Over the past 5 years , the workplace has changed dramatically . For the first time in history , we have 5 generations working in the workforce . Not only have organizations , and as a result the workforce , become more global and more networked . The new digital habits that come with both digital transformation as well as the new generations are now considered a natural part of teamwork . This makes that today ’ s teams within the organizations are driven by passion and purpose , with people preferring to work in a more open and transparent environment , both in person and online . And finally , anytime , anywhere has become the new normal . Today , you can ’ t imagine not being able to work from home or take a quick conference call in a coffee shop before stepping into a customer meeting next door .

With Microsoft Teams , launched worldwide in March 2017 , we provided a digital version of an open working environment to support this new way of working . Just one year later , Teams has evolved to become the ultimate hub for teamwork and has grown significantly both in new capabilities and customer usage . Today , more than 200,000 organizations in 181 markets are using Teams .

Teams delivers chat-based collaboration , meetings , calling , and by July 2018 , full enterprise voice features . All this is underpinned by the Microsoft Graph , allowing for rich AI capabilities , providing us with an enormous amount of intelligence that brings efficiency towards the way we collaborate . As part of Office 365 , Teams uniquely delivers these capabilities at scale , with enterprise-grade security and compliance standards to meet the needs of every business .

Imagine you have planned a call to discuss a project with a group of people . What if before the call , you can have all the information you need about those people at your fingertips . Have you worked with them before , on what projects , what are their strengths , and do they work with people that you should really invite to the call as well ? The whole team also has immediate access to all the information of the project in one spot so that everybody can prepare for the call more efficiently .

During the call , technology can then take down all the barriers across for example different languages , transcripts the call , records actions and assigns them to the right people . You create and collaborate on the Office files , check out the sales status in the latest PowerBI dashboard or review the product launch plan without having to leave Teams …. And after the call , technology posts the recording and enables you to read through the transcript or skip towards the section that is of interest to you , sends out action points and notes ….

That ’ s the tip of the iceberg of what we call Intelligent communications . It will change the way teams work together , and empower them to achieve more … And the best thing is ; it ’ s not a future vision or technology . It ’ s here and ready to use .

General Motors is one of the 200,000 organisations that have chosen Office 365 to empower employees with creative communication and collaboration services that spark innovation . Fred Killeen , CTO at GM says the following about Microsoft Teams , the hub for teamwork in Office 365 :

“ Our mission to transform transportation relies on strong teamwork across every aspect of our business . Microsoft Teams enables our employees to connect across geographical and organizational boundaries through a single place to access all the conversations , files , and content . Teams ’ integration with the rest of Office 365 and third-party applications and services makes it easier for our employees to find relevant information and do their best work on their own and as a part of a team .”

Read more about Productivity

Register for an on-demand webinar