With such a strong demand for telecommuting, we have seen an immediate rise in work-from-home technologies. As these innovative tools spread throughout the workforce, governments and organizations realize the potential in adopting these technologies. The adoption of these new tools across organizations can be difficult when proper training and processes are not in place.

Microsoft Teams is one of the leaders in the collaboration tool market today. Spiceworks, a professional IT sector network, released data showing Microsoft Teams is the second most popular business communications application with only Skype for Business, which is also owned by Microsoft, coming in at number 1. Over 500,000 organizations, which include 91 of the Fortune 100, use Microsoft Teams daily (VentureBeat).

With organizations having to adapt to a work-from-home lifestyle quickly, many pain points have arisen from the implementation and use of these tools. No matter how great the technology, mass implementation such as Microsoft Teams Video Calls can create stressful situations at work as employees learn new technologies and to change their daily habits.

1. Learning how to present one’s self via a virtual call.
2. Remembering the technical prompts before a call- unmute and turning on a camera.
3. Dealing with the connection issues associated with internet and Wi-Fi.

Recently, one of Momentum’s government clients requested support with their new implementation of Microsoft Teams asking how best to run video calls with many of their employees. Momentum resources helped the department to assist staff in setting up, running, and participating in meetings. Additionally, our staff assisted in individualized training and troubleshooting for those who needed additional help learning to use the remote meeting tool. Momentum’s client now uses Microsoft Teams to conduct most of their departmental meetings as they wait for working conditions to return to normal.

As mentioned earlier, a large portion of organizations use Microsoft for business every day. Along with standard tools such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel Teams is the latest addition of integrated Microsoft products. Since its release in 2017, Microsoft Teams has become the go-to tool for complete collaboration across chat, video conference, creation, file uploading, and more. With the ability to create teams and groups, you can efficiently work with others in your organization from anywhere in the world. One-piece that works hand in hand with Teams is Microsoft SharePoint. Momentum did a full organization migration to SharePoint about one year ago, and the relationship with Microsoft 365 flourished from that point on. The application integration and ease of program communication in Microsoft 365 is unmatched. Departments in an organization can secure, store, edit, collaborate, and perfect all aspects of business practice within the Microsoft SharePoint and Teams world. Having a secure data storage unit and a clean, organized location for creation is of the utmost importance in today’s business world. To take it one step further, keeping all documents, in all versions, safe and available to all team members remotely makes organizational goals easier to reach no matter what the future holds.

Within the past two years, Momentum implemented Microsoft Teams as a collaboration tool for both Momentum consultants and internal office staff. Momentum used their own consultants and staff members to become subject matter experts of the product, develop training materials that were customized to the role-based user team member, and rolled out in-person training to all of the Momentum organization.

Momentum staff also created governance surrounding how Teams were to be used. This includes what type of documents could be uploaded in Teams, document retention, the security of individual Channels, and how various materials could be developed collaboratively and securely by multiple Momentum in parallel.

As Momentum’s use of Teams has continued, most of the internal staff has moved to use Teams for remote meetings and those involving partnering firms. Individual departments within Momentum have developed how-to guides on processes they perform in Teams that specifically apply to their departments’ responsibilities and duties.

For example, Momentum’s recruiting department uses Teams to connect with one another about candidates they are reaching out to for positions and their current status. Momentum’s solutions department uses Teams to organize solicitation documents and develop and review proposals before they are submitted to the client. Momentum’s sales department used Teams to create and review costing for contracts as well as Team agreements and NDAs with partnering firms. Momentum’s Operations department can utilize Teams as a secure location to discuss organizational details such as employee performance, company financials, and confidential Human Resource items.  Momentum’s consultants use Teams to collaborate with remote team members as a one-stop shop for all project materials and correspondence, from formal deliverables to adhoc chats.

The adoption of sophisticated tools can be stressful for organizations of any size. At Momentum, we have the experience to help you implement and train to ensure a smooth streamline across the organization. These tools, mixed with our experience, ensures all employees will have the knowledge and confidence to use the applications to their full potential.

Citations

1. Microsoft Teams is now used by 500,000 organizations, promises 8 new features-<Emil Protalinski> https://venturebeat.com/

Rachel Snyder – Human Resource Generalist

Rachel is an experienced Human Resource Professional with a demonstrated history working in the public sector and the hospital & health care industry. She has a strong background in Human Resources with a Bachelor of Science focused in Business Administration and Human Resource Management, from California University of Pennsylvania. She is a Certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR) accredited through HRCI®. Rachel is highly motivated and brings great energy to any team she is with.