By: CompuSys Daytona Beach
Working together has become a little different while we are all working from home. Many of us have turned to Zoom but Microsoft offers a more secure solution that many of us already have access to. Microsoft Teams offers several features that allow many forms of communication and collaboration.
Teams offers the ability to be in many teams, which could be used for projects or departments, as well as offering many channels within a single team. Teams also offer a chat system that can be used for one on one communication or working in groups. Any files that are shared within any of these chats are uploaded to Microsoft’s One Drive so that all members of the group or team can edit that file simultaneously. Teams is also a great place to hold video conference meetings. You can invite a whole team to any meeting by adding it to a channel or send an invite to any email address. As not everyone has Teams, Microsoft offers Audio Conferencing with additional licensing. For those of us who use Teams, calendars sync between Teams and Outlook, and we can even create a Teams meeting in Outlook.
Microsoft Teams Security
One of the concerns with moving to video meetings or chat communications is security. Microsoft has you covered with Teams. All communications are encrypted in transit and at rest. Due to more relaxed data security in some areas, Microsoft keeps your data in your geographic region. This isn’t as specific as keeping data within Ormond Beach, but it will keep your information within the continental united states. Microsoft offers two-factor authentication on all Microsoft accounts. This authenticates you with your password, and then with a code that you get from email, text, or the Microsoft Authenticator mobile app for the second layer of security. Along with these features, Microsoft offers Advanced Threat Protection and Data Loss Prevention with additional licensing.
Teams is available to anyone who has any Microsoft Office subscription. There are a few features for Teams that are not available on basic, email only, 365 subscriptions. Teams Audio Conferencing is included in Office 365 Enterprise 5 licenses but can be added to any plan for 4$ per user per month. The only users who will need this license will be the ones creating Teams Meetings that attendees will be calling into.
Microsoft Teams Advanced Threat Protection
Advanced Threat Protection is included with both Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Office 365 Enterprise 5 licenses, but may be added to any other plan for 2$ per user per month. Advanced Threat Protection checks emails, links, and files for malicious content and phishing attempts. Data Loss Prevention does not appear to be available as an add on but does come with Office 365 Enterprise 3 and 5. Data Loss Prevention will scan emails, files, and chats for sensitive information, and keep that information from being shared. It can even automatically block access to sensitive information that is already being shared with users outside of your organization.
Teams can be a great solution for communication, in and out of the office. From the ease of use to a wide range of features, there are so many reasons to use it. Set up can be a breeze with CompuSys. We will set up Teams on all devices, and take care of any other Daytona tech support needs.
