Microsoft Teams is the “hub for teamwork in Office 365” that integrates instant chats, meetings, file storage and apps into a single workspace. Teams is the fastest growing application in Microsoft’s history and as COVID-19 continues to bring the need for remote working to the mainstream, millions more are signing up.

If Microsoft Teams is growing that quickly on a global level, it is quite likely growing within your organisation and whether you are ready or not, your digital transformation has accelerated.  If you have been tasked with implementing Microsoft Teams within your organisation, you will need to navigate some key considerations:

Ask Yourself:

“Which users or business departments within the organisation are the most appropriate for Teams?”
“Which of these should be prioritised as part of the rolled-out?”

It is important to understand what usage scenarios should be included and prioritised in the scope of your implementation. The figure below highlights the different use cases for every scenario:

To confirm the selection of these scenarios, you should meet with a wide variety of internal stakeholders to understand what strategic initiatives should be prioritised during the roll-out. As with so many things in the IT world, it is better to get things going with an early adopter to create enthusiasm and credibility with this new way of working.

Ask Yourself:

“How can your organization manage access and ownership?”
“Who should be able to create new Teams?”
“What content in which Teams will be saved, archived or deleted, and after how long?”
“How do I protect my content so that it is secure?”

When it comes to placing governance around Microsoft Teams, you need to find an appropriate balance between usability and security. This balance varies significantly from organisation to organisation but should allow users the freedom to get their work done, while also placing limits to create a controlled environment. Three primary aspects of Governance to focus on initially may be:

Ask Yourself:

“How do you want your employees to engage with the day-to-day activities in Teams e.g. chats, meetings, conversations”
“Who is responsible form managing Teams as a service?”
“Who takes ownership of understanding new changes rolled-out by Microsoft and communicating them to end users?”

If governance is the rule book for Microsoft Teams, operations is the playbook. It is important to develop an appropriate operating model for your organisation that includes a set of “rules” or “guidelines” as to how Microsoft Teams should be best used. Like many other cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, Microsoft Teams will continuously update, and this will impact your user’s experience.

As part of this operating model, you should investigate and consider:

Ask Yourself:

“How do I secure the Teams environment and ensure appropriate controls are in place?”
“Should users be given access from personal devices or mobile applications?”

A key component of your Governance considerations will be your data security considerations. And although Microsoft Teams has quickly become one of the most secure ways for workers to collaborate, security and compliance is still critical. Careful planning is needed to ensure Microsoft Teams is deployed in a way that meets organizational, industry and regional security & compliance requirements.

Some of the key features to consider include:

Ask Yourself:

“How will your business units and departments train new users?”
“How can users continue to realise the benefits of Teams?”
“How can I measure the success of Teams as a business productivity tool?”

The key to successfully transitioning to Microsoft Teams is developing a strategy for how training and change management will be implemented and sustained. This should not be an afterthought as user adoption is key to the success or failure of your Teams Strategy.

There are three aspects to your training plan that need to be considered:

There are a number of training methods that can be used from Microsoft Training online, to in-house bootcamps and drop-in clinics. A consolidated internal communications plan should also be put in place to drive awareness. Developing a user-centric approach to training and comms is necessary to help workers navigate through the change journey mitigate user resistance.

Navigating these considerations can be challenging on your own, especially if you’re not a Microsoft Teams expert. Central Solutions is one of the leading Certified Microsoft Partners in Ireland serving a wide variety of public and private sector clients.