Microsoft Teams: In-app Integrations

Product design | Research | B2B | 2020

Project Overview

During my time at TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) I worked under Microsoft Teams where I helped create chat and channel experiences for Microsoft Teams by personalising the platform for millions of people around the world ranging from novice to sophisticated users for better communication in its current and future status in the hybrid world. Developed multiple in-app functionality features for a range of clients that include: Nestle, SBI, Macquarie Bank, Westpac, Sabis, and Universidad EAFIT.

Status

Client Project

Tools

Figma, Sketch, Microsoft Powerpoint

My Role

User Experience Designer

Clients I worked with

Brief

At Microsoft the employees’ ability to collaborate had grown as Microsoft Teams grew. The company has developed an amazing flywheel—embracing new capabilities, collecting feedback from the employees, and funneling them back to the product group partners, which in turn has fueled more innovation in the product. The company has used Microsoft Teams to communicate, share ideas, and get work done.

Fast forward to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft Teams allowed us to keep working and to stay connected as everyone shifted to working from home. All of us were able to come together through meetings, chats, and calls, collaborate, and automate business processes, all within a single app. Microsoft Teams enabled all employees and customers to successfully work remotely, for students to continue their education, and for all of us to stay connected on a personal level. Having built a product that is now a staple in our everyday lives, the Microsoft Teams product group continues to innovate, and has taken the learnings from the past to improve its user experience.

Focus

Creating more natural and engaging meeting experiences

Enables employees to connect seamlessly with those inside and outside of their networks, and providing ways to make remote presentations richer and more impactful.

Shifting successfully from on-site to remote to hybrid

Real-time connection and collaboration within Microsoft Teams were key components of transitioning from on-site to remote work, with users sending on average 45% more chats per week

Making Microsoft Teams a hub for inclusivity

Incorporating features that drive interaction and participation, like meeting chat and the “raise hand” feature, as well as reactions, emojis, and integrated GIF support. This ensured our employees will have a more personal and interactive meeting experience, whether they’re joining remotely or attending from a conference room.

Fostering real-time and asynchronous collaboration

Monthly active use of Microsoft Teams channels had gone up nearly 200%. It helped employees and their teams better communicate, collaborate, and manage access to files. It allows users in fostering the need for an asynchronous way to collaborate.

In-app integration

With apps like Yammer and Microsoft Power Platform now integrated into Microsoft Teams, this had further helped users actively engage with their colleagues in several new and exciting ways.

Boosting productivity

Companies like Accenture, Toyota, Kohler, Lumen, Ernst & Young, and Pfizer are just a few of the companies that use Microsoft Teams to keep their global enterprises running successfully. Microsoft Teams’ shift from a tool that was originally focused solely on collaboration, to an application that helps deliver on business process and automation.

Features I worked on

Tabs

Tabs are Teams-aware webpages embedded in Microsoft Teams. You can add them as part of a channel inside a team, group chat, or personal app for an individual user. Personal tab, channel or group tab, stage view, and link unfurling.

Bots

A chatbot or conversational bot is an app that runs simple and repetitive automated tasks done by the users. A bot interaction can be a quick question and answer, or it can be a complex conversation that provides access to services.

Message Extention

Message extensions are shortcuts for inserting app content or acting on a message without navigating away from the conversation.
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eg: Create a bug in your tracking system based on a Teams message, assign that bug to a user, and send a card to the conversation thread with the bug's details.

Adaptive card

Cards help you organise information into groups and give users the opportunity to interact with specific parts of the information. Sharing using text and images; gathering information using input forms.

Meeting Extention

You can create apps to make meetings more productive. Ask people to complete a survey during a call or send a quick reminder that doesn’t interrupt the flow of the meeting.

Reflection

During my time at Microsoft I got to work on several projects for both national and international clients, under the ambit of banking, education management, food and drink processing, and transnational conglomerates. During this period, I shouldered the responsibility to provide tangible solutions as per design requirements, in sync with the guidelines for the products to be delivered.

I also interacted with a wide range of clientele, brainstormed ideas, strategized according to project requirements, and implemented the solutions to the complete satisfaction of the clients. This experience allowed me to merge the intellectual capacities of my team, and build on my team-work skills as we took on collaborative work for diverse projects. Alongside, my interpersonal skills were also polished as I brainstormed, ideated, and coordinated with the team members.

Working with Microsoft’s diverse clients meant I had to interact with the client teams directly and understand their needs to design the UI/UX of a customized proprietary business communication platform, as part of the Microsoft 365 family of products. I learned how to understand customer needs and provide them with the best solution, staying in line with the company policies.
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The experience was enlightening, as it gave me a chance to collaborate with cross-functional teams as well as enhanced my multidisciplinary skills on live projects.