easy-to-use collaboration platform for small businesses – Microsoft India
The new Microsoft application, Teams Essentials, will be available from December. You will not need only an Office suite to run it and it will be available for purchase on a Microsoft Account. The app offers the most important features of the Team at a very affordable price for small businesses employing a few people, up to 50 people. Microsoft puts an easy-to-use communication and collaboration tool in the hands of SMEs.
The name Teams Essentials is not only the name of a course, but also a new application that is independent of the Microsoft office suite, but includes the key features of the well-known Teams, at a significantly lower price than its big brother, and is independent of the Microsoft 365 package.
The new application is offered by Microsoft for some businesses with up to 25 employees, but can also be used to serve businesses with 50 employees. The app will be available worldwide from December. According to its developers, they will offer a professional communication platform for businesses much cheaper than its competitors.
Teams Essentials will be available for purchase directly through your Microsoft Account, eliminating the need for a Microsoft sales channel and support – making it easier for small businesses. Regardless, there will also be a version of Teams Essentials that major companies will find on known channels.
With the new product, Microsoft wants to put more emphasis on SMEs. “With Teams Essentials, the new tool helps businesses be more productive and collaborate at work,” said Chris Mattheisen, CEO of Microsoft Hungary. “In Hungary, these companies employ two-thirds of the workforce and produce 46 percent of the gross national product. The epidemic has hit these businesses particularly hard. Therefore, and due to their weight in the national economy, any tool that contributes to increasing their efficiency will have a major impact on the overall performance of the national economy, ”said the head of Microsoft Hungary.
Domestic proportions are in line with the European average, where SMEs also produce half of the continent’s GPD and employ two out of three workers, producing 85% of jobs and three-fifths of European added value. One-fifth of European patents also come from them.
The OECD estimates that 70 to 80 per cent of SMEs have been forced to post a 30 to 50 per cent loss of revenue in the past year due to the epidemic and supply chain damage. In order for these companies to be able to recover, they need to transform their operations and possibly switch to new products and services. Meanwhile, they also need to retain their employees or recruit new ones in a particularly volatile and precarious labor market. All of this requires businesses not only to start adopting new technologies, but also to change their work culture to be able to anticipate future changes.
The last two years have shown that those businesses are surviving the changes in the market, further digitalising their operations. Small and medium-sized enterprises have mimicked the big ones in many ways: they have transformed their work processes and business models, trained their employees, and accelerated product innovation. Today, it is no longer the ability to run hybrid work, but rather to offer the full potential of new technology – from data-driven decision-making to the use of artificial intelligence – to make their operations even more viable.
Learn more about Teams Essentials at this link available.