Tag: Microsoft Teams
Does your intranet solution feel outdated?
Enter a new age of integration with Microsoft Teams and SharePoint
2020 has been more than challenging for most businesses, and as a second national lockdown gets underway we certainly have more obstacles to overcome. According to Finder.com 60% of UK workers are now working from home, meaning that businesses have had to rapidly change their systems and processes to accommodate this new normal.
A common theme that has arisen is the need for fluid integration. Companies are leaning towards intuitive solutions that can cope with flexibility and work seamlessly with existing solutions. For this reason, SharePoint and Teams (working in unison) have provided companies with an affordable, powerful intranet replacement.
But can the pair really replace your historic intranet? We’ve collected some of our commonly asked questions to help you decide.
Should I use Microsoft Teams or SharePoint?
The answer here is simple, if you are using Teams you are already using SharePoint you just may not realise it. Microsoft Teams is built into Office 365. Each Team you create is classed as a ‘Group’. Groups can have collaboration tools including shared calendars, documents and mailboxes. When a Group is created, a SharePoint team site is automatically created. This use of SharePoint is limiting, SharePoint is an incredibly powerful tool which can be developed into much more.
A good way to understand the division between Teams and SharePoint is that Teams facilitates cooperation on a personal level and SharePoint facilitates cooperation on an organisational level.
Will SharePoint be able to match the functionality of my current intranet?
With over 100 million users worldwide SharePoint is certainly one of the most popular intranets and although popularity doesn’t always translate to the right option for your organisation it does highlight how universally loved the solution is. One of the benefits of SharePoint is that it gives your business a huge variety of options. Yes, you can use SharePoint out of the box, but it can be developed, and with Microsoft Power Automate (formally Microsoft Flow) automated workflows can effortlessly boost productivity within your organisation.
Furthermore, due to SharePoint’s adoption growth over the past 12 months, you can be assured that continuous work will be done by both Microsoft and third parties to develop and support the application.
Can SharePoint and Teams help improve communication?
Communication is certainly more seamless with SharePoint and Teams. The applications working together can engage users across the whole organisation, make it easier to collaborate on projects and documents, store information and run meetings.
SharePoint contains a company-wide calendar to help organise events, key dates and holidays as well as team news channels that your employees can opt-in to follow. These few things are but the tip of the iceberg in relation to functionality. No solution can promise improved communication but it is clear that SharePoint and Teams make the process easier than it has been before.
Free Consultation
Monpellier are a trusted Microsoft partner specialising in providing an end-to-end solution and support. If you would like more information regarding Microsoft Teams or SharePoint give our team a call on 0191 500 8150 or email info@monpellier.co.uk.
5 top tips to keep employee engagement high
How to keep your team together while working remotely
Managing remote employees can be difficult, but with the addition of a global pandemic, this task has become a lot harder. Although many organisations have been geared up for remote working for a while, many businesses have been thrown into the transition leaving teams disjointed in these uncertain times.
Understandably having the right IT solution is essential to remote-working but having those tools is just the beginning. A large proportion of the population is now in lock-down within their homes with their family’s meaning that distractions are abnormally high. If you also consider that many have heightened emotions due to health and economic concerns, as an employer it’s now more important than ever to take a moment to be mindful and factor these aspects into expected productivity levels.
To help employers through this difficult time we have pulled together our top 5 tips for keeping engagement high amongst home-workers during the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Online meetings – Keep weekly meetings going and keep teams together by using video conferencing tools (such as Microsoft Teams). Studies have shown that seeing each other (even virtually) has a positive effect on our mental health, helping us to feel connected whilst we work apart. Even a 10 minute morning check-in is enough to add a touch of normality to proceedings and will encourage team members to get ready for the day and mentally switch to ‘work’ mode.
- Collaborate – Ensure your team has access to everything they need by using a shared cloud application such as Microsoft SharePoint. SharePoint gives you the ability to create team sites for each of your ongoing projects allowing remote team members to share files, data, news and resources.
- Kitchen moments – The kitchen is the social hub of any office where employees catch -up and grow closer and share their lives. As we all work remotely this vital part of the day is missing. Be sure to encourage ‘light’ chat using tools such as Microsoft Teams, you could even introduce lunchtime quizzes or other fun activities to keep spirits high and team members connected.
- Reflection – A positive aspect of this current situation is that we have time to reflect on existing processes, systems and business procedures. Encourage your team to take time to think big picture and envisage an ‘ideal’ solution to areas that need improvement.
- Office budget – To boost productivity your team needs the right tools and supplies. From sending out office stationery packs to investing in cloud applications or even splashing out on new monitors there are plenty of ways you can help improve home-working for your team.
While we navigate through these testing times technology can help with engagement, collaboration, productivity and most importantly keeping us connected.
If you would like more information on remote working or solutions that could help your business during this time please get in contact with our experts on 0191 500 8150 or drop us an email at info@monpellier.co.uk.
