Microsoft Teams might be the Office 365 hot topic of the moment.

“Oh no! It’s replacing Skype for Business”

“Isn’t it just like Yammer?”

“We’re only a small company – it’s not for us.”

“Another new thing to learn!”

But What Exactly Is Microsoft Teams?

It’s a learning experience for us when Microsoft release something new and at times it can be confusing so we can relate to how it is for you too.

As a quick introduction to Microsoft Teams – it is the part of Office 365 that combines workplace chat, meetings, notes, and attachments.

It’s fairly new, it’s maybe not a solution that everyone needs and there are always considerations to take into account before adopting new applications.

Rather than simply listing something like ‘8 Microsoft Teams Tips & Tricks’ or sharing an Infographic showing all the features all at once (everything always sounds great in theory, right) let’s talk about how these features and tips & tricks will work for you in your job role.

Let’s start with the Finance Team.

During my time spent in different companies I’ve managed to get a small insight into the Finance departments and one of the main things I’ve picked up on is that ‘month end’ can be a very busy and sometimes stressful time. This is no doubt down to many reasons but I often hear things like:

“what do you mean this hasn’t been submitted yet!”

“do they STILL not know how to do that?”

“I’m still waiting for this and I need it NOW!”

“that’s NOT the process anymore”

“oh yeah, John did that report but he’s off today so can it wait until he’s back”

I’m sure you can imagine the screams of horror that might follow the last quote!

Finance tasks can be extremely complex and may need input from people all across the organisation.

Processes change.

People ask questions.

There’s a lot to take on board and it is a collaborative effort.

Whether it’s Excel spreadsheets, Word reports, PowerPoint presentations or simple questions from other team members – it’s always been a collaborative effort. But whether it’s been a ‘slick’ collaborative effort – I can only speculate.

What if the Finance team were to try this…