Time to turbocharge your Microsoft Teams productivity?
For many companies today, Teams is more than just a collaboration app; it’s a dynamic work hub capable of synchronizing employees, improving interactions, and streamlining tasks. Of course, like any platform or app, you can’t just download Teams and expect an instant productivity boost.
To get the most out of this platform, you need to know which features you should use in your day-to-day workflows. As Microsoft continues to invest in making its platform more powerful, intuitive, and impressive, businesses (like us) are discovering new ways to use the Teams toolkit.
Today, we’re sharing our insights into the top Microsoft Teams productivity features you should be using in 2024.
How to Measure Microsoft Teams Productivity
Before we dive into our list of the top Microsoft Teams productivity features, it might be worth benchmarking where your business currently stands. One option is to check out the “Productivity Score” dashboard in the Microsoft 365 admin center to get a basic view of how people use Microsoft Teams in your business.
However, we’d recommend using the full Microsoft Teams admin center for more granular insights. Within the admin center, you can access various reports measuring everything from active users on Teams to Teams live event usage.
If you’re running events and webinars, you can gather advanced insights into user engagement by visiting your Teams admin center and leveraging the “Engagement” report options. Currently, this is only available for Teams Premium license owners.
Alternatively, you could always consider sourcing feedback straight from your staff. Surveys and polls can be a great way to gain insights into how your teams are actually using the Teams platform.
The Top 17 Features for Microsoft Teams Productivity
Virtually every feature on Microsoft Teams can have a positive impact on productivity. Tools like Microsoft Lists are great for keeping track of to-do lists and organizing workers. Even simple solutions like “group tagging” on channels can help keep everyone on the same page.
Still, we think some features impact our productivity more than others. Here are our top picks for the best Microsoft Teams productivity features this year.
1. Microsoft Teams Copilot
Now generally available as part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription ($30 per month), Copilot for Teams is an incredible tool for productivity. Compatible with Microsoft Teams Phone and Chat, Copilot can summarize your channel messages and meetings, highlight action items and topics, and provide real-time insights on calls.
During meetings, Copilot can transcribe conversations and capture information automatically. Plus, it can help you craft clearer messages when talking to your colleagues. You can ask Copilot to suggest a response to a message, then modify and adjust it according to your needs.
Plus, Copilot can rapidly highlight critical information from channel posts, such as discussion points and chat lists, and help you catch up on anything you’ve missed in a meeting. You can ask it to recap the meeting so far, suggest follow-up questions, and generate meeting notes.
Copilot in Teams Phone uses generative AI to capture task owners, key points, and next steps and can even provide tips and suggestions on what to say next. Moreover, the new Copilot Studio allows business leaders to create and customize their own Copilot apps for Teams users.
2. The Microsoft Teams Meet App
Conducting meetings on Microsoft Teams is nothing new. However, Microsoft’s research suggests most of us aren’t using our meeting calendars as efficiently as we should. If you’re looking to boost Microsoft Teams productivity, the new “Meet” service could be worthwhile.
This is a new area in Teams where users can manage their meetings, plan and prepare for upcoming conversations, and catch up on missed discussions. There’s an “Up Next” section where you can see your impending meetings and their details.
You can even prepare for these meetings by reviewing and sharing relevant materials beforehand attaching content from SharePoint, Word, and more. Meet also helps users manage and view the meetings they’ve organized. You can send reminder messages, reschedule conversations, and review past meetings with recordings and transcripts.
There’s even an option to send a “running late” message to people in your meetings so they know if you’re not going to arrive on time.
3. Microsoft Teams Productivity Integrations
Many of the best Microsoft Teams productivity features are native to the platform. However, we recommend taking advantage of some of the productivity apps available to integrate with the Teams hub. Already, Teams integrates natively with the whole Microsoft 365 experience.
This means employees can access Outlook, SharePoint Online, Calendar tools, and Office apps, all while using the Teams platform. However, you can take your productivity to the next level by pulling the apps you use daily into your Teams space.
You’ll find apps for tools like Workday, Trello, ClickUp, and Mural, all on the Microsoft AppSource marketplace. Connecting these tools with Teams means you and your employees can spend less time jumping between tabs and screens. If you need inspiration, check out our list of the top Microsoft Teams productivity apps here.
4. Automation with Power Automate
We all know how valuable automation can be when boosting workplace performance. If you want to unlock the power of automation for Microsoft Teams productivity, the best option is to take advantage of Microsoft’s Power Automate tools.
In Teams, you can use Power Automate to trigger flows from Teams messages. Whenever someone selects a Teams message, they can initiate a range of actions. You can also use flows with adaptive cards and create flows within the Power Apps app in Teams.
Users can create flows that automate specific alerts, notifications, and more. They can trigger scheduled flows with bots and even streamline approval processes.
Microsoft even offers templates to get users started. For instance, there are templates for creating a task in Planner from Microsoft Forms and then posting a message about the job straight to Teams.
5. Customizable Teams Channels
Channels are one of the core features of Teams, and they’re fantastic for boosting employee productivity. They not only unify your employees, but they also make it easy to track relevant content. Any files you share in a channel are stored in the Files tab and SharePoint.
Plus, channels are highly customizable. You can open them to all team members, selected team members, or even people outside your organization with shared channels. Plus, users can add unique functionality and apps to channels with Tabs.
Tabs are Teams-aware web pages that bring various forms of content into the Teams environment. You can create a tab where you can take notes and track information or design configurable tabs where people can communicate and collaborate in real time. You can even create tabs for tools like Microsoft Dynamics 365 to support customer service teams with personal information.
6. Viva on Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Viva, the employee engagement platform from Microsoft, integrates directly with Teams. It offers a range of features that can help boost Microsoft Teams’ productivity. For instance, Viva Engage brings people together to create more active communities. Viva Topics uses AI to organize content and provide valuable resources to employees automatically.
One of Viva’s best Microsoft Teams productivity features is “Viva Insights.” This tool uses AI and data to deliver powerful insights and recommendations to employees. It can help streamline workflows and eliminate workplace roadblocks.
Another great solution is Viva Goals. This solution helps business leaders align teams and employees around the same targets and priorities. Viva is also an open and extensible platform, so you can leverage integrations to help enhance the flow of work for everyone in Teams.
We recommend using Microsoft Viva Pulse to monitor productivity and engagement levels in your workplace.
7. Calling Features for Microsoft Teams Productivity
Thanks to Teams Phone, Microsoft Teams isn’t just a place for messaging and video meetings. It’s also somewhere you can have in-depth business phone conversations. Microsoft has consistently improved the calling experience over the last couple of years with new features.
For instance, call delegates can now switch between tabs and see call records instantly. Companies can also program Microsoft Teams Phone certified devices to dial a specific phone number or contact directly, with “hotline” features. These are great for saving employees time on dialing.
You can even set up protected voicemail notifications, and store your voicemails and other phone data within your SharePoint ecosystem, connected to Teams.
8. Personalized Microsoft Notifications
Customizable notifications are another central feature of Teams that’s great for boosting Microsoft Teams’ productivity. Microsoft automatically sends users messages about the activity in their Teams channels. However, users can choose exactly which messages and notifications they want to receive and how they want to see them.
You can configure activity feed, menu, desktop notifications, and email alerts to ensure you’re only getting the information that’s relevant to you. This is crucial if you find that often, an overwhelming number of notifications distract you from your work.
All users need to do to customize their notifications is visit the “Settings and More” sections on Teams and click “Notifications.”
9. Microsoft Loop in Teams
Technically, Microsoft Loop is a separate solution to Teams. However, it’s designed to work alongside the collaboration app and other Microsoft 365 tools. With Loop, companies can enhance Microsoft Teams productivity with components embedded directly into Teams chat.
These “components” include information that syncs across the Microsoft landscape in real-time. When you send a Loop component in Teams, everyone in your chat can edit it and see changes instantly. This makes it easy to keep employees on the same page when planning projects.
You can even create Loop task lists in Microsoft Planner, which you can share with your colleagues on Teams. Plus, with Copilot coming to Loop, you’ll have a dedicated, intelligent assistant to help you make the most of your collaborative work hub.
10. Microsoft Teams Bots
Like apps on Microsoft Teams, bots are handy tools that help streamline the workflow flow. These simple AI-powered solutions have a conversational interface, making them easy to use. Employees and business leaders can create bots on Microsoft Teams for various purposes.
For instance, bots can scan through FAQs and knowledgebase articles to help users surface information quickly. There are even templates from Microsoft for creating bots that remind users about their daily tasks and deadlines.
Bots can even complete specific tasks on behalf of users. For instance, they can arrange meetings with other employees, provide insights into travel information, and more. You can add your own chatbot to Teams and customize it however you choose.
11. Meeting Whiteboards
Productivity and creativity often go hand in hand. Sometimes, employees need visual context and guidance to enhance their workflow. Fortunately, that’s where Microsoft Teams whiteboards come in. This handy tool lets participants sketch and share ideas on an infinite screen.
You can drag and drop images and video files directly into a whiteboard and even share loop components within whiteboard on Teams. You can even use your Copilot assistant on whiteboards to help organize and refine messaging.
One of the best things about Microsoft Teams Whiteboards is that they come with various templates and tools to get you started. You can access a complete catalog of productivity-boosting templates for brainstorming, affinity diagrams, and more.
12. Live Translation and Transcripts
Sometimes, improving Microsoft Teams’ productivity is as simple as making it easier for colleagues and contacts to understand each other. In 2022, Microsoft introduced live translation for captions in Teams, allowing users to instantly see captions in the language they’re most comfortable with.
This feature is even more impressive in Teams Premium, allowing you to create entire meeting transcripts in more than 30 languages. This feature, powered by Microsoft’s Speech Translation technology, isn’t just great for productivity.
It’s also an excellent way to ensure everyone in your workplace can access the same information, regardless of their preferred language or hearing issues.
13. The People App
In the latest (upgraded) version of Microsoft Teams, the “People” app makes tracking all your contacts and finding the people you need to speak to easier. This can be an excellent way to boost productivity by reducing the time you spend searching for contacts.
With the People app, you can sync all your Outlook contacts across your Microsoft 365 devices and apps and then manage them however you like. With shared channels, you can connect with people outside your organization through the “People” app.
Microsoft allows users to set up contact cards for all people in their directory, complete with information about their contact details, their department, and more. You can edit your contacts and add them to your speed dial or “favorites” list.
14. Microsoft Teams Productivity Compact Mode
This is one of the simpler features available to boost Microsoft Teams productivity, but it’s also one of our favorites. With “compact” mode, your message previews are hidden from your chat list so you can see more of your conversations simultaneously.
Consecutive messages from the same person are separated by line breaks, making scanning through everything at once easy. To access “compact” mode, go to the “General” tab in your Teams settings and select “Compact.”
Once you’ve updated your view, you can still access all of the features you’d expect from Teams chat. You can open chats in new windows, mark them as important or urgent, or pin them to the top of your screen. There’s even the option to translate a message rapidly.
15. Breakout Rooms
Breakout rooms are one of our favorite tools for boosting the productivity of Teams meetings. They move people into separate environments where they can discuss specific topics. You can create breakout rooms in various ways before and during a meeting.
Microsoft allows you to define who should be present in each breakout room and how long they should stay in that room before moving back into the central meeting.
In 2023, Microsoft introduced a “participant shuffle” option or breakout rooms. This means you can randomly move participants between breakout rooms whenever you like. This could be a great option to prompt more people to connect and share ideas.
16. Calendars in Microsoft Teams
Another simple but effective tool for Microsoft Teams productivity, the calendar in Microsoft Teams makes it easier to organize your day. The calendar shows you your work week, upcoming meetings, and other data by default. However, you can choose from different views.
You might look at your day in depth, or choose the “Agenda” mode for a scrollable list of all your upcoming meetings in chronological order. Within your calendar, you can also quickly reschedule events and change your workflows.
Users can drag and drop meetings into new calendars, checking participant availability before they make any changes. Plus, you can set aside “focus time” slots when you don’t want to be disturbed with any meetings or calls.
17. Immersive Spaces
One of the most interesting new features introduced at Microsoft’s Ignite event in 2023 was Immersive Spaces, a new way for teams to collaborate in the metaverse. These three-dimensional environments allow team members to share information or represent themselves through avatars.
There are various virtual environments to choose from, and users can move around these spaces naturally, using either computer keyboards or VR headsets. Immersive Spaces even include “spatial audio zones” to ensure that various staff members can collaborate in the same space without disrupting each other.
Plus, Immersive Spaces has many other great features powered by Microsoft Mesh, from customizable 3D avatars to live reactions and even adjustable seating arrangements. These spaces could be ideal for productive brainstorming and development sessions.
Other Ways to Boost Microsoft Teams Productivity
All the Microsoft Teams productivity features mentioned above are sure to have an impact on your workforce. We use all of these features ourselves to ensure we’re getting the most out of the Teams ecosystem. However, there are a couple of other ways you can turbocharge Teams.
Microsoft Teams Premium
The first option is to upgrade to Microsoft Teams Premium. This is an advanced add-on option for Teams users, which comes with a host of productivity-boosting features, such as:
- Intelligent recap: Instantly review meetings and conversations with an AI-powered recap that highlights and organizes the sections of your meetings for you. You can see personalized timeline markers for crucial conversation points and track trending topics.
- PowerPoint Live Chapters: Chapters help you Find what you’re looking for in a PowerPoint Live meeting recording. These AI-powered chapters split the presentation into relevant sections so you can sort through content faster.
- Meeting templates: Save time on meeting creation with templates specifically designed for different scenarios. Click the arrow next to the “New Meeting” button in Teams to see a range of templates and create your own custom options.
You can even use Teams Premium to create advanced virtual appointments for meetings. This makes it easier to organize conversations with external contacts and customers.
Microsoft Teams 2.0 (New Microsoft Teams)
Switching to the new Teams version is another way to potentially upgrade Microsoft Teams productivity. This upgraded app is designed to be faster, more efficient, and more user-friendly than the previous version of Teams, and it’s available to access now.
The new Teams is built on a cross-platform, open-source programming framework and offers a more lightweight, robust experience. It also includes significant improvements to the Teams UI, allowing users to customize their experience.
Although Teams 2.0 lacks some of the features available on “classic Teams” for now, it will likely become the new go-to option for most Teams users. If you haven’t tried them already, it’s worth experimenting with the latest features and interface.
Improving Microsoft Teams Productivity
Upgrading Microsoft Teams’ productivity is easier than you’d think. The platform is brimming with tools, features, integrations, and connections that can empower and delight you and your teams. Above, we’ve covered just some of the great features we use for productivity.
However, Microsoft continues investing in the Teams platform, introducing new Copilot capabilities, advanced immersion tools, and more. We’re sure we’ll find many other features that boost our performance in the months and years ahead.
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