To help increase productivity in the workplace, more companies are adopting collaborative communication platforms. These platforms help reduce email clutter and streamline processes with many tools that employees use on a regular basis. Many organizations are catching on to the value of these programs, projecting to increase the communication platform market’s value to $49.5 billion by 2021. Two players have come forward as the frontrunners for many major businesses: Slack and Microsoft Teams. Each platform is similar in structure but has enough differences that beg the question, which is better: Slack or Teams?
Free Accounts and Upgrades
Both Slack and Teams have free options that contain limited features compared to annual plans. From the start, Microsoft contains more features for their free customers. This plan includes unlimited messages and search, greater file storage, and over 140 integrated apps and services. Many companies, however, find themselves not needing to use the free version of Teams because the Business Premium Plan is already included in their Office 365 Suite. Because Teams is a member of the Office 365 family, it seamlessly integrates will all Microsoft products at no additional cost. Slack has a more difficult time competing with Microsoft on price, with their free option limiting users on functionality. If a business does choose to pay for a higher version of Slack, it still will not integrate into Office 365 for greater functionality.
Productivity and Collaboration
When it comes to collaboration, both Teams and Slack have a similar structure. Both contain project management and file sharing tools that integrate into conversations. They also have fun apps that contribute to office culture with activities such as animations and polls. Where Teams steps forward and shines is its ability to support video conference calls for users, even starting to overshadow Microsoft’s Skype for Business. Teams also make it easier to search in conversations and provides the ability to create conversation threads within a preexisting chat, reducing clutter and better organizing your department’s thoughts.
Keeping your information secure
With any program that hosts file sharing, security can be a concern. Even though Slack has been around longer than Teams, they are still in the startup phase and not met with the same trust as Microsoft. Microsoft is a leader when it comes to security and is constantly making improvements to greater protect their customer’s data. Enterprise businesses know their information is secure on the Microsoft network, and Slack has a lot of catching up to do to be met with that same amount of trust.
Choosing the right platform for your business
Slack might have the reputation that comes with being a startup of being fun and innovative, but Microsoft Teams has the integration capabilities that users can depend on. Not to mention, the security of hosting on the Microsoft network comes with an IT stamp of approval. Both platforms, when used properly, can help contribute to productivity in the workplace and reduce the clutter of emails. By using Microsoft Teams over Slack, users can easily collaborate between group documents, saving time and keeping their documents secure on the trusted Microsoft server.
For more information on Microsoft Office products and training for your business, please contact our team.