Of all the available Cloud based collaboration and communication tools, Microsoft Teams in Office 365 is the best for all businesses using a remote or hybrid office strategy.

When Microsoft Teams is the go-to hybrid and remote office communications tool, team members don’t have to feel as though they are far apart.

Since the programme is designed to be really easy to use, and comes complete with an intuitive interface, users can enjoy instant messaging, video calls, and they can also set up virtual meetings, making those all-important face to face catch ups a whole lot easier to handle.

Aside from the tool’s ability to host meetings and to keep the team in touch with one another, Microsoft Teams is also easily integrated with the other Office apps.

Microsoft Teams works seamlessly with Word, Excel and SharePoint, just to name a few of the popular apps, and it allows for uncomplicated file access and file sharing, which goes a long way towards improving company productivity.

And since Microsoft Teams can be accessed from a desktop, laptop, or a mobile device, it is perfect for employees on the go.

The Perfect Internal Communications Tool

One of the most neglected aspects of business is internal communications.

And yet this is one of the most important parts of a business, because it is what ensures that everyone knows what is going on.

While some companies might rely on old school email correspondence to keep staff in the loop, such technology doesn’t always work as well as it should. Instead, it can end up clogging up inboxes, causing staff to miss the messages, and there is also no logical sequence to the replies, as colleagues will answer at different times.

Teams, on the other hand, ensures that everybody gets the message at the same time and that they also all see the replies at the same time. This way, no one is left out of the conversation.

The Best Practices for Effective Collaboration in Microsoft Teams

Although Microsoft Teams is a fairly uncomplicated, straight forward programme (especially for those already familiar with Office 365), there are some best practices that you can follow to make the most of your Teams experience.

Channel Setup

The success of your Teams collaboration and communication essentially starts with how you get setup and how your channels are structured. For example, you should organise staff channels according to the projects they are involved with, the departments they work in and you should create channels on various topics. This way, team members will get the information they need and they can save time by only reading what they need to know.

Notifications and Status

Microsoft Teams allows users to customise notifications and to set their status. Setting up custom alerts according to importance ensures that the team can prioritise and organise their day. They can also set their status to Available, Busy, or Do Not Disturb.

Participation and Engagement

The only way collaboration can work properly is if those using the Teams platform are engaged. The best way to do this is to encourage the team members to not be shy about contributing their ideas, and giving feedback. They can also be encouraged to use the Teams mentions to get the attention of specific members.

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Make remote working a breeze when you partner up with a leading IT company who can handle your remote IT needs. At 24/7 IT Services we offer our clients a wide range of services, including Managed IT Support and IT Security Solutions, and we are experts in all things Microsoft 365.

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In the past, most security threats were completely focused on office spaces, but now with so many people working from home, and often working on unsecured IP addresses, security issues are being increasingly reported among staff who work away from the office.

Cybersecurity is a serious risk that many businesses, especially smaller businesses, don’t give enough thought to.

In fact, according to research done by BullGuard, a popular antivirus programme company, up to 60% of small businesses don’t even think that they could be a target. But when you look at the global cyber-attack stats, small businesses are 3 times more likely to be a victim to cyber-attacks, with phishing attacks being the most common threats to small companies.

Year on year, cyber-attack crimes are increasing and as such, if you are running a small business, and especially if you have a hybrid workforce, you need to invest some time, effort and money into your cyber security set up.

Current Cybersecurity Threats

The threats to online business security are developing at a rapid rate, so fast that many anti-virus companies often have a tough time keeping up.

Threats like AI being used to create hacking software that will allow even the most novice of hacker to attack company data, Cloud vulnerability affecting the safety of data being stored on online servers, and increasingly sophisticated ransomware, are all things that you should keep in mind when planning or updating your cybersecurity setup.

Internal risks are also a big issue to take into consideration, with human error alone being responsible for some 34% of cyber-attacks, according to Verizon.

3 Easy Ways to Improve your Small Business Cybersecurity 

Breaches in online security can be absolutely devastating. Since most businesses store data of some kind or another online, a breach can end up costing a small fortune.

All of the trouble and stress that you will end up going through when your business has been breached can really be for nothing, if you just invested more in your cybersecurity.

To help you improve your current setup, here’s what you can do.

• Reach out to IT companies

When small companies are uninformed and unconcerned, they tend to not look into their cybersecurity options. And yet if they just reached out to a reputable IT company, they could get all of the information they could possibly need as well as a list of suitable cybersecurity products that will keep them protected from even the worst of threats. If you have nothing to protect you, contacting an IT company should be your first step.

• Know what you are up against

There is a wide variety of cybersecurity issues that you should make yourself aware of, but the most concerning issue for small businesses is phishing. This tactic is used to trick companies into giving away vital information, such as login details. As a small business owner you not only need to know the signs of the various popular cyber-attacks, but you should also invest in a programme that can stop them in their tracks.  

• Train your Employees and do Threat Audits

Having your employees know the signs of cyber-attacks and by running threat audits every month or so, is a great way to bring everyone, even your work from home staff, on board with your mission to protect your company’s data. You should also review passwords regularly, so that your employees are consistently reminded that they should be updating their passwords to make them as strong as possible.

All of your shared business accounts should also feature a multifactor authentication, especially if you have some out of office employees.

* Need to improve your cybersecurity? Or are you looking to have someone go over your current security setup? At 24/7 IT Services, we can help you make your business more secure. Contact us today for more information, and be sure to have a look at our other services which include Business Continuity, Managed IT Services and VoIP Solutions.

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