Microsoft Teams Managed Services
Microsoft’s virtual shared workspace combines chat, video meetings, file sharing, and full Microsoft 365 integration.
What is Microsoft Teams?
Teams is a virtual shared workspace where colleagues can communicate and collaborate remotely on a single platform. It combines chat, calls, videoconferencing, and encrypted file sharing, meaning people can work together in real time on shared documents regardless of their location.
Teams is included with Microsoft 365 subscriptions and is fully integrated into the Microsoft Office application ecosystem. This means Teams users can open email from Outlook or Exchange, or documents from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint without leaving the platform, greatly improving efficiency and productivity on mobile devices.
IT Authorities is a Microsoft Gold Partner and an expert in Microsoft 365 deployments. We’ve worked with Teams since its launch in 2017 and deliver a fully configured and managed Teams environment that will boost your organization’s productivity and efficiency.
Key benefits of Microsoft Teams
No additional investment required
Teams is included with Microsoft 365 enterprise and small business plans. There is no need to purchase products such as Slack or Zoom, or manage the stress and security challenges that come with multiple vendors.
Microsoft 365 and Office integration
Teams can leverage over 180 applications in the Microsoft ecosystem including Outlook and Exchange email, the Office suite, and the file management and sharing capabilities of SharePoint. This brings unmatched efficiency and productivity for organizations wanting to maximize their Microsoft 365 investment.
Enterprise-grade security and compliance
Because Teams is integrated into the Microsoft cloud ecosystem, you can easily manage security for all of your remote users and their devices. Teams simplifies two-factor authentication and single sign-on, all data is encrypted by SharePoint, and Defender for Endpoint provides Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). Teams delivers a complete cloud security solution.
Constant improvement
Microsoft has made Teams a key component of their Microsoft 365 roadmap and are constantly improving and expanding its functionality.
What will a migration to Teams look like with IT Authorities?
- End-to-end Teams deployment and migration including implementation requirements, planning, permissions, provisioning, testing, installation, setup, and administration.
- Integration with SharePoint, Exchange Online, OneDrive, OneNote, and Skype for Business.
- Configurations, customizations and extensibility options in Teams specific to the needs of your organization, as well as configuration and control of third-party apps.
- Solutions for document synchronization, backup and restore procedures.
- Training, documentation, and knowledge transfer for your key stakeholders and all Teams end users.
Our other Microsoft services
Azure
Microsoft’s public cloud platform offers computing, storage, networking, development, and analytics.
SharePoint
Microsoft’s website-based cloud file management platform provides secure storage and access, and facilitates remote collaboration.
Teams
Microsoft's powerful communication and collaboration tool combines chat, video meetings, file sharing, and Microsoft 365 integration.
Microsoft Endpoint Manager
Microsoft’s mobile device management tool sets access permissions for laptops, tablets, and smartphones, and integrates with other Microsoft 365 applications like Teams.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
This security platform uses advanced threat intelligence and behavioral sensors to prevent, detect, and respond to attacks on enterprise networks.
Additional Resources
FAQs
- Pricing – Teams is free; Slack charges per user per month.
- One hub for everything – Teams integrates with 180+ applications and tools in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, meaning no need to switch applications to view mail or work on documents.
- Message history – Microsoft offers unlimited storage versus Slack’s limited approach.
- Audio/video calls – With Teams, the call limit is 250 users in a single call versus Slack’s 14.
- Screen sharing – Provided in all Microsoft Teams plans; unavailable in Slack’s free version.
- File storage limits – In Microsoft Teams, the storage limit of a file is about 2 GB per user and 10 GB of the shared storage versus 5 GB on Slack’s free version. And in paid plans, Teams’ capacity is 1 TB per organization, whereas Slack ranges from 5 GB to 1 TB depending on your plan.
For Microsoft 365 users, Skype for Business is being replaced by Teams. Most Skype for Business functionality has been added to Teams, and since 2020 all new Microsoft 365 users have been onboarded directly to Teams. Organizations currently using Skype for Business are recommended to migrate to Teams.
Yes. We take SLAs very seriously and measure every aspect of your IT needs. What’s more, we are completely transparent with our metrics, which means you’ll have access to them at any time.
Microsoft provides a 99.9% SLA for the availability of your cloud network, applications, and data. Compared to an on-premises solution, you would need redundant servers on-site and off-site to achieve that level of availability. Microsoft’s infrastructure is world-class in terms of both stability and security, ensuring your users have consistent access to their email and other services.
Yes. Starting our partnership off right is critical, and to ensure a proper onboarding there is a fee associated. The fee is equal to one month of service and covers the development of knowledge base articles and process documents.
No. Doing business with a partner should be easy and built on trust. Our monthly service agreements are just that — monthly, with no long-term commitments. There are no contracts or cancellation fees.
Absolutely! A Customer Success Executive will be assigned to you as your single point of contact. For technical support, you will have our entire team working to address any issue that comes up.
The onboarding process typically takes two weeks. You are assigned a Project Manager and Customer Success Executive to ensure a smooth and collaborative transition.
We consider this to be fundamental. Our Microsoft Gold Partner certified engineers work closely with Microsoft and you to ensure your technology is up to date and aligned to your business objectives.