Microsoft Collaboration Tools: How to Empower Remote Teams

A symphony sounds better when an orchestra plays it. 

Is it the same when you whistle it alone? Probably not. Your lone whistle isn’t as gentle or lyrical as the orchestra. Watch an orchestra playing. You’ll see how performers exchange visual cues, coordinate piece entrances, and follow a conductor’s beat. That’s the real deal; that’s collaboration. 

Today’s business world sees collaboration not as a buzzword but as a crucial piece of business strategy. This mindset shift has blown up creative innovation at every turn. 

But how do high-performing teams fill information gaps and collaborate in remote settings? They turn to powerful tools like Microsoft 365 to create and manage projects, communicate, and collaborate.

Microsoft collaboration tools bring together geographically dispersed teams to connect and work toward shared goals. Far-flung employees use these tools to boost productivity without being present in the same physical space.

Office 365 collaboration tools build healthy workplace relationships among employees so they can share information efficiently and achieve business goals. Like orchestra instruments unify different pitches, these tools keep your team in harmony.

Importance of collaboration tools for remote teams

Remote work is not just working in PJs or replying to emails from vacation rentals. Remote environments offer greater flexibility and require you to reimagine workflows, rethink meetings, and reevaluate how you achieve business goals.

The right collaboration software goes a long way. Here's how efficient remote collaboration software products make all the difference.

Facilitates clear communication

Time zone and language barriers don’t stand a chance when organizations use remote communication tools. You may not have a co-worker stopping by your cubicle, but you can still chat with them online. 

If they’re in the middle of something as you send texts, they’ll respond once they’re free to look at your messages. Such flexibility leaves you plenty of room for deep work as well. 

If you think remote team collaboration has no room for real-time conversations, you’d be wrong. 

Imagine there’s an urgent project that requires all team members to connect and interact immediately. The team can use the following synchronous communication tools to exchange information and have real-time discussions.

• Phone calls
• Text messages
• Video conferencing software
• Business instant messaging software

If your team prefers to work async, that’s great too. Many remote collaboration software suites offer asynchronous communication tools to help you share information without the expectation of instant replies.

• Feedback applications
• Knowledge base software
• Project management software
• Screen and video capture software

Intermittent communication is the best option for remote teams who want to sustain energy, stay productive, and swap ideas effectively.

However, remote collaborators must be mindful of their messaging tone, manner, and frequency. Be careful of using slang and shorthand variants, as those may not deliver the intended message with clarity.

Ensures transparent collaboration

Everyone wants a healthy, happy, and enjoyable work environment. It’s difficult to make those things happen without transparency. 

Organizations use remote collaboration applications to share information freely and create openness at every level. This transparent culture breeds long-term success, improves employee morale, reduces stress, and adds to productivity. 

So, how can you keep collaborations transparent? Use collaboration and productivity software to capture meeting details, project updates, and company-wide initiatives. 

The idea here is clear: remote employees should be able to access a searchable record to understand what’s going on across teams. 

They don’t necessarily have to be in a meeting to know the decisions. This mindset promotes inclusion among employees and helps them collaborate successfully. 

You can also use collaboration tools’ inbuilt analytics capability to track project status, prioritize deadlines, and analyze the working capacity of different teams. 

Drives creativity and innovation

Remember your orchestra? We didn’t forget it and neither should you. 

If the orchestra performs in a virtual event, should they follow the same rules as in-person events? If they reject better practices by clinging to usual performance rules, they’ll fail to innovate and eventually become victims of judgment errors or cognitive biases. 

That’s why it’s best not to blindly follow the same rules as physical offices at remote workplaces.

Speedy innovation comes from strategically adapting to new circumstances. There isn’t a fit-for-all innovation formula, but organizations should be open to:

• Promoting innovation culture by letting everyone experiment fearlessly and not using return on investment (ROI) to measure efforts all the time
• Focusing on ideas from all levels by keeping them anonymous and spearheading discussions on ways to perform tasks better
• Breaking information silos by encouraging teams to share work-in-progress updates and be open to feedback
• Modernizing the collaboration tech stack to discover good ideas effortlessly and execute them efficiently

Improves team efficiency and productivity

Employees visiting offices regularly can get a meeting room and run impromptu brainstorming sessions. You may not be able to do the same in a remote setting. Just because you have to schedule these sessions beforehand doesn't doom you to productivity or efficiency loss.

Remote team productivity depends on how well you can eliminate redundancies and improve engagement. Here are a few ways to break silos and boost team efficiency in a remote environment:

• Use workflow management software to create custom workflows
• Leverage cloud content collaboration software to share information faster
• Create specific messaging channels to share information resources on time
• Equip your team with dedicated communication channels for customers
• Limit time-intensive meetings and email usage when you can

Develops a healthier workforce

A value-based remote working culture improves employees’ well-being, too. Supervisors minimize stress levels and boost health conditions when there's greater trust between them and their employees. This healthy workforce uses the right collaboration tools to stay focused and productive, and deliver results on time.

Types of Microsoft collaboration tools

Collaboration requires constant communication between team members, regardless of their location. Office 365 collaboration tools help teams:

• Work toward a shared vision
• Discuss innovative ideas together
• Understand individual responsibilities
• Weigh in on project changes and decisions

“Tools like Microsoft 365 focus on hybrid team scenarios and offer multiple collaboration features rather than just serving as single-point solutions.”

Brianna Bajwa
Senior Research Analyst at G2

Project management

Microsoft Project & Portfolio Management helps you plan, manage, and deliver projects effortlessly. Use this tool to track the bits and pieces of big projects with multiple collaborators. This software features:

• Tools and approaches to allow teams to work flexibly
• Centralized views to visualize interactive project roadmaps
• Interactive dashboards that use Microsoft Power Business Intelligence (BI) to visualize insights
• Scheduling features to simplify project planning and streamline training
• Custom templates that eliminate the need to create project plans from scratch

Video conferencing

Microsoft Teams enables your remote team to meet online, improve teamwork, and build better relationships. Companies use Microsoft Teams to meet via virtual rooms and engage in face-to-face conversations with colleagues. This software features:

• Chat so employees can engage during online meetings
• Recordings that let teams save sessions for future reference
• Live captions that add clarity to ongoing conversations
• Custom backgrounds to allow workers to minimize distraction during video conferences
• Raise your hand so participants can ask questions without interruption
• Speaker coach that assesses speakers’ pace and boosts their confidence
• Participant list for sharing meeting participants’ names for follow-up activities

You can also use Microsoft Skype for business internet calls. With this video conferencing software, you can:

• Join one-to-one or group calls with audio and high definition (HD) video calling
• Use smart messaging to react to messages or respond to mentions
• Share screens to present photos or presentations during meetings
• Record calls to capture special moments and key company events
• Keep conversation private with end-to-end encryption

Instant messaging

Physical office spaces ease how you bond with teammates and get prompt responses to urgent requirements. Remote environments can be tricky for those who like to get answers immediately.

That’s where instant messaging comes in handy. With Microsoft Teams’ instant messaging, you can reduce email numbers, speed up communication, and complete projects faster. The software comes with the following capabilities:

• One-on-one or group chats help you discuss ideas in private or with the team
• Post variety allows teams to initiate conversations and share announcements
• Rich text editing helps teams deliver clear messaging with text highlights, bullets, links, and quotes
• Chat translation offers inline message translation to keep everyone on the same page
• Priority notifications show urgent notifications and announcements
• Mentions alert team members on specific action items

Real-time document collaboration

If you're using email chains to communicate document edits, you must eliminate that process. Email chains make editing confusing and collaboration inconvenient for everyone. 

Microsoft Editor helps you check grammatical errors, catch misspellings, and assess tonality across Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This tool offers intelligent suggestions in more than 20 languages. 

Cloud content collaboration

Remote work hours aren't the same for every employee. For example, someone working from Chicago starts their day when someone in Mumbai ends theirs. That’s why remote teams require cloud storage for file sharing. 

Microsoft OneDrive for Business makes it possible to store, access, and share business documents and files from anywhere. Let’s look at what you can do with OneDrive:

• Sync, share, and collaborate on presentations, videos, documents, and memos
• Create sharing links to provide file access to people within or outside the company
• Add metadata structure to find files across libraries easily
• Upload up to 100 GB files to store them and receive feedback on them
• Sync admin reports to audit and monitor all OneDrive sync app environments
• Strengthen file protection with multi-factor authentication and one-time passcodes (OTPs)

Employee intranet

Businesses want their employee communications to be private and secure. They use employee intranet software to offer a communication network where employees can collaborate, share, and communicate.

Microsoft SharePoint is a mobile intelligent intranet software that remote teams employ to share and access knowledge, content, and applications. Here’s how you can leverage different features of this platform:

• Share data, news, and resources to streamline teamwork
• Engage with employees with communication sites and common resources
• Gain insights from SharePoint’s rich content management and conversations on Yammer
• Simplify operational workflows with SharePoint libraries, Microsoft Power Automate, and Power Apps

Collaboration styles using Microsoft 365

Microsoft Office 365 solutions enable remote teams to adapt to different types of collaborations, such as:

• Enterprise collaboration fuels intra-organizational communication. Companies using this collaboration mode leverage Office 365 applications to make important announcements, share corporate updates, welcome new joiners, and talk about corporate benefits.
• Team collaboration helps remote teams exchange ideas, track progress, and manage activities. Distributed teams leverage Microsoft 365 solutions to create collaboration spaces for everyone to better close projects on time.
• Social collaboration using Microsoft Teams and Yammer makes it easy for companies to host social communities, organize events, and communicate with community members.
• External collaboration requires companies to use multiple tools, depending on varying purposes. Microsoft 365 programs such as Outlook, Yammer, and Microsoft Teams are great for communicating and collaborating with external stakeholders.

What is Microsoft 365?

Microsoft 365 offers next-generation collaboration services for teams looking to flourish in a hybrid work environment. Remote employees stay productive with their suite of applications. Take a look at how Microsoft 365 applications can help you meet enterprise productivity needs.

Microsoft Teams for collaboration

Microsoft Teams is your go-to software when you want a remote team to work without feeling remote. The easy communication and collaboration that Teams provides keeps your remote employees in the loop. Once your team signs up for Microsoft Teams, they’ll get four more Office 365 applications:

1. Microsoft SharePoint online site
2. Microsoft Exchange Online mailbox
3. Microsoft Outlook calendar
4. Microsoft OneNote notebook

Now, let's look at how Microsoft Teams collaboration tools streamline work and maintain productivity.

Create and manage shared workspaces 

A Teams workspace is open to everyone in a company. Now, you can create channels for all teams where members discuss problems and solve project issues. Creating channels based on clients, projects, and geographies might prove helpful, too.

Each channel comes with tabs for sharing files and initiating conversations. At minimum, a Team Workspace must have one channel and two tabs for discussions and file sharing to be viable. File-sharing tabs use SharePoint to navigate users to the team-specific communication site. 

You can also integrate other applications so that employees can directly work from within Teams. 

Edit files effortlessly

The best thing about Microsoft Teams is it allows you to create or upload MS Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files from within the application. You'll still be able to organize and edit things as you usually do. 

The real benefit here is the time you save not having to switch between applications. Also, team members can edit documents in real-time, meaning faster feedback, improved changes, and project completion. 

Get on a call when you need

There’ll be times when projects won’t move forward unless you meet with teammates and manage roadblocks. That’s where Microsoft Teams’ chat and call features come into play. 

Whether you want to send a quick message, get on a one-on-one discussion or share screens during calls, Microsoft Teams has got you covered. You can also use the Team Chat feature to check in on teammates or boost team morale with virtual events. 

Plan your time better

Microsoft Outlook automatically integrates with the Teams calendar, so you stay on top of meetings, events, and tasks. Outlook allows you to schedule meetings using the call feature, like any other calendar software.

Keep data secure

Microsoft Teams encrypts everything, including chat messages, audio, video, and files. This robust file encryption helps prevent unauthorized access and keeps your files safe. Teams’ multi-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to files.

How to collaborate using Microsoft Office 365

Remote teams come across multiple collaboration scenarios during a project’s lifecycle. Depending on how you want to collaborate, Microsoft 365 offers multiple ways for you to get started.

1. Work with select peers to receive fresh perspectives on projects. Selective collaboration leads to faster and clearer progress. You can always share the final version with your team once it’s ready.
2. Partner with teams to minimize project friction and build on ideas effortlessly. Remote teams use Microsoft Teams to organize files, attend meetings, and work together. The idea is simple: do things regardless of whether you’re working from the office or remotely.
3. Start in the cloud to create a foundation for the team to succeed. With Microsoft OneDrive, you can easily bring together files and documents for your team to access from anywhere. This mobility has two immediate benefits. First, it eliminates the need to go through emails or multiple versions to find out what’s happening. Your team will always have the most up-to-date version at their fingertips. Second, you are no longer tied to your office computer for work.
4. Start as a team to keep your global members in the loop. Microsoft Teams makes it super easy to create groups, whether it’s for a special project or for members working under the same manager. You can use Teams’ space on Microsoft to store files, schedule meetings, and stay in sync.
5. Co-author in real time when you need to work alongside trusted peers. Co-authoring on Microsoft 365 means you don’t have to wait for feedback or comments. Use @mentions to invite someone to take a look at your file. Peers can edit files across desktops and mobile devices. Moreover, you can always see the most up-to-date changes. 

How to choose the best Microsoft collaboration tool

Without the right tool, a remote team may lose information and drop the ball on crucial tasks. That’s why it’s important to understand which Microsoft 365 collaboration tools align with your requirements. Take a look at these different approaches to avoid collaboration chaos and find the best tool for your team.

Use case approach

The use case approach is the simplest of all. It tells you to pick tools that have supporting features for your collaboration needs. For example, you’ll be better off with Microsoft Teams when you want to chat with the team or SharePoint when you want to share documents.

However, this approach doesn’t tell you how to meet different business needs with collaboration tools.

Project approach

The project approach studies current project stage requirements to suggest tools. Suppose your team is currently brainstorming ideas – you can use OneNote to capture them. 

This approach is great for finding tools to solve business challenges, but spreads data across multiple repositories. Since you use different tools to address issues, you’ll lack a coherent project record. 

Persona-based approach

This approach suggests you choose tools after identifying stakeholders and the best means to communicate with them. If you need to communicate with larger groups across the company, you’ll use Microsoft Outlook. 

Each of these approaches has both pros and cons. If you are still not sure about tools to use every day for remote collaboration, try to understand the preferences of all stakeholders.

It’s best to evaluate if a sudden shift in collaboration software will impact the project outcomes and if it’s realistic to expect employees to use specific tools for tasks. 

Microsoft 365 pros

The future of remote collaboration lies in employees’ ability to seamlessly switch between applications. For example, you may have to chat with a colleague, attend a video call, and then collaborate with them on a document.

Microsoft Office 365 lets you do all these and more within a single window. Take a look at these pros to decide for yourself.

Easy to use

Whether you’re looking to use channels, group chats, or manage resources in a single place, Microsoft 365 makes everything super easy with its user-friendly interface.

The intuitive applications help you work faster and smarter so you focus on what matters most.

Do it all from one place

Microsoft 365 packs every feature you imagine for efficient remote collaboration. In addition to Microsoft productivity apps, Office 365 features cloud storage and syncing solutions for teams to stay on the same page regardless of their location.

Plus, you’ll get to access omnichannel collaboration hubs for your employees to effortlessly switch between remote productivity apps.

Stay efficient with new features

Microsoft Office 365 applications are continuously evolving. They are adding more features and integration capabilities to their software products every day, enabling remotes to function better.

Check out the Teams app store to look for new apps suitable for your business.

Improve remote collaboration ROI

Modern organizations want employees to follow streamlined collaboration methods to be productive. Microsoft Office 365 applications enable your teams to accommodate different work styles and minimize hybrid work challenges.

Microsoft 365 pricing plans

Microsoft 365 offers three pricing plans for your team to connect and collaborate effortlessly. These plans range between $7.20 and $26.40 per user per month.

1. Microsoft 365 Business Basic

Small and medium-sized businesses use this plan to boost productivity and efficiency with features like:

• Business email
• Standard security
• 1 TB cloud storage
• 24x7 phone and web support
• Chat, call, and meet with up to 300 attendees
• Web and mobile access for MS 365 applications

2. Microsoft 365 Business Standard

This plan is suitable for larger organizations looking to transform business collaboration with features like:

• Advanced security
• Access and data control
• Cybersecurity threat protection
• Everything in Business Basic

3. Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Enterprise companies with robust security needs use this plan to stay productive and do more every day. This plan features:

• Webinar hosting
• Everything in Business Standard
• Attendee registration and reporting
• Customer appointment management
• Premium Desktop features for MS 365 applications

Work remotely with Microsoft 365

Whether you have a temporary or permanent remote workforce, Office 365 productivity tools help you improve collaboration, communication, and efficiency.

Office apps offer a connected experience by combining every tool that remote work requires. That’s why virtual teams use Microsoft collaboration tools to work from anywhere. 

Remember the orchestra? Be like them, create your symphony, and play your heart out. Get work done with Microsoft 365.