Update: July 8, 2020
This blog post was originally posted in January 2020 before the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic touched us all in March. With the need to work remotely and/or work from home, the number of businesses reaching out to KnowledgeWave for support around Microsoft Teams quadrupled.
This blog post was very relevant for several businesses reaching out for guidance around Microsoft Teams deployment and Microsoft Teams training. Many of these new businesses seeking guidance knew that Teams is included and integrated with Office 365. They were already using Office 365, but weren't using Teams. Instead, they were spending additional money trying to use Zoom.
These businesses understood they had an opportunity to reduce costs while also providing their users with a better collaborative user experience while working remotely, with the ability to access all their content currently living in the Office 365 Cloud. – This realization was a stark contrast from the way some businesses were thinking about Microsoft Teams in January.
If you’re considering replacing Zoom with Teams please continue reading, and don’t hesitate to reach out to KnowledgeWave and our Microsoft Teams Experts.
Original Post: January 27, 2020
Just recently, I happened to speak with 2 different organizations who are still using Zoom for conferencing even though they are have an Office 365 subscription. They had no idea that Microsoft Teams, which they are already paying for as part of Office 365, could meet or exceed all the features of Zoom and save them some money.
The Teams Conferencing Experience is Now Rich and Robust
A lot of people don’t realize how much the Microsoft Teams road map has accelerated in recent months, to the point where there are basically zero reasons to stick with Zoom. Microsoft has added boatloads of features and they continue to deliver enhancements at a rapid pace. The only legit reason I can think of not to switch is the change management, end user training and behavior changes required with any new software tool. However, the cost savings make it worth the hassle to switch eventually.
Some companies may have invested in meeting room hardware, which could impact their decision to just move. Microsoft is tackling this issue by updating Teams rooms so that they can join meetings on Zoom. Zoom is also working to allow their room systems to directly join Microsoft Teams meetings.
Teams offers an integrated hub for teamwork with multiple tools to get work done, including chat, meetings, file sharing and more. End users don’t have to toggle between apps or stack in third-party integrations because it’s all in one place.
Zoom does support a wide range of third-party integrations with many collaboration and productivity tools, but with Teams the integrations with other Office 365 features and applications are automatically baked in and you can still hook into most other third-party tools as well. Zoom even offers support for integration with Microsoft Teams, for organizations that want to transition slowly.
It Does All the Things You Would Expect…and Probably a Few More
With Teams you can meet instantly, or schedule in advance from the Teams application or your calendar within Outlook. Participants can join from mobile, web or desktop apps and can even switch mid-conversation.
You can record meetings and take advantage of transcription and searchability for anybody who missed it or for future reference. Large broadcast meetings are supported via “Live Events”.
Organizers can assign roles, and all sorts of content can be shared easily during meetings. By the time this article gets published, there will probably be a few new features that I haven’t even mentioned here. At this point, it’s very difficult to think of a feature offered by some other conferencing solution that wins over Microsoft Teams.
We now use Teams for all our internal and external conferencing needs and we provide coaching and Microsoft Teams training to help our clients transition to this approach, too. We also found that it made sense for us to switch to the modern Microsoft Phone system. The cost and convenience for choosing this add-on were our deciding factors, but we recognize that this isn’t the right fit for everybody.
Be the Smartest Teams Person in the Room
Why are these Office 365 organizations still using Zoom? In my experience it’s because their IT team or their MSP doesn’t know the full power of Teams and they don’t have the know-how to confidently transition to Teams for their meeting and conferencing needs.
You’ll look like the smartest person in the room when you raise the question: Why pay for Zoom when you get Teams for free with Office 365?
We can help coach your IT team so that they are fully versed in Teams and other advantages of Office 365. We are also a leading national expert providing Microsoft Teams training for end users.
About KnowledgeWave
For the past 20 years, KnowledgeWave has been helping companies deploy and adopt the latest business software. We stay up to date with the most recent software features and are constantly adding additional training to our online learning library, the KnowledgeWave Learning Site.
As a Microsoft Partner, we stay on top of all the newest features released within Microsoft Teams and Office 365. We pride ourselves on having helped hundreds of organizations throughout North America deploy business solutions for their organizations.
If you are researching, considering, or planning on deploying Teams or Office 365 within your organization, let us help guide you through the process. We offer:
Other Microsoft Teams Related Blogs:
- Microsoft Teams Training Plan & Materials
- 4 Advantages of Microsoft Teams with Office 365
- How to Rapidly Deploy and Adopt Microsoft Teams
- What You Should Know About Microsoft Teams
- An End-User Introduction to Microsoft Teams
