work with different teams and people at different times, and each interaction will need different information to be available, and possibly different tools. Integrating apps with Teams gives you just that. Apps can be added as tabs to any Teams conversation, so everyone has the information they need at their fingertips. For example, if a team is working together on a PowerPoint presentation, the app can be added as a tab simply by selecting ‘add a tab’ in a channel or chat. And this isn’t limited to Microsoft-only apps; professionally developed apps in the Microsoft store can be added too. Or perhaps you manage projects with a management tool like Asana or Monday; these can be integrated with Teams so you can easily see the status of a project without leaving the platform. The possibilities are almost endless; in fact, there are more than 700 applications in the Microsoft app store that can be used everyday in the Teams workplace. Integrating your chosen apps lets you essentially 'live' in Teams, with all your conversations, files and data in a single dashboard.
Find out how businesses have adapted to remote working and the changes to the way we work in the last 12 months, in our exclusive research report.
To make sharing information within messages easier, some apps have been developed to allow you to insert content and information from within the app, directly into Teams messages, even when it isn't in text format. To do this, it’s as easy as selecting the ellipsis beneath the message box, and selecting the app. This gives greater visibility and easier access to the info you need, without having to switch between applications. And while Teams lets you connect with colleagues and work together, you can also integrate and use custom apps, bots, and automated workflows to automate certain processes and perform repetitive tasks for you. You can quickly and easily start interacting with these bots by @mentioning them in chats, channels and search.
For any app that you integrate, you can turn on notifications so that the whole team is notified of useful updates. Within the relevant channel you can click options, connectors and then select the app you want to configure notification settings for. And for easy access to any application, just right click and pin the app so you can access it in an instant.
It’s important that integration with other apps doesn’t compromise the security of your Teams environment. If you integrate an app that uses an identity provider different to Azure Active Directory, you’ll need to do an exercise in identity mapping or federate with Azure Ad.
Wherever you are on your Teams journey, Core can help you maximise productivity and your investment. Find out more about our Microsoft solution workshops here or contact us to book your remote session.
