Microsoft Teams collaboration is changing organisations from the inside out
The old way of working is never coming back. Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, most organisations had office-first workplaces that made accommodations for those who couldn’t physically be in the office. The pandemic forced most companies to transition to remote, virtual-first settings, but even after the virus has passed, many organisations will probably operate hybrid workplace environments.
SWOOP Analytics conducted a comprehensive assessment of almost 100,000 teams across 33 organisations over a three-month period to learn how teams are using Microsoft Teams in 2021. The results provide incredible insight into how the pandemic has changed work and, more importantly, offer a series of lessons and guidelines for how companies can get the most from Teams.
Take a look at some of the key insights from our 2021 Microsoft Teams Benchmarking Report below, and download the full report.
Visit our website to get the full Microsoft Teams Benchmarking Report.
How teams are using Teams
At the start of the pandemic, video-chatting became most people’s main form of socialisation, entertainment and interaction. Work was particularly affected, as employees had to learn to interact with colleagues, managers and clients through strictly digital means. Microsoft Teams quickly became the most comprehensive digital workplace platform on the market.
What most teams using Teams haven’t realised, however, is there is a world of digital teaming functions beyond standard telephony that not only facilitate work but actually help them become more productive and efficient.
While virtually every company uses online telephony functions, our data found that while 3% of teams have fully embraced all the digital teaming capabilities of Teams, 97% have the potential to optimise the way they use Microsoft Teams for better collaboration and communication.
What the best teams are doing
Although organisational hierarchies have remained mostly intact, teams have developed into their own centres of activity, with less of a need for oversight and direction from managers. We found there was a 20% increase in “self-directed” teams in 2021, as team members focused more on internal interaction and operational outcomes.
In addition to greater self-direction, the teams that use Teams most effectively tend to share a number of other qualities: They have a more clearly defined sense of purpose, which helps to channel and direct their energies; they’re more operationally focused, so producing matters more than anything else; they approach their work with high intensity; and they typically operate in smaller teams, usually no more than 10 people.
Okay, so why is it difficult to make the switch?
Among the 97% of teams that didn’t report high levels of interaction on Teams, a surprising 74% had no activity at all. Why has it been so hard for so many teams to get the most out of digital teaming functions? The short answer is time. It takes a huge amount of time, energy and resources to make the transition, and many organisations simply don’t have the data or expertise on hand to do it themselves.
But digital teaming might now be essential to staying competitive. Among teams that delivered the most outsized value for their organisations, we found their level of productivity was not only boosted by Teams, but would have been impossible without it.
It’s clear now that success in the post-pandemic world depends on optimising your online communications channels to boost productivity and increase your bottom line.
At SWOOP, we believe in the power of collaboration to improve work. We can work with your team to provide insightful analytics into how to take your digital communications to the next level. Download our Microsoft Teams Benchmarking Report, and get in touch with us today for a free trial of SWOOP!