The global consulting business is a thriving industry that has maintained steady growth for the past ten years. According to Statista, the global consulting market is estimated to be worth approximately 132 billion U.S dollars in 2021. If you’re in the business of consulting, this is a sign that you’re in the right industry at the right time.
Since consultants maintains constant interaction with people, there’s a need to use a technological tool to create digital experiences. Also, a remote communications tool becomes essential because we are in the post-pandemic era when there’re many physical restrictions.
With about 145 million daily active users, Microsoft Teams sits as the number one business communication tool globally. These daily active users are made up of over 500,000 organizations. And that’s not even all; Microsoft Teams has over 47 integrations with other apps. That means you can use Teams beyond communications to achieve much more.
Top Features of Microsoft Teams
- Teams meeting
- Instant messaging
- File sharing
- Screen sharing
- Whiteboard sessions
- Room breakouts
- Group chat
- Customizable alerts
- Presentation mode
- Chat search
- Mentions
- Activity feeds
- Microsoft 365 integrations
- Integration with third party tools
- Meeting scheduling
- and soooo much more.
How Microsoft Teams Improves Service Delivery in Consulting Business
There are a handful of ways consulting businesses can use Microsoft Teams to optimize their operations and service delivery. Sit tight as we explore Teams for consulting firms.
1. Whiteboard for Teams
Consulting sessions come in different forms and formats, mainly depending on the consulting administered. Sometimes, you might want to make a written or artistic illustration for your client during an online consulting session. But how do you do that when your current technology doesn’t accommodate it?
Thanks to Microsoft Teams, you can use a whiteboard to make all forms of teachings and illustrations during your remote consulting sessions.
The best is that this feature comes at no extra cost. With the Whiteboard, you can brainstorm with your team members, and everyone can actively participate in the conversation. This feature will add life and experience to your meetings, video conferences, and consulting sessions.
2. Teams Chat
Some consultants prefer to chat to audio and video forms of communication. If you’re that type of consultant or chatting is part of your communication mix, then you’re like this one. Teams Chat goes beyond instant messaging; it comes with many other amazing features that can spice up your conversations.
With Teams Chat, you can share any file, schedule a meeting, send stickers and emojis, set delivery options, share forms and apps. Its possibilities are limitless. Teams Chat has everything you need to optimize service delivery to your clients. It will also allow your clients to focus on the conversation and avoid distractions.
3. Microsoft 365 Integration
Microsoft Teams is part of the Microsoft 365 product family. Hence, it has a built-in integration capability with other Microsoft 365 products like Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Stream, Excel, and others.
What does this means for a consulting business? I’m glad you asked.
As a consultant, there’s a high likelihood that you don’t only need a communication platform to scale your business. You’ll also need a productivity tool to create and share presentations, documents, and media files. With a Microsoft 365 subscription, you can access Microsoft Teams and all other Microsoft productivity apps to grow your business. This subscription will enable you to access your Outlook, OneDrive, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint without leaving your Microsoft Teams dashboard.
4. Available Templates for Business Structure
Remote work can be difficult for a consulting business, especially when you’re just starting. It’s not usually easy to maintain structure, coordination, and productivity with your team working from a different location. However, the story is different with Microsoft Teams.
There are ready-made structure templates on Teams to get you started. All you need is to import it and customize it to your business. These templates will help you plan, budget, project management, and coordinate your organization.
In Conclusion
There’s no better time to scale your consulting business operations than now. Do you know why? Because your clients & prospects have tasted better consulting experiences from your competitors and partners, which have increased their appetite for quality service delivery.
To win back your customers and grow your business, you need Microsoft Teams. An incredible combination of a productivity and collaboration tool. The best part is that it’s cost-effective. With a next-to-nothing monthly subscription fee, you can get Microsoft 365 together with Teams and other productivity apps.
Contact us today to book a free demo of Microsoft Teams.