There are many ways to customize Teams. The following sections will guide you through setting up each Teams workload: chats, teams and channels, meetings and conferencing, and voice solutions. The order in which you set up each workload is flexible. Although we suggest starting with chats, teams, and channels, you can begin with meetings and conferencing or even cloud voice. The decision is yours.
Before you roll out Teams broadly, ensure your organization is ready by reviewing the items in Make sure you're ready.
Workloads
Chat, teams, and channels
Chats, teams, and channels form the foundation of Teams. Chat allows one or more users to communicate, share files, and meet privately. Teams can be visible to everyone in your organization or restricted to team members, facilitating collaboration for any task or occasion, from long-term projects to planning a birthday party. Channels within teams can organize topics, projects, departments, or any other relevant categories. For more information about chat, teams, and channels, see the Overview of Teams and channels.
When planning the rollout of teams and channels, you need to decide who can create them, whether guests from outside your organization can access them, and other related considerations. The article "Chat, teams, channels, & apps in Microsoft Teams" provides extensive information on planning for chat, teams, and channels. Here are some key points from that article to consider. Click on a decision for more information.
You don't need to take any further steps for your users to begin using chat, teams, and channels. However, there are many options available to control how Teams is used. You can implement these changes now or wait to see how people are using Teams. For more information, check out the following articles:
Meetings and conferencing
Meetings and conferencing allow people within and outside your organization to connect. Anyone with a Teams or Skype for Business client can join invited meetings, participating in conversations using their device's microphone, camera, and screen without needing a phone. Participants can chat, make voice calls, and share videos and apps using a PC or mobile device.
Audio conferencing enables participants to join meetings via a regular phone by calling a conference number and entering a meeting ID. This is useful when participants have poor Internet connections, the meeting is voice-only, or other circumstances prevent them from joining via the Teams client.
Meetings are automatically enabled in Teams, but you can manage the meeting experience for organizers and participants. You can establish policies that dictate what actions people can or cannot take before and during meetings. For further details, refer to the following article:
Teams Phone with Calling Plan
Microsoft 365 Teams Phone with Calling Plan provides a comprehensive office phone system solution ideal for businesses with fewer than 300 users. It offers features such as voicemail, caller ID, phone system menus, toll-free numbers, and more, eliminating the need to manage a complex and expensive on-premises phone system.
For further details about Teams Phone with Calling Plan tailored for small and medium businesses, refer to the Teams Phone guidance for small and medium businesses.
Deploy clients
Once your users are prepared to begin using Teams, they can install the Teams client on their Windows or Mac computers, as well as on their Android or iOS devices. Users can download the Teams client directly from https://teams.microsoft.com/downloads.
Ensure that everyone has a Teams license before they can access Teams. For additional guidance on assigning a Teams license, refer to Managing user access to Teams.
If your organization utilizes Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, Group Policy, or another third-party distribution method for deploying software to user computers, refer to the guide on installing Microsoft Teams using Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager.
For comprehensive details on deploying Teams clients, visit the page on obtaining clients for Microsoft Teams.
Training
For information on how to train your users to use Teams, see Microsoft Teams training.
Find out more here and Get started with Microsoft Teams.