Quickly Set Up Microsoft Teams For Your Organization

Many organizations are currently shifting to a remote working strategy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. If you’ve never worked remotely before and do not have the tools in place to do so, this will seem like an enormous task. However, Microsoft is currently offering Microsoft Teams free of charge and Navo is offering a free 30-day trial to help companies shift to a work-from-home model.

Microsoft Teams is an amazing tool that promotes workplace collaboration and is especially effective in situations where some or all of your team is working remotely. However, Teams implementations often need extensive budget due to the planning and inter-dependencies of SharePoint and Office 365.

Navo is a tool that provides fast, reliable access to your company information. Administrators can manage and instantly publish bookmarks for the entire organization so that your team is always connected to the right resources. While there is often a planning process involved with your company navigation, Navo offers a place to quickly provide access to pertinent company info, work-from-home policies, COVID-19 response planning, and anything else your team will need while they work remotely.

There are two options for quickly setting up Microsoft Teams and Navo without the regular technical and organizational efforts required in a standard implementation.

Option 1: Set up Microsoft Teams without the teams to give your employees a space to chat, host video calls and meetings, and share documents. Use Navo to direct your team to the right information quickly.

Option 2: Set up Microsoft Teams with a core of teams and channels that have specific use cases. Lock down the creation of other teams to prevent the creation of new teams and channels before you’are able to decide on and put in place a governance strategy. Use Navo to ensure that your team has fast access to the right information.

We’ll walk through the steps of setting up Microsoft Teams and Navo for both options below.

Option 1 – Set Up Microsoft Teams Without The Teams

It may seem counter-intuitive, but removing the ‘teams’ from Microsoft Teams can simplify both the implementation and the adoption of the tool by your employees. If you remove teams from the sidebar and add Navo instead, you’ll have access to all of the communication tools in Microsoft Teams while also providing a place for your employees to quickly find the tools and information they need at home.

If your company is new to Microsoft Teams, making the resources that you already use accessible from the Teams application will help to make the transition smoother and increase adoption.

To roll out Microsoft Teams with your company bookmarks, follow these steps:

1. Set up Microsoft Teams without the teams by limiting group creation and removing teams from the sidebar.
2. Add Navo to Microsoft Teams.
3. Set up your company bookmarks.
4. Go live!

Your finished result is a place for your team to chat and make video and audio calls, complete with your company bookmarks directing your employees to the right information quickly, even from home.

For step-by-step technical directions to set up Microsoft Teams without the teams, check out our post on the Navo blog.

Option 2 – Set Up Microsoft Teams With A Core Of Selected Teams

You may choose to go a step further and set up Microsoft Teams with a core of selected teams that have specific use cases in your organization. You’ll lock down the creation of additional teams until you are able to decide on and implement a governance strategy.

Spin up a small number of teams to give your employees a place to discuss department or project related topics. Offer company bookmarks within the application through Navo. These tools together offer an excellent business continuity plan for the sudden remote team.

To roll out Microsoft Teams with a core of selected teams, follow these steps:

1. Lock down group creation so groups that are set up by administration are the only ones that exist. This will prevent your Teams instance from becoming the ‘wild west’ before you’re able to put some governance rules in place.
2. Create a team for your whole organization to use. We call ours ‘GO’.
3. Create Channels – We have a ‘Today’ channel where we check-in every morning for a daily ‘scrum’; A ‘Knowledge’ channel where we share tips and tricks for communicating in teams and using other productivity tools; A ‘Working Here’ channel for company updates that we’ve also been using to keep up to date with information on the pandemic, and; A ‘Jibber Jabber’ channel that’s usually full of memes, jokes, and general lightheartedness to get us through these challenging times.
4. Create a team for each department or project group, depending on how your organization works. Each of your employees will belong to one or more of these teams. The team should give each working group a place to discuss their department or project tasks, collaborate on documents, and host team meetings.
5. Add your company bookmarks with Navo.
6. Go live!

The end result is a place for your department or project teams to collaborate and make video and audio calls, complete with your company bookmarks that direct your employees to the right information quickly, even from home.

Collaborate Remotely With Microsoft Teams and Navo

Microsoft Teams and Navo are a winning combination for teams that work remotely. Microsoft Teams gives your employees a place to chat, and video conference, while Navo gives you a place to quickly push out company tools and information.

YOU MIGHT LIKE: HOW TO WORK EFFECTIVELY FROM HOME

Looking for assistance getting your team ready to work from home? Regroove can help.