3 impressions from Microsoft teams

Microsoft has come a long way - it is not that different from Google Workspace

Microsoft is coming at the future from the business world, while Google is coming from the consumer space. Microsoft can build on trust from decision-makers in high places and decades of experience - both a bonus (it is the standard) and a disadvantage (too much ballast). Google builds on expertise with end users (ask a 15-year old what Microsoft is, you'll be surprised) - being "new" has the advantage of being able to reinvent things and start without ballast, which can also be a disadvantage ("why can't I filter by color?"). Both Microsoft and Google are now converging in the middle (and busily copying from each other).

Microsoft is facing the challenge of transitioning into the cloud and managing this balancing act. Too much change and you will alienate your customers. Too little change and the new, cloud-enabled versions become as unwieldy as the desktop versions. For somebody at home in G Suite, the O365 apps (Excel online etc.) feel very much like the desktop versions, with "sharing" and "online" being afterthoughts.

This is where Teams comes in, an application that is mainly about chatting. It is more, though - it's an integration of team calendars, team storage spaces, video calling. You have those features in Google Workspace, but not in one application like that. Instead, the Google Workspace applications are tied together much more closely than the Microsoft. Office needs an application like Teams.

Our struggle to move towards the future would be just the same with Microsoft

From watching the presentation, you can glimpse the gigantic struggles that Microsoft customers are facing. Teams is not new - and only 500K companies are using it, a minority of the companies using Office 365. If you accept that Teams is necessary to catapult Office into the 21st century, those people surely have their work cut out.

Microsoft is now providing change management kits, executive training, helping IT departments win people over ... Sounds familiar? The big challenges you are facing with Google Workspace today would be just the same if you used Microsoft. "My client won't let me use the cloud." "I suffer from having to use two tool sets."My department will not use the online tools because they are too simple." "IT will not let me install this and that extension." "The tools are changing too fast."

The new Microsoft battles the old

While it must be a very interesting time to work at Microsoft and see how the giant is adapting, it must also be very tense. What does a company tell employees who have just launched Office 2019 for Windows? While Google has its own challenges, its Google Workspace strategy seems very single-minded, which is good sign for customers. Although they release half-baked products from time to time, when you take a step back, you can see very elegant solutions coming together. We have seen a tremendous maturing of the services over the last two years, while key components were rebuilt to support growth. We are now seeing the beginning of a next wave of smarter services and AI that will be felt through all of the services. You are certainly doing the right thing and have a front-row seat while the future unfolds.

Living in G Suite, it is easy to get lost in this world and not look at what going on outside. Seeing Microsoft trying to push customers in the same direction as Google (collaboration, online, mobile-first, AI) validates what you do. Much more than a trend, it is the way forward, no matter your vendo. Thank you for reading!