The Benefits of Microsoft Teams for State and Local Government and Education

While technology moves at a blistering pace in many industries, State and Local Governments and Education (SLED) are notorious for being behind the curve when it comes to adopting new technology solutions. This is not to say that SLED isn’t acquiring new tech, just not at the rate at what’s possible and necessary to keep their constituents, students, and staff technologically relevant.

As IT budgets shrink from year-to-year, it is essential and necessary that SLED becomes more efficient and creative with what they have. Both schools and state and local governments are the pillars of our communities that provide continuous support and education for all people, yet struggle to adopt the most up to date platforms to better serve the public.

One of the most significant opportunities for improvement is finding a secure, easy-to-use communication platform that consolidates legacy collaboration and telephony functions into a single application. Microsoft Teams is a hub for team collaboration in Office 365. It integrates the people, content, and tools teams need to be more engaged and productive. By adopting Microsoft Teams, SLED can more efficiently and effectively serve and develop their communities.

With the adoption of Microsoft Teams, both state and local government and education entities can benefit from using this comprehensive communication platform. For each worry and woe that comes from adopting new technology, Microsoft Teams responds by providing a secure and straightforward transition or introduction. Because it’s built on Office 365, Teams integrates with already familiar Office apps and services. For example, many customers already have access to Microsoft Teams as part of their Office 365 subscription, but simply aren’t using it. Each feature within Teams works in tandem to create a powerful collaboration hub with secure communication at the heart of every interaction.

Additional Benefits for State and Local Governments:

• Ability to consolidate multiple collaboration systems into the umbrella of Teams
• Increases the ability to collaborate across project stakeholders, different departments, file store system
• Continued messaging when offline, ensuring no missed messages (unlike with Skype)

Additional Benefits for Education:

• Microsoft offers a feature set tailored to the needs of educators of all kinds such as Class Notebooks, Staff Notebooks, and other education apps
• Use of Third Party Apps like Flipgrid, MakeCode, and other learning tools to customize your experience
• Stay connected with persistent chat, channel conversations, and meetings
• Organize and track each class’ assignments and grades directly from a class Team

SLED stands at the cusp of a technology renaissance. As new services and offerings are available to help organizations serve their constituents faster, more effectively, and more efficiently, it becomes even more important to ensure that your communication and collaboration platform is at the forefront of your organization. With the help of our experts, SoftwareONE can help you transition into a new culture of teamwork with Microsoft Teams. We offer end-to-end licensing procurement support, as well as tailored services, solutions, and platforms that enable you to have more efficient, impactful technology solutions.