Item: Microsoft Teams
Rating: 4
Author: Robin Larrabee

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have tried to use it primarily for video conferencing, meetings and as an overall communication tool. Approximately 40% of our staff works remotely, and others travel a lot as part of the job. Sometimes we have small conferences or connections of 2 people, and we also use it for our town halls and kick offs which are over 200 people across the country, but not internationally.

Pros and Cons

Teams works very well with the rest of the Microsoft suite
Real time collaboration and document editing
Less expensive than Zoom

The overall meeting experience is not good
Limited channels
Tough to keep up with naming conventions
No picture enhancement

Return on Investment

We don't use it nearly as often as we use Zoom
I don't have any hard numbers (sorry!)

Alternatives Considered

Zoom and Slack

I prefer using Slack for text and quick video/audio calls. It is easy and has features like GIFs and other integrations built in. It's a nice one button way to communicate. We use Zoom for our more structured meetings and I use Zoom for my training sessions because I can plug in polls, schedule them easily and get the info I need.

Key Insights

Do you think Microsoft Teams delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Microsoft Teams's feature set?

Did Microsoft Teams live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Microsoft Teams go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Microsoft Teams again?

Other Software Used

Slack, Articulate 360, Microsoft SharePoint

Likelihood to Recommend

For basic communication, Teams is fine. It integrates well with Microsoft 365, making collaboration pretty easy. I can easily ping a teammate and hop on a call, but there are so many other tools that do that, that it doesn't make Teams stand out. It has some "fun" components, like the "audience" backgrounds, although that's not anything we use. We use Zoom because it works much more seamlessly and is easier to navigate than Teams.

Microsoft Teams and no Team Spirit

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Teams