Microsoft Teams v Slack: Which Collaboration Tool is Better?

What Is Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft Teams is a collaboration tool included with Office 365. There’s even a completely free version of Teams where you can work together with features like chat, file sharing, and video calling without spending a thing! I’m a huge fan of using Teams at Fabric, mainly because it makes life so much easier when it comes to communicating internally.

If you’ve already read my guide to Teams, blog post, you’ll know it can be used for so much more than instant messaging.

What is Slack?

I recently discovered that there is a similar app to Teams on the market – Slack. Intrigued, I did some digging to see why some people would consider this product.

It turns out Slack existed before Teams. It’s function? A secure workplace communication tool allowing two methods of chat – direct message, and a group chat.

Slack for Consideration

There are a lot of great qualities to this product.

Users can join and leave these channels at any time and plan meetings and holidays. The Slack App Directory can connect and support a whopping 1,500 apps, and if you wanted, you could even make your own app!

Slack can be started for free but does have its limitations when compared to the paid version. Since its release, others have created similar apps and added their own twists.

After seeing the potential of these business collaboration tools, Microsoft took the opportunity to create their own version, Microsoft Teams.

Why Teams?

In a nutshell, with Teams, you can use it seamlessly alongside other Office 365 apps. You can sign in with the same username and password like all other applications in Office 365. You can also create and stream meetings which link directly to your Outlook calendar.

It allows many add on applications to integrate. For instance, OneNote can be added to chats and Teams Channels, allowing documents to be shared with other colleagues. In addition to that, it sits on SharePoint, where business documents can be accessed be stored and securely shared across your organisation through Teams groups. Perfect for the mid to enterprise size businesses.

Of course, the most common feature which I use all day every day is instant messaging – very similar to WhatsApp, where posts can be ‘liked’, and GIFs and emojis can be used. The difference is that Whatsapp is an external application which can’t be managed by your organisation. Whereas Teams can be managed by your IT administrators so access can easily be monitored. This can be particularly useful when complying to GDPR regulations.

What would Fabric recommend?

Overall, these apps fundamentally share very similar qualities. Both are designed to improve internal communications, and both are user-friendly.

Teams is included with Office 365 which millions of businesses already use across the globe. With more and more people discovering the potential of this modern business collaboration platform – what’s not to like?

Maybe you didn’t realise you could access Teams as part of your Office 365 Package, which includes Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and OneNote? Give us a call on 01625 443 110 for more info.