Introducing Microsoft Teams for Phone Calls

We know how much you rely on technology to get your job done and we are continually exploring ways to simplify the way you work, while ensuring you have the right tools available at your fingertips. We are excited to announce that Microsoft Teams will become even better with phone calls.

We know how much you rely on technology to get your job done and we are continually exploring ways to simplify the way you work, while ensuring you have the right tools available at your fingertips. We are excited to announce that Microsoft Teams will become even better with phone calls. You may have already seen Teams pop-up on your desktop and may be wondering what it is or what to do with it. Teams is an all-in-one collaboration and communication solution, integrating chat (IM), online meetings, calling, file management and a project workspace into one interface.

Teams will truly revolutionize the way we communicate and collaborate with one another and, over time, will become our primary solution. In addition, Teams is an innovative solution that will continue to evolve and bring us the latest technology to keep our organization competitive in the modern workplace.

Why should you use Teams?  Here are just a few reasons…

• Simplified communication: Resume a conversation at any time or even send a file when someone is offline.
• Easier collaboration: Reduce the need to juggle between multiple applications with a single “hub” for your project notes, Office files, conversations and meetings.
• Communicate naturally. Customizable memes and giphys make communicating fun, plus @mention capability calls attention to a recipient.

What will happen to Skype for Business?

Right now, we are transitioning to Teams as our primary communication and collaboration solution, but for now you can continue to use Skype for Business while you get comfortable with Microsoft Teams, allowing you to get the best of both solutions. We will stop using Skype for Business on June 19th when we transition our phone system to Teams.

What happens next?

• On June 10th, the Teams application will be pushed to all employee computers. Please log in and start using it.
• On june 19th, our phone system will be unavailable from 2:30pm to 4:30pm. After 4:30pm, you will start recieving calls in Teams. Skype for Business will be disabled and you will not be able to log in.