Using Microsoft Teams as an Ecosystem

Microsoft Teams may have started out as a mere business collaboration platform, but it's long past the point of becoming much more than that. 

Teams has an immense potential of becoming an all-in-one productivity system for companies, functioning as a single pane of glass where a significant portion of the business's various operations and processes can be accessed and managed. 

The key ways to unlock this invaluable potential Teams possesses is through integrating apps, automation and analytics within the platform.  

So, how does one do that, exactly? 

Harkirat Degun, Product Director at Resonate is here to shed light on the subject. 

Integrating Apps, Automation and Analytics within Teams

"Teams being an open environment means that companies are able to integrate their own apps, automation, and analytics within the platform itself to complement existing Teams capabilities," Degun explains. 

There are two ways to do this: 

1. Integrating 3rd party Apps and Solutions available on Microsoft AppSource 
2. Integrating “homegrown” Solutions built using the Microsoft Power Platform – a no-code/low-code development platform, providing simple-to-use tools for creating applications, robotic process automation and reporting. 

Solutions created with the Power Platform or installed from the Microsoft AppSource can be embedded into Tabs within Teams and made available either to be consumed by all members of the relevant team or as a personal app.   

"This effectively means that from now on, your company's Teams environment can be adapted to the organizations specific needs," Degun notes. 

But where do you begin? 

What Apps to Integrate?

"The very first thing a company should do before integrating apps or solutions into Teams is consider all the various things Teams can actually do, as well as potential workflows that it would be useful to have access to via Teams," Degun says. 

There may already be apps that are used in the organization that are available on Microsoft AppSource or have been created internally to meet an existing requirement, or there may be a requirement to create something entirely new. 

Examples of such things can range from approval queues and new user set ups to holiday or budget requests, time shift management and access to important company information.