Microsoft’s messaging platform, known as Teams, became the top workplace messaging app in 2019—beating out competitor Slack—when it crossed more than 13 million daily users in July. By January, it surpassed 20 million, with 91 of the U.S.’s 100 largest companies using it. The increasingly flexible software seamlessly integrates chat, calls, file sharing, video meetings, and third-party apps to allow employees to engage in a nonlinear workflow.
WATCH: How collaboration drives innovation at Microsoft
“People are asking for a way to have a critical mass of capabilities together,” says Jared Spataro, corporate vice president for Microsoft 365, the company’s cloud-based productivity suite. Teams facilitates document editing within the app, for example, rather than requiring people to toggle between multiple tools or windows. (Plus, you can do this while hosting a conference call—and sending Beyoncé GIFs to your coworker.) Microsoft is also targeting employees traditionally ignored by productivity suites—first-line responders such as doctors, customer service employees, and maintenance crews—with new features like mobile punch clocks and schedule-managing software. For example, Ikea is putting 70,000 employees on Teams.
Read more about Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies:
- The world’s 50 most innovative companies of 2020
- The 10 most innovative workplace companies of 2020
- How Snap defied the haters—and keeps reinventing the social media game
- Footprint is proving that sustainability can scale
A version of this article appeared in the March/April 2020 issue of Fast Company magazine.