5 advantages of Microsoft Teams over its competitors

The technology we work with on a daily basis matters, a great deal.

Not having solutions that cover (at the very least) 99.99% of our needs has a direct impact on team efficiency and productivity.

If we apply this same mindset when choosing a collaboration tool, it quickly becomes clear that unified communications as a service (UCaaS) platforms are light-years ahead of more limited applications that only allow you to either chat or make video calls.

In the UCaaS market, Microsoft positions its Teams application as a reliable, connected and robust solution. While its business telephony offering is not the most competitive on the market, the multinational works with a wide network of partners around the world, such as Enreach.

For professionals considering this platform as a potential option, we have identified five key advantages where Teams stands out compared to other well-known solutions such as Zoom or Cisco.

KEY ADVANTAGES OF MICROSOFT TEAMS FOR BUSINESSES

1. UCaaS DNA

Microsoft Teams was created to be a unified communications platform, not a video conferencing tool. While this may seem trivial at first glance, it has a direct impact on the user experience (UX) and on the type of features that are added to the platform over time.

While Microsoft has a highly advanced and experienced development team that continuously improves the UX, much of the rest of the market takes inspiration from its capabilities.

2. INTEGRATION WITH MICROSOFT 365

One of its most distinctive advantages is its native integration with Microsoft 365: Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

The entire Microsoft ecosystem lives within the application. This means we can open, edit and share an Excel spreadsheet without opening the application itself, or receive, accept or decline Outlook meeting invitations without opening our inbox.

3. INTEGRATED BUSINESS TELEPHONY

As mentioned in the introduction, Microsoft is not a specialist provider of cloud telephony. However, it works with several certified providers that make it very easy to integrate a company’s existing telephony into Teams.

This means that when an external contact calls the business, the call can ring on the receptionist’s computer instead of a desk phone. Using your company telephony in Teams is part of a single tool to communicate with colleagues and external contacts across all channels.

4. A BETTER OMNICHANNEL EXPERIENCE

Another strong point of Teams is its omnichannel approach. Within any conversation (one-to-one or group), you can make a call or start a meeting with a single click, add participants, share your screen and exchange documents, folders and external links.

With many other solutions, switching between channels tends to be more cumbersome. The chat is not always easily accessible during a call, or video meetings open in separate tabs.

5. STRONGER SECURITY AND COMPLIANCE

Finally, the application inherits all the security, compliance and management capabilities of the Microsoft ecosystem, which greatly simplifies processes when it comes to audits.

For example, if we need to access all conversations, calls and shared files across the entire company from the last six months, this information can be retrieved in a centralised way.

Or if we need to delete information after a certain number of years, we can apply this policy across the entire Microsoft environment without having to define retention periods service by service.

FINAL CONCLUSIONS

If your company works with Microsoft 365, Teams is the most suitable solution to benefit from a native integration of all applications.

If, on the other hand, you use Google and/or iOS tools, you may want to consider more cost-effective alternatives such as our Enreach Contact, which also includes chat, video calls, telephony and a virtual PBX.

Our workspace allows you to make calls, chat and hold video meetings with both internal and external contacts. Its mobile-first design is optimised for mobile devices, while also offering a web interface for desktop use.

In terms of device management, Enreach Contact is available on:

• PC
• Mobile devices (native integration)
• IP phones

In addition, as AI experts, we integrate a personal assistant that takes messages, summarises calls, in-person meetings and voicemail messages.

When it comes to integrations, we connect with over 100 CRMs, including HubSpot, Salesforce and Zoho CRM, as well as Microsoft Teams.

As a telecommunications operator, our UCaaS solution is telephony-focused, which is why we offer a wider range of advanced telephony features, such as our call queue management panel.

TRANSFORM THE WAY YOUR TEAMS COMMUNICATE

If you are looking for a new collaboration tool, explore our virtual PBX integration within Teams, discover the benefits of Enreach Contact, and call 900 670 750 to receive personalised advice from one of our experts.