Microsoft is on fire, adding another cloud-based productivity tools to its portfolio. The software giant made the big announcement this week.
The Software Giant Launches Microsoft Teams
According to Tech 2, Microsoft has launched a new chat-based app for its Office 365 suite across PCs, smartphones, and tablets. The new tool works much like the widely used enterprise tool Slack or the Atlassian HipChat, where employees can create "channels," or chat rooms to collaborate on projects and assignments.
Aside from the ability to create chat rooms, the new tool also integrates with chatbots and other automated systems, to post information in chat automatically. It also supports voice and video chat via Skype, Microsoft said.
The new tool also has some features that go beyond what other competitor offers in the market. This includes a project planning feature where the user can assign tasks and even check statuses right within the new tool.
Microsoft Teams Could Posed Serious Threat To Slack And Atlassian
Looking ahead, it is easy to list possible threats, all with countermeasures. According to Business Insider, Microsoft has just set its crosshairs on the newly launched Slack Enterprise Grid with Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft's newly launched tool is a direct competitor with the popular team communication service Slack, the $3.8 billion startups that Microsoft has reportedly planned to buy for a whopping $8 billion.
Then, there is the $6 billion Australian-based software behemoth called Atlassian, which recently bought an online collaboration app Trello to boost its own HipChat, a Slack competitor. The move is just a part of the company's strategy to take on Microsoft in the enterprise world.
The last one is the networking giant Cisco, which also offered a similar Slack-like service, called Spark. Cisco is well-known in the IT circle for its track records and technical expertise, so expect Microsoft to have a more and brutal competition here.
Cisco's tremendous reach, especially in the enterprise world, along with the company's formidable resources would be a good match for the $500 Redmond-based software company. And this might be Microsoft's next big fight.
In a blog post sent out earlier this week, Microsoft says that Microsoft Teams has already been adopted by 30,000 companies and organizations across 145 different markets.
