Microsoft store in New York City. Image: Antonio Gravante/Shutterstock
Microsoft takes on Slack to get the edge in workplace productivity.
Software giant Microsoft has opened up its messaging app Teams to more users by allowing ‘Guest Access’.
Teams is Microsoft’s take on Slack, the popular workplace communications tool developed by the original Flickr team led by Stewart Butterfield, which has 5m daily active users.
Microsoft claims Teams is now being used by 125,000 organisations in 25 languages.
‘Customers have told us they expect guest access in Teams to provide enterprise-grade security and compliance assurances’
– LORI WRIGHT
Microsoft revealed Teams in November 2016, not long after social network Facebook unveiled a similar workplace tool called Facebook at Work.
The new productivity
Microsoft has designed Teams to be a part of Office 365 with the aim of making team-based communications simpler and more social.
It brings together products such as Chat, Meeting, Notes, Office, Planner, Power BI, and other extensions and applications.
Guest Access, which allows access to Teams from outside parties, makes its easier for companies and teams to communicate on projects.
Teams allows IT departments to easily manage what guests are allowed to access and see, enabling them to join meetings and collaborate on documents.
“Customers have told us they expect guest access in Teams to provide enterprise-grade security and compliance assurances,” said Lori Wright, general manager for Microsoft Teams.
Wright added: “Guest Access in Teams comes with the ability for IT to centrally manage how guests participate within their Office 365 environment, providing consistency across application experiences in Office 365. IT admins can quickly and easily view, add or revoke a guest’s access to the host tenant.”
Microsoft store in New York City. Image: Antonio Gravante/Shutterstock
