Technology giant Microsoft announced the availability of Microsoft Teams, the US-based company’s new chat-based workspace in Office 365.
The software company has launched the new tool for team collaboration to Office 365 business customers in 181 markets and 19 languages.
Microsoft announced the preview in November. During the preview, more than 50,000 organizations including Alaska Airlines, Cerner Corporation, ConocoPhillips, Deloitte, Expedia, J.B. Hunt, J. Walter Thompson, Hendrick Motorsports, Sage, Trek Bicycle and Three UK have started using Microsoft Teams.
“Office 365 is the broadest platform and universal toolkit for creation, collaboration and communication. Today we are adding a new tool to Office 365 with Microsoft Teams, a chat-based workspace designed to empower the art of teams,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.
Microsoft Office 365 has integrated applications: Outlook for enterprise-grade email; SharePoint for intelligent content management; Yammer for networking across the organization; Skype for Business as the backbone for enterprise voice and video; and now, Microsoft Teams.
Trek Bicycle is already using Microsoft Teams for streamlining the company’s work by providing assets and tasks in context. For Trek’s global teams, the integrated collection of Office 365 apps serves up a common toolset to collaboratively drive the business forward.
“We see Microsoft Teams as the project hub of Office 365 where everybody knows where to find the latest documents, notes and tasks, all in line with team conversations for complete context,” said Laurie Koch, vice president of global customer service at Trek Bicycle.
Microsoft has introduced more than 100 features to Teams since November. Features include an enhanced meeting experience, with scheduling capabilities; email integration; and new security and compliance capabilities. Microsoft Teams has mobile audio calling feature, with video calling on Android, while support for iOS and Windows Phone will be added soon.
Microsoft Teams also comes with new features such as support for screen readers, and high contrast and keyboard-only navigation. Microsoft will add new features such as guest access capabilities and better integration with Outlook, and a richer developer platform in June this year.
