By Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365

MICROSOFT TEAMS

Does your organization want to get started with Microsoft Teams to support your users who work remotely or from home? Use the guidance in this article to get up and running quickly.

IT admin guidance

• Make sure everyone has access to Teams, using the free 6-month Office 365 E1 offer or the Freemium version of Teams. Reach out to your Microsoft account team or partner if you need help.
• If you already have a subscription that includes Teams, turn it on for everyone.
• Understand how to get your organization started with Meetings in Teams.

For more, read Additional resources for supporting remote workers below.

End user communications

Ready to roll out Teams to your users? Get the Customer Success Kit, which contains these great email templates:

• Use the Announcement Email to tell users that Teams is available for them.
• Send Your First Day in Teams Email to help users feel productive quickly.
• A few days later, send the Tips and Tricks Email to help your users get the most out of Teams.

End user guidance

Share these assets and videos with your end users to help them get started quickly:

• Watch the Welcome video to get an overview of Teams.
• Download the Quick Start Guide to learn the Teams basics.
• Watch a series of short Quick Start videos for a walkthrough of Teams.
• Watch the Meetings videos to learn how to use meetings in Teams.

Additional resources for supporting remote workers

1. Read our FAQ: Support your remote workforce, which we’re updating regularly.
2. In addition to the Office 365 E1 Trial and Teams free, Teams Exploratory may also be an option if you need free Teams licenses.
3. If you work in education and want to set up teachers, students, and administrators on Teams, use Office 365 A1. This free version of Office 365 is available to all educational institutions. Sign up at Get Office 365 free for your entire school.
4. Make sure your employees have adequate internet access and bandwidth for Teams. Use the guidance in Prepare your organization’s network for Teams to learn how to do this.
   • Limited bandwidth can affect audio quality in Teams meetings. To ensure the best meeting experience under low-bandwidth conditions, encourage users to limit video and use PSTN for calls and meeting audio.
   • If you’re in China, check out Office 365 global tenant performance optimization for China users.
   • If you need help troubleshooting or fixing problems with call or meeting quality, follow the guidance in Known issue – China: Dialing into Skype for Business/Teams conference IDs at the bottom of this article.
5. Send out links to training to help your employees get the most out of Teams.
6. Go deeper: Learn more about rolling out Teams.
   • As a mid-sized organization (500-5000 users), start your Teams journey with live, interactive workshops.
   • Join one of our online classes to see Teams in action and get your questions answered.
   • Share in-depth training videos with users who want to learn more.
   • Read How to roll out Teams to learn how to get ready for and manage Teams.
7. Read our new content about working remotely and share it with your users:
   • New March 9, 2020: Work remotely with Microsoft Teams
   • Teams blog (Feb 28, 2020): 4 tips for working from home with Microsoft Teams
   • Collaborate with Office 365
   • Work remotely with Office 365
   • 9 tips for working remotely
8. Encourage everyone to install and use the mobile app: iOS or Android.
9. Use Teams to stay in touch with your employees:
   • Org-wide teams and Company Communicator app template.
   • Send out information about your org’s work-from-home and health and safety policies.
   • Use Live events for company-wide meetings and outreach. For any meeting of more than 250 participants, make it a live event. Turn on live captions for meetings and live events. In addition, turn on subtitles in live events. These features increase inclusivity, productivity, and comprehension.
10. Staff up your helpdesk to deal with user inquiries.
11. If you’re new to the Teams admin role, check out Admin training for Teams.
12. Make sure your users have the devices they need to be seen and heard clearly. Check out Teams-certified devices for personal and shared spaces.

We recommend the following if you’re having audio conferencing problems:

• Ask the caller or meeting organizer to call your PSTN or mobile number.
• Join the call or meeting from the desktop or mobile clients, using VoIP.

If you need to log a support ticket, please include the following:

• Exact time of call
• Conference bridge number dialed
• Caller phone network
• Caller phone number

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