An estimated 1.2 billion people globally use a Microsoft Office product or service. That makes Microsoft one of the most recognizable and preferred brands worldwide. Among Microsoft’s most popular products is Microsoft Teams, used in companies globally to communicate, conduct meetings and collaborate on projects. To get the most out of this platform, you need to steer clear of common mistakes made with Microsoft Teams. In this blog, we highlight five of these mistakes and discuss possible solutions.
1. Migrating Data Too Quickly
While setting up Microsoft Teams, it may be necessary to migrate some of your business data from its current location into Microsoft 365, where Teams can access it. This is a process you don’t want to rush, because you could potentially leave out important data or end up with disorganized files.
The solution is to set aside time to plan. Organize files first using SharePoint libraries, so that they can be easily retrieved in Microsoft Teams. You might also want to consider using a hybrid migration process, which staggers data transfers. This makes it easier to manage and organize files and catch issues during the first data transfer batch.
2. Not Communicating Goals
When you’re making a software transition that affects your entire organization, it’s essential that everyone is on the same page. Clearly communicate goals, intended uses, benefits and deployment plan before you start using Microsoft Teams.
Beware of disconnects. A common mistake is to establish a data migration team that may not have full involvement from key IT stakeholders. To ensure a successful deployment, you need to fully engage IT. Clarify goals and a project timeline, so that the team is on board and aligned. Always make sure that your team knows what they need to do.
3. Not Training Employees
You won’t get the full benefit from Teams if employees aren’t educated on how to use it and why they should use it. Explaining how and why the company is using Microsoft Teams and providing details on its features, functionality and shortcuts will go a long way toward achieving buy-in and making adoption a smoother process.
Generally, a good plan is to hold company-wide and smaller training sessions, so that employees can ask questions and explore the new system hands-on.
4. Failure to Understand Compliance Requirements
A change to your company’s communication and data storage processes may require a double check of compliance requirements—particularly if you are implementing third-party software and apps. Companies that follow HIPAA and other strict industry standards are used to these reviews, but they might also find Microsoft Teams compliance requirements validating.
The good news is that Microsoft Office 365 is entirely secure. You can even visit the Microsoft 365 Compliance center to review standards of all MS programs.
5. Committing Technical Mistakes
There’s definitely a learning curve to technology deployments. Here are a few details we’ve found valuable to communicate to users:
Changes are automatically saved in Microsoft Teams
Users may be used to manually saving versions of Microsoft Office files and navigating versions in their own files. But in Teams, files are shared and changes are automatically saved. To avoid losing vital information, it’s best to make a copy of a document before changing it.
Choose the correct chat
Employees will likely be involved in many team group chats throughout the day. It’s just important to double check that they are posting in the intended chat or meeting.
Invite the people you want to attend
When setting up a Microsoft Teams meeting, you need to manually add each invitee to the participant box. This is how they will receive notifications to attend.
Avoid Common Mistakes With Microsoft Teams
Investing in Microsoft products, particularly Microsoft Teams, can prove beneficial when you need a long-term remote solution. And avoiding these pitfalls can help you unlock the full potential of this platform.
Another way to get value from Microsoft Teams is by exploring Tikit! Tikit helps you operate an IT service desk within the Microsoft Teams framework. It works like this.
