Microsoft Teams is an essential business tool for boosting collaboration and productivity within teams. However, to fully unlock its potential, it's important to integrate it with additional tools and add-ons that can further enhance productivity and collaboration. To help teams stay organized and on track, we have compiled a list of the six most useful Microsoft Teams integrated productivity tools. Additionally, utilizing productivity apps can be a great way to stay ahead in today's competitive business landscape.
What purpose do additional features in an platform like Teams serve?
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration platform that brings people, conversations, and content together with the tools teams need to collaborate effectively. By incorporating productivity tools, managers can easily track employee progress and monitor tasks, for example using a ticketing tool. These tools help keeping employees engaged, organized and on task, ultimately leading to improved work quality and increased productivity.
What Productivity Tools for Microsoft Teams in 2023
There are variety of productivity tools such as task management, calendar integration, file sharing, and video conferencing that can be added to Microsoft Teams. It also integrates with other Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as third-party apps. Here are the lists of top productivity tools for Microsoft Teams in 2023:
Ticketing as A Service by Teamswork
The Ticketing App for Microsoft Teams can boost productivity and efficiency in your business by streamlining the management of service desk issues and requests. Without a dedicated system, requests can easily be overlooked or misplaced, leading to poor service and wasted time. By using a ticketing app, your teams can provide exceptional service to all employees and clients. The app offers a user-friendly way for customers and support staff to submit tickets, collaborate on organization, and track progress until resolution. It provides your teams with the freedom to focus on delivering excellent service to internal users and clients.
Key Benefits of Using Ticketing as A Service
By keeping all relevant information, documents, and correspondence in one central location, the ticketing system streamlines the support process for both customers and staff. This improves organization and prioritization of support requests and reduces the risk of requests being overlooked or unresolved. Customers can choose their preferred method of communication and issues are resolved more efficiently through automation and immediate notifications. Service Level Agreements can also be implemented to set goals and expectations for both support staff and customers. The benefits of using a ticketing system extend beyond just IT teams, as any team offering internal services can benefit regardless of industry or business size. Here are some examples of how each department can use Ticketing:
HR team: submitting claims and inquiries concerning insurance benefits and leave request balances.
Marketing team: presenting proposals for new marketing tool development and design.
Legal team: presenting requests for things like contract writing and review.
IT Help Desk: reporting requests, issues, and occurrences such as software bugs, printer problems, and the purchase of new computers
KEY FEATURES:
Raise a ticket and manage it until resolved.
Attach Images, Files and Links
Send Comments
Audit Trail
Ticket is confidential to other users.
Support multi-languages (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Korean, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, Arabic, Netherland, Hindi)
Checklist as A Service by Teamswork
With Checklist for Microsoft Teams, you can effectively plan, coordinate, monitor progress, and stay on top of deadlines for your recurring tasks and to-do lists. Without the right tools, managing multiple business processes simultaneously can be overwhelming. Your team may miss critical deadlines, leading to a negative customer experience. By implementing a checklist within your organization, you can empower your teams to deliver exceptional service to all clients and give managers a real-time monitoring tool.
Key Benefits of Using Checklist as A Service
A central location for all necessary data, documents, and communications will ensure that no steps in the process are missed by your team. Automation and task decomposition allow for more efficient, accurate and faster completion of repetitive tasks, allowing your team to focus on completing the task at hand. Immediate notifications inform the appropriate parties of any comments or updates and staff members are aware of unfinished tasks. Managers can easily monitor progress and be alerted of upcoming assignments and deadlines. This makes it easy to stay informed about process performance and make improvements. Checklist apps are a versatile tool that can be used by many teams, as any team with recurring duties can benefit from them, regardless of the size of the business or industry. Here are some examples of how each department can use Checklist:
HR team: Payroll process, employee onboarding and offboarding procedures, etc.
Accounting & Tax: Month-end closure procedure, tax, and regulatory reporting, etc.
Operations: checking the inventory and the quality check list.
Facility management: Health and safety protocols, inspections, etc.
KEY FEATURES
Create Checklist with Tasks
Manage Tasks until it resolved.
Attach Images & Files and Send Comments
Use Template for recurring Checklist.
Automatic Checklist creation (Scheduler)
Automatic Alert for coming due date.
Multi-Channels
Dashboard and XL / CSV Export
Microsoft Teams Approval
Microsoft Teams Approval is a feature that allows users to request and approve actions within a team. This can include things like creating a new channel, scheduling a meeting, or approving a document. The approval process is managed by designated team members who have been given the necessary permissions to approve or reject requests. Users can submit their requests through the Teams interface and track the status of their request in real-time. This feature helps to streamline collaboration and decision-making within teams, ensuring that all actions are approved and tracked in a centralized location.
Key Benefits of Using Approval
Using the Approval feature in Microsoft Teams has several key benefits. Firstly, it allows for a more efficient and streamlined process for requesting and approving actions within a team. Instead of having to go through multiple channels or people to get approval, users can submit their requests directly through Teams and track the status of their request in real-time. This helps to save time and increase productivity. Here are some examples of how each department can use Approval:
HR: employee requests such as time-off, expenses, and benefits.
Accounting: financial transactions and invoices, reducing the risk of errors and fraud.
Operations: manufacturing and logistics processes, such as purchase orders and shipments.
Faculty: student registration, grades, and research proposals.
KEY FEATURES
Request Submission: Users can submit their requests directly through the Teams interface, making it easy to request approvals for various actions such as creating a new channel, scheduling a meeting, or approving a document.
Approval Tracking: The Approval feature allows users to track the status of their requests in real-time.
Designated Approvers: The Approval feature allows team members to be designated as approvers, giving them the necessary permissions to approve or reject requests.
Notifications: The Approval feature sends notifications to users when their request has been approved or rejected.
Audit Log: The Approval feature keeps an audit log of all requests and approvals, which can be accessed by team members with the appropriate permissions.
Microsoft Teams Shift
Microsoft Teams Shift is a feature that allows users to schedule and manage shifts for their team members within the Teams platform. It helps team managers to schedule shifts, assign tasks, and manage time off requests. The Shift feature enables managers to assign different roles and responsibilities to each team member, and also to track the attendance of the team members.
Key Benefits of Using Shift
Using Microsoft Teams Shift has several key benefits that can improve the overall efficiency and productivity of a team. Firstly, it allows managers to easily schedule shifts and assign tasks, eliminating the need for manual scheduling and reducing the risk of errors. This helps to ensure that all shifts are covered and that team members are aware of their responsibilities.
Additionally, the Shift feature helps managers to keep track of time off requests, such as vacation, sick days, and personal days, which helps to ensure that all shifts are covered and that there are no scheduling conflicts. This helps to improve communication and collaboration within the team. Here are some examples of how each department can use Shift:
HR: scheduling and shift management, assign and track employee schedules.
Accounting: accurate record of employee schedules, payroll and budgeting.
Operations: teams, leading to increased productivity and better decision making.
Facility: facilities and equipment, leading to more efficient use of resources and cost savings.
KEY FEATURES
Shift scheduling: The Shift feature allows managers to create and schedule different shift patterns, assign team members to specific shifts, and make changes to the schedule as needed.
Task assignment: The Shift feature enables managers to assign different roles and responsibilities to each team member, ensuring that all tasks are covered and that team members are aware of their specific responsibilities.
Time off management: The Shift feature allows managers to track and approve time off requests, such as vacation, sick days, and personal days.
Attendance tracking: The Shift feature allows managers to track the attendance of team members.
Integration with Microsoft Teams: The Shift feature is fully integrated into the Teams platform, which makes it easy for managers to access and manage team schedules from a single location, and to communicate with their team members.
Microsoft Teams Planner
Microsoft Teams Planner is a feature that allows users to create and manage tasks and projects within the Teams platform. It helps users to organize, prioritize, and assign tasks to team members, as well as to track the progress of those tasks. The Planner feature provides a centralized location for users to view and manage tasks, which helps to improve collaboration and communication within teams.
Key Benefits of Using Planner
Using Microsoft Teams Planner has several key benefits that can improve the overall efficiency and productivity of a team. Firstly, it allows users to create and manage tasks and projects in a centralized location, making it easy to organize, prioritize, and assign tasks to team members. This helps to ensure that all tasks are completed on time and that team members are aware of their responsibilities. Here are some examples of how each department can use Planner:
HR: task assignment and project management, track employee progress and performance.
Accounting: task assignments and project progress, budgeting and forecasting.
Operations: communication and collaboration among teams, increased productivity and better decision making.
Facility: facilities and equipment, more efficient use of resources and cost savings.
KEY FEATURES
Task creation and management: The Planner feature allows users to create new tasks, assign them to team members, set due dates and priorities, and track progress.
Collaboration and communication: The Planner features provide a centralized location for users to view and manage tasks, add notes, attachments, and comments to tasks, and track progress, which helps to improve collaboration and communication within teams.
Task assignment: The Planner feature allows users to assign tasks to specific team members.
Progress tracking: The Planner feature allows users to track the progress of tasks, making it easy to see what has been done and what still needs to be done.
Integration with Microsoft Teams: The Planner feature is fully integrated into the Teams platform, making it easy for users to access and manage tasks and projects from a single location and communicate with the team members.
Microsoft Teams Power Automate
Microsoft Teams Power Automate is a feature that allows users to automate repetitive tasks and workflows within the Teams platform. It is a powerful tool that helps users to streamline their workflows and increase productivity. Power Automate allows users to create custom workflows, called "flows," that automate tasks such as data entry, notifications, and approvals.
Key Benefits of Using Power Automate
Using Microsoft Teams Power Automate has several key benefits that can improve the overall efficiency and productivity of a team. Firstly, it allows users to automate repetitive tasks and workflows, which can save time and reduce the risk of errors. This can significantly improve the overall productivity of the team. Here are some examples of how each department can use Power Automate:
HR: data entry and scheduling, staff resources and improved employee satisfaction.
Accounting invoicing and expense tracking, budgeting, and forecasting.
Operations: integrating different apps and services, leading to increased productivity and better decision making.
Facility: reservations and maintenance, leading to more efficient use of resources and cost savings.
KEY FEATURES
Task automation: Automate repetitive tasks and workflows, which can save time and reduce the risk of errors.
Customizable workflows: Users can create custom workflows, called "flows," that can be tailored to specific tasks and needs, helping to streamline workflows and ensure that all tasks are completed in a timely and efficient manner.
Event-based triggers: Users can set up flows to trigger automatically based on specific conditions or events, helping to ensure that all tasks are completed in a timely and efficient manner.
Integration with other apps and services: Integrate with various other apps and services, such as SharePoint, OneDrive, and Dynamics 365, which allows users to automate tasks and workflows across different platforms and tools.
Reports and analytics: Power Automate provides reports and analytics that allow users to monitor and evaluate the performance of their automations and identify areas for improvement.
Conclusion
Microsoft Teams offers a variety of productivity tools that can help teams to streamline their workflows, increase efficiency, and improve communication and collaboration. These tools include Approval, Shift, Planner, and Power Automate. All these tools are integrated with the Teams platform, which makes it easy for teams to access and manage them from a single location. In 2023, these tools will be more advanced and sophisticated, with new features that will help teams to increase their productivity and effectiveness.
Comments