Imagine a world where work is organized. In this world, there are no version control issues. Files are easy to find. Your employees know when all their meetings are and get on video calls without having to switch programs. Communications are sorted by department or client, so it’s simple to alert a specific team about an issue or ask a question when you’re not sure who has the answer. Your employees waste less time fighting with your organization’s tech stack and more time communicating, solving problems, and getting work done.

It’s not a fantasy. It’s a well-managed Microsoft Teams tenant. And we can get you there.

The power of Microsoft Teams

Depending on your experiences with Teams so far, you might think of it as a video conferencing platform, an organization-wide chat application, or ‘that annoying software my employees are always complaining about’. Indeed, it is all of those things (though it doesn’t have to be the last one), and more. Teams lets you:

• Video conference with anyone inside or outside your company. You don’t need to pay for WebEx or Zoom – anyone you invite can join a meeting.
• Communicate through chats and department- or client-specific Teams. Teams’ persistent chat lets users review conversations any time. Its search functions are advanced enough to quickly find half-remembered chats and lost files.
• Access Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Planner, Power BI and more all from one central hub. Your employees have the Microsoft Office 365 suite at their fingertips in the Teams app.
• Store and use files in your SharePoint intranet. With the Teams SharePoint integration, staying organized while collaborating on complex projects involving many files is easier than ever.
• Work in Dropbox, Google Docs/Sheets, Adobe and other applications without leaving Teams. Teams users can use integrations to connect to external apps. Then they can collaborate on files from those apps, even if they don’t have the programs on their computer.
• Maintain transparency, but keep your information safe. Teams’ security settings let you give users total access to everything they need and bar them from everything else. Plus, grant conditional access to bring clients or contractors into a gated area of your Teams tenant.

Because Teams can do so much, it has the power to transform the way your employees work. But its power also gives it the potential to become a snarled mess even your smartest staffer can’t untangle. With some expert guidance, it’s possible to get Teams right.

How we do Microsoft Teams consulting

Every company is unique. That means the perfect Teams architecture for each company is unique, too. Teams out of the box won’t do – and if you let your employees organically build an architecture over time, you’ll wind up with 500 teams named “Aisha and Brad”, “Aisha, Brad, and Chang”, “Chang and Damian”, et cetera.

Microsoft just builds the Teams product. It doesn’t build Teams architecture – the configuration of teams, channels, roles and settings that give your Teams tenant its structure. Wellington Street Consulting can set your Teams tenant up with an architecture that matches your company’s existing structure and needs. And if you’re already deep in a hellish Teams labyrinth of your own creation, WSC can trim the hedges into something more comprehensible and closer to the way you want your employees to work.

We’ll set Teams up to meet your security, accessibility, compliance and logistical needs. Crucially, we can build or update your Teams architecture without disrupting your day-to-day operations.

The right Teams architecture changes the way your employees work for the better. We can’t make your accountant stop being flaky, but we can show him how to set up automated reminders. We can’t make your salesperson use Teams, but we can demystify it for her so she’s not scared to try.