Microsoft Teams

Overview

Microsoft Teams launched in 2017 as Microsoft’s answer to the rise of Slack, combining persistent team chat, video calling, and file collaboration into a single client tightly integrated with Office 365 (now Microsoft 365). It absorbed and eventually replaced Skype for Business as Microsoft’s primary enterprise communication platform, and by bundling Teams into existing Microsoft 365 business subscriptions at no extra cost, Microsoft rapidly grew it into one of the most widely deployed workplace chat and meeting tools.

Teams is closed source and cloud-hosted on Microsoft’s infrastructure, with no self-hosted or on-premises option for the current version. Channels organize conversations by team and topic, and deep integration with SharePoint, OneDrive, and the wider Office apps means documents shared in chat open directly in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint’s collaborative editing mode. A separate free tier and a consumer version aimed at friends and family exist alongside the primary business product, which is licensed per user as part of Microsoft 365 plans or as a standalone subscription.

Key Features

• Channels and chat — Persistent, threaded conversations organized by team and topic, alongside 1:1 and group direct messages
• Video meetings — Built-in video conferencing with screen sharing, background blur, live captions, and meeting recording
• Microsoft 365 integration — Native access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and OneDrive files inside chats and channels
• Apps and tabs — Add third-party or custom apps as tabs within a channel for project boards, wikis, or dashboards
• Together mode and large meetings — Webinar and large-meeting features for events with hundreds or thousands of attendees
• Copilot integration — AI-generated meeting summaries, chat recaps, and action items (paid add-on)

Use Cases

• Enterprise communication — Company-wide chat, channels, and announcements for organizations already on Microsoft 365
• Video meetings and webinars — Internal meetings, client calls, and large-scale webinars
• Document collaboration — Co-authoring Office documents directly from a chat or channel
• Hybrid and remote work — Persistent team spaces for distributed teams working across time zones

Who It’s For

Microsoft Teams is aimed at organizations already invested in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem that want chat, video meetings, and document collaboration in one bundled product. It requires a Microsoft 365 subscription for full business functionality, with all data hosted on Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure rather than an organization’s own servers.