Your Computer DepartmentCurrently, if you purchase your Microsoft 365 through us (or another service provider) then you’re likely to be on what Microsoft call a CSP contract. At the end of June 2022, Microsoft are ceasing this contract and introducing a new contract that they call NCE.
The number one question we’ve been asked over the past 14 days is “Can you help us work from home?”. This has kept us extremely busy, as you might imagine.
The second most popular question has been “Can you please do something about the speed of our remote connection?”. The answer is yes. The solution can come in many forms – and can be a mixture of all of them.
Microsoft Teams offers you a simple, yet feature-packed, video conferencing system. Not only can you talk to your colleagues with full video and audio, you can blur your background, make written notes, demonstrate your ideas with a team whiteboard and share your desktop screen to show your work in progress.
Check your broadband.
One useful tool is a broadband speed test. You can do this yourself for your home broadband with tools such as https://speedtest.net which will give you a good indication of the performance you can expect. Here’s some tips:
If your home broadband is good enough then talk to your colleagues. If everyone else is also experiencing slow connections to the office, then it is worth considering upgrading your business’s broadband speed if at all possible. Most of the time, this can be done by simply paying more money to your service provider. However, it’s also worth checking whether your internet service provider intends to send a new router in order to achieve this – if so, it might be worth reconsidering your options as simply plugging it in straight in may not work and you may need on-site support which could be tricky in the current climate. Please talk to us before placing an order that would result in you needing to take any action other than paying more money.
Change the way you work.
Another way to take a load off your office broadband is to reduce the number of people that need to connect by making most, or even all, of your data cloud-based. This means that your files and documents are stored securely on the internet instead of on the office network. Your team then securely accesses the files directly from their own internet connection instead of clogging up your office’s internet connection.
There are many cloud-based file storage solutions but the most popular and up-to-date is Microsoft Teams. Not only does this provide a fantastic file storage facility, but it also unlocks many other valuable systems to make it exceptionally easy to collaborate with your colleagues, customers and suppliers.
Audio and video calling similar to Skype comes bundled in Microsoft Teams with the ability to schedule video meetings with many people at once, access to a meeting whiteboard, attach files, make meeting notes and even continue a text-based conversation thread after the meeting. There are many other features that give the ‘Wow-Factor’ and are guaranteed to impress even your most stubborn colleagues!
Talk to us TODAY about managed Microsoft Teams implementations and how we can guide you and your staff to a more modern, cloud-based, business model – freed from the ties of your office network.
Just give us a call on 0115 8240825 for more information.
Coronavirus is set to make physical meetings very difficult in 2020. Guidance from the UK government, large organisations and the government intends to slow the spread of the virus by reducing unnecesary social and business contact. This poses a sudden new challenge to businesses since traditional methods of holding meetings to discuss every day processes may become difficult – or even illegal. Business owners are being urged to plan alternative ways of working to enable them to continue to operate as normally as possible during the next few months.
Microsoft Teams offers you a simple, yet feature-packed, video conferencing system. Not only can you talk to your colleagues with full video and audio, you can blur your background, make written notes, demonstrate your ideas with a team whiteboard and share your desktop screen to show your work in progress.
Not only is Microsoft Teams a formidable video-conferencing tool, it is also the hub of your file sharing activity, too. On-site files servers are now being replaced by Microsoft’s latest cloud technology. It is possible to run a secure network sharing files and securing access to your company’s computers – purely with Office 365.
You may also be surprised to learn that the cost of Microsoft Teams is included in the mailbox subscription that you are already paying. That’s right – you already have the ability to use these features. They just need to be structured correctly for your business.
At Your Computer Department, we are experienced Microsoft Teams migrators. We will structure your Teams, migrate your data, tweak your PCs and then show you how to use it effortlessly. We do all of this for you using our ‘magic’ remote-access technology, too. This means that we can migrate any business, anywhere, without sales or technical visits. Maybe you’re already in self-isolation or perhaps you’re just wanting to do your bit to slow the spread of COVID-19. Whatever your circumstances, give us a call and let us help you and your staff to work more effectively than ever with Microsoft Teams.
Contact us TODAY for more information about how Microsoft Teams can make life easier for your business.