Have you heard of Slack? The web-based IRC chat service is a rather huge hit among offices these days. As the chat service is so popular, it is no surprise then that other companies may be interested in getting into the act. One such company is Microsoft, and they’re going to compete with Slack directly via an application called Teams.
Much like Slack, Teams is a chat application that allows employees in a company to communicate with each other directly. The application also comes with tools that is able to set up section-specific chatrooms and meetings. However, unlike Slack, the Teams app comes with a few new additions.
The first feature that Teams has is threaded chats. Much like Facebook’s reply option, you’re able to reply to a specific chat directly beneath it, negating the need to scroll through the entire chat log to find the reply that is meant for you. Additionally, Teams is integrated with other Microsoft offerings like Skype for video and voice calls, as well as Office 365 applications. Teams integration with Office 365 is a huge boon as it allows people in the chat to send and receive Word documents, Powerpoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets by just dropping the file into the application itself.
Team does have one drawback though, and it is the fact that the app will not be available for free. You’re going to need a subscription to Office 365 to use the service, so unless your workplace has an active Office 365 account available, you won’t be able to use Teams. Teams is available on Windows, Android and iOS platforms, so you’ll be able to use the service on a large number of devices.
Source: Microsoft
