What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for video conferencing and meetings.
What is most valuable?
There are a lot of applications being developed on Microsoft for Teams. They are building out a lot of Office 365 apps and the integration with everything is great.
The call quality has been very good, especially compared to Skype.
We like that you can get a lot of users on one call without the call actually failing or losing quality. Hosts can connect, if I recall correctly, up to 90,000 people. If you need a massive company-wide meeting, you can do it.
What needs improvement?
The UI can be further improved upon. When I used to use Skype, Skype was a small window that opened on your desktop. With Teams, when you use it, it occupies your full screen just like if you were in Word or Excel. Skype worked more like an app, which I preferred. I liked being able to use it in a minimized screen. If Teams could emulate that a bit, it would be a better user experience.
When we share the screen, we can't actually take control of the user's screen. When I'm trying to do some activity for another person or want to change something for them, it's not possible. In a technical way, I would like to take control of a system where I'm seeing the screen and I want to do some changes, while we are discussing things during meetings.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for about six months now. It hasn't been that long.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There are occasional patches that are released and updates that need to happen. Occasionally services go down. However, for the most part, the solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We haven't had any scalability issues so far. With the COVID-19 situation, our usage really shot up on Teams. We didn't run into any problems scaling up. So many people who were not using Teams are on the platform now. Previously, the solution was used by 30-40% of the company, and now it's closer to 70-80%.
How are customer service and technical support?
I've never been in touch with technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used to rely on Skype and have since moved over to Teams. It was pretty simple for us to decide on Teams because we were already using Microsoft products.
A lot of the products that we use are Microsoft, including Skype. However, Microsoft is slowly stopping support for Skype and they're moving towards Teams due to the fact that a lot of applications are getting developed now on Teams.
How was the initial setup?
It took our company about two months to put everything in place. We had to do some integration with a few of our colleagues.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'm not really too sure on the pricing. That is not something that I handle. That is something that our payment team handles.
What other advice do I have?
We're just a customer. We're not partners with Microsoft.
I would rate the solution eight out of ten. If the UI was better, where the system wouldn't take over the whole screen. I'd rate it higher. I'd also rate it higher if there was the capability not to just share screens, but to take over the screens of other people in a meeting, so discussions and changes could happen in real-time.
I'd definitely recommend Teams over both Skype and Zoom. In my opinion, it's far superior.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.