What is the difference between Microsoft Teams and an online office?

We have become used to meeting online.

When a team needs to discuss a project, make a decision or have its weekly status meeting, we can open Microsoft Teams and get together in seconds.

But a working day consists of much more than the meetings in our calendars.

What do we do when we don’t need a meeting, but simply need two minutes with a colleague? When we have an idea, we want to run by someone? Or when we just want to know who is around and available right now?

A green status indicator only tells us that a colleague is online. It doesn’t tell us whether it’s okay to interrupt. And if we send a chat message or an email, we don’t know when it will be read or when we will get a response.

This is where I see the difference between Microsoft Teams and an online office like BeZoned.

Microsoft Teams gives us a place for planned meetings

Microsoft Teams has made it easy to work together even when we are not in the same place. We can have video meetings, chat, share files and collaborate using the tools we already know. When we know we need to meet, it works really well. We find a time, send an invitation and meet online.

But think of an ordinary day in a physical office.

We don’t plan every interaction. We don’t book a meeting to ask the person next to us a quick question. We don’t send a calendar invitation to hear a colleague’s thoughts on an idea. At the office, we can see who is around and easily reach out when it makes sense.

That is the part of the working day that an online office brings into remote and hybrid work.

An online office is also about the time between meetings

In BeZoned, employees can be together throughout the working day, even when there is no scheduled meeting in the calendar. You can see which colleagues are around and who is available. If you need a quick answer or some input, you can reach out directly.

Not every conversation has to begin with a calendar invitation. Sometimes we need a 30-minute meeting. But often, we just need two minutes with the right colleague.

And then there are all the small interactions that are not necessarily about completing a specific task. The spontaneous conversation, informal knowledge sharing, and the feeling of being around your colleagues and working together.

These are some of the moments an online office makes possible.

So, what does BeZoned add to Microsoft Teams?

For me, it is not a question of choosing between the two.

BeZoned is an app within Microsoft Teams and builds on the team’s existing data, workflows, and functionality. In this way, it extends the digital environment the team already knows and works in.

This also means that the familiar Microsoft tools remain part of the working day, including Teams Meetings.

When colleagues enter a meeting room in BeZoned, the meeting opens as the familiar Microsoft Teams Meeting while also providing access to the team’s documents, notes and tools such as Whiteboard and Planner.

In that sense, BeZoned is not about replacing Microsoft Teams. It is about building on to it.

Teams gives us the tools we already use to meet and collaborate on everything that is planned. The online office helps everything in between flow more naturally, much like in a physical office, while adding a sense of presence around it all. Who is here? Who is available? Who can I quickly reach out to? And the online office minimizes the need for meetings.

From online meetings to a full day working together

When Microsoft Teams is already part of the working day, getting started with BeZoned is easy.

BeZoned is installed directly in Teams. From there, you invite your colleagues and group together at tables - just as you do in a regular office.

The difference is that your colleagues don’t have to be in the same physical location. Some might be working from home, others from the office or somewhere else entirely - either hybrid or fully remote. In BeZoned, you can still see who is around, work side by side with your team and easily reach out to each other when needed.

In this way, BeZoned builds on the Teams environment the company already uses and makes it possible to be together as colleagues throughout the entire working day - not just when there is a meeting in the calendar.

Author: Peter Soerensen from BeZoned

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