Teamwork Triumphs: Major Updates to Microsoft Teams

From the the combined crime-solving prowess of Holmes and Watson in Conan Doyle’s classic stories to France’s victory at this summer’s World Cup, we’ve seen teamwork triumphs again and again. Teams owe their success to collaboration, inclusion, and efficiency—a powerful triad that Microsoft captures in its popular Teams platform.

Since its March 2017 release, Teams has empowered coworkers and other collaborators to share ideas via virtual chat and video conference. The technology giant took its recent Inspire event as an opportunity to announce some major improvements to Microsoft Teams. Here’s what you can look forward to.

Feature parity with Skype for Business

They say that you should only be in competition with yourself—a concept that Microsoft has clearly taken to heart. When the company introduced Skype for Business in 2014, users loved how the technology opened various lines of communication and enabled file sharing, all within a secure environment. But Microsoft has outdone itself with its updates to the Teams platform—quite literally.

In his Inspire 2018 keynote address, Corporate Vice President of Office 365 Marketing, Ron Markezich, announced that Microsoft Teams has achieved complete “feature parity” with Skype for Business. Though a new version of Skype for Business is slated for the second half of 2018 and older versions will still be supported, the software will gradually be replaced by the comparable Microsoft Teams. As the platform continues to improve, users will be able to perform multiple tasks and delegate others with unmatched ease and efficiency.

New tools for teachers

The team leaders of tomorrow are the students of today. Fresh off the heels of its one year anniversary, the Microsoft Teams for Education offshoot is now capable of A+ work.

The benefits of the latest version of Microsoft Teams for Education go beyond help with group projects (although it’s a definite pro). Microsoft Teams for Education now offers teachers the option of “rubric grading.” Rubric grading allows for more instantaneous and transparent assessment of coursework, affording educators more time to review assignments and granting the younger generations the real-time feedback they’ve grown accustomed to in other aspects of their increasingly automated lives.

Collaborate and thrive

Recent updates to Microsoft Teams promise to revolutionize the way we interact with others and accomplish common goals in the classroom, the boardroom, and anywhere there’s an internet connection.

While we’re on the topic of teamwork, did you know that eMazzanti is a Microsoft Gold Partner? Let’s team up to help you enjoy all that Microsoft Teams has to offer. To find out more, get in touch today.