Managing remote workforce using Microsoft Teams

Introduction

Today, offices are not confined within physical boundaries. The way remote work has surged and flourished recently, has solidified the fact that business outcomes are based on what people do and not where they do it.

For many organizations remote work turned out to be a boon as it gave them a great competitive edge. Popular collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams enabled them to continue their businesses while maintaining connectivity and productivity. But is it easy to manage hundreds of thousands of teams remotely using Teams? Does it promote trust and transparency between employees and employer? We will try find out the answers in this blog further.

Let’s first begin by discussing some important challenges that business leaders commonly face while transitioning to a virtual workspace and how MS Teams can help revolutionizing it –

Recognize the challenges

Considerations that may revolve around the prospect of managing the office virtually are:

• Redesign existing digital infrastructure to craft a robust virtual office and security strategies for safe collaboration
• Establishing a flexible remote work policy and a rational WFH protocol that suits everyone
• Talent acquisition to include diverse teams for eliminating limitations in talent pool
• Rethinking diversity and culture to bring more aware and open-minded employees with variable expertise
• Analysing employees’ performance and teamwork through tracking and monitoring
• Boosting employee engagement during remote work by keeping them active and satisfied
• Using innovative technology for real-time access of people and collaboration and prevent employee isolation
• Strengthening virtual workspace against cyberthreats and damaging attacks with an additional layer of security
• Business productivity

Implement right solutions

Modern collaboration demands an all-in-one solution that can link people, processes and systems together to satisfy today’s business requirements. Thankfully, Microsoft Teams, a cloud-based collaboration platform, supports remote workforce with multiple communication features such as instant messaging, audio-video calling, screen sharing, meetings and conferencing and allows real-time document collaboration and file sharing with peers and guests.

More importantly, Microsoft Teams encompasses advanced security capabilities such as encryption, identity and access control, multi-factor authentication, device management and more to ensure that your information is protected and work is organized in a highly reliable environment.

Now, let us quickly learn a few tips to kick start a proactive collaboration in an organized manner using Microsoft Teams –

• Create teams and channels for specific departments and projects to streamline conversation.
• Enlist need-to-know guidelines using ‘Wiki’ tab to familiarize your teams of work etiquette.
• Use task and project management tools such as Planner, OneNote, etc., that Teams offer to simplify teamwork.
• Convert frequently used apps into tabs so that your employees don’t switch windows and stay at the same workspace.
• Use Attendance bot to record daily check-in and check-outs for automate time tracking and generate timesheets.
• Conduct weekly meetings to keep your teams aligned to business objectives, understand barriers and prevent delays in work.
• Gain insights into workplace analytics for effective employee tracking and monitoring through Microsoft Teams.
• Use third-party apps to automate various tasks in MS Teams.

To read more about how to manage remote employees with Microsoft Teams, please click here.

Role of automation in remote work management

In an organization where teams are high in number and grow in an unprecedented way, managing and governing them becomes an arduous process. To ensure that your workforce remains efficient without compromising productivity, using a third-party software such as TeamsHub by Cyclotron can work wonders. TeamsHub by Cyclotron automates Microsoft Teams governance and simplifies administration by

• Activating self-service using approval system
• Enforcing team naming conventions for better search and organization
• Controlling guest access and file sharing
• Securing and managing externally shared files
• Efficiently managing all teams through a single interface
• Integrating bots for advanced employee enagegment
• Integrating ‘Intranet on Teams’ to enhance user focus by centralizing information
• Automating lifecycle management for teams to prevent teams sprawl
• Automating voice routing to bridge voice calling gaps
• Getting different types of real-time reports based on usage and activities to assess teams’ performance and productivity

In short, nothing beats TeamsHub by Cyclotron when it comes to managing high performing remote teams with its state-of-the art collaboration capabilities to drive an unparalleled user engagement and productivity in an advanced and secured environment.

To know more about TeamsHub by Cyclotron visit https://teamshub.io or contact sales@cyclotrongroup.com