As you’ve probably heard, Microsoft is positioning its newly minted Teams collaboration platform as an eventual replacement for Skype For Business. According to Microsoft, it is “now aiming to bring the capabilities of Skype for Business in the cloud into Microsoft Teams to deliver a single hub for teamwork, with built-in, fully integrated voice and video.” Combining chat, voice, video and content-sharing capabilities, Teams aims to bring co-workers together in a cloud-based workspace that can be modified and personalized for every team’s needs.
In short, users of Office 365 would be well advised to get a handle on Microsoft Teams, as it will come to define the future of collaboration and communication in Microsoft environments. It shouldn’t be too much of a leap, though, as manufacturers like Polycom and Crestron are already integrating the new Teams platform.
Crestron’s unified communications solutions are notable for their intuitive interfaces--with one tap of the touchscreen, anyone can start a collaboration session. Once connected, users can do pretty much anything, from sharing a desktop to annotating PowerPoint presentations. Additionally, remote employees can join from whatever computer or device they happen to be using. Crestron hardware paired with Skype For Business software has made for a winning marriage, and with Teams now fully supporting UC hubs like the Crestron RL 2, we can only expect this partnership between Microsoft and Crestron to continue to flourish.
The roll out of Microsoft Teams should also be smooth sailing for Polycom users. Companies that depend on Polycom RealPresence Trio for their audio communication needs will find full support for Teams. And it’s a match made in heaven. The RealPresence Trio is first and foremost a top notch audio conferencing solution, but it is much more than that. With the addition of the Visual+ accessory, RealPresence Trio doubles as a multimedia collaboration experience, complete with HD content sharing and live video interaction. It is exactly such multi-front communication and collaboration that Microsoft Teams was envisioned to facilitate, and with Polycom, your company can take full advantage of the range of tools offered by Teams.
Polycom has a long history of integration with Microsoft collaboration solutions, so this transition to Teams is nothing to worry about. Polycom was there when it was called Microsoft Lync. And they were there when Lync became Skype for Business. And they are there for Teams. You’re in good hands.
Learn more about Polycom conference phones and Crestron unified communications and contact us if you have any questions about pricing and installation. If there is something else you’re looking for, use our Advanced Search tool to find it.
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