Commitment to customers during COVID-19 Microsoft Teams is available to everyone.
With COVID-19 continuing to impact people and countries around the world, teams everywhere are moving to remote work. Where it’s necessary we’re encouraging our teams to work from home as much as possible, as are many organizations.
By making Teams available to as many people as possible, we together with Microsoft aim to support public health and safety by keeping yours and our teams connected while they work apart.
Find out more about:
- How to access free Teams offerings?
- Reassurance around the avoidance of service interruptions during times of increased usage?
Making Teams available for everyone
Teams is a part of Office 365. If your organization is licensed for Office 365, you already have it. But we want to make sure everyone has access to it during this time. Here are some simple ways to get Teams right away.
Individuals
If you want to get started with Teams, we can get you up and running right away.
- If you have an email address through work or school, sign in using this link. Microsoft will get you into Teams in no time.
- If you’re using an email address like Gmail or Outlook, you can sign up for the freemium version of Teams by following this link.
IT professionals
The self-service links above work great for individuals, but if you’re an IT professional who wants to roll out Teams centrally, here’s what to do.
- If you work for a business that is either new to Microsoft or an established Microsoft customer but don’t currently have licences that include Teams, we’ve got you covered with a free Office 365 E1 offer for six months. Contact SIS Global to take advantage of this unique partner offering to quickly enable remote working.
The Customer benefits
A six-month, partner-initiated offering giving our customers a chance to enjoy the full-featured Microsoft Teams collaboration experience in their everyday work lives.
- Online file storage
- Document sharing
- Co-authoring
- Chat
- Teams meetings
- Integration with third-party apps
If you work in education and want to set up teachers, students, and administrators on Teams, use Office 365 A1. This free version of Office 365 is available to all educational institutions. Sign up by following this link.
Keeping your Teams up and running
You and your team depend on Microsoft tools to stay connected and get work done. Microsoft take that responsibility seriously and have a plan in place to make sure services stay up and running during impactful events like the COVID-19 outbreak. Their business continuity plan anticipates three types of impacts to the core aspects of the service:
- Systems: When there’s a sudden increase in usage, like the surge we recently saw in China.
- Location: When there’s an unexpected event that is location-specific, such as an earthquake or a powerful storm.
- People: When there’s an event that may impact the team maintaining the system, like the COVID-19 outbreak in many regions across the world.
Read more about the details of Microsoft Business Service Continuity Plan
Adjusting to remote work can be a challenge. We get it, and we are here to provide the tools, tips, and information you need to help you and your team meet that challenge. We are committed to helping organizations everywhere stay connected and productive during this difficult time.
