How Microsoft Teams Can Help Secure Your Business Communications

Have you ever had trouble piecing together a communication trail from a customer?

A lead may have initially inquired through your website, which triggered an email. Next, a follow up call was made by a salesperson from their mobile phone. Then later, the person called into the office to place an order and the phone was answered by someone who didn’t even know they’d contacted your business previously.

This type of disjointed communication happens all the time in companies because of the lack of a cohesive policy for capturing a communication trail in a single place.

This not only can negatively impact customer service or your ability to tie a lead method to a sale, it can also result in security issues. This is especially true if you have employees working remotely.

43% of the cost of cyberattacks comes from information loss.

Say you have an employee that takes down sensitive customer information during a call, like a credit card number. They store that on their personal computer because they’re working from home. The computer is later hacked through a home network breach and the unprotected information is compromised. You also have no other copy of that data stored anywhere else.

When conversations and the resulting emails, messages, or shared files are being saved on a variety of devices, it’s much more difficult for you to apply data security restrictions.

One simple way to solve the problem is by capturing all communications in Microsoft Teams.

This Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) application was built to power connections and collaboration. The fact that it brings them all together into an organized structure makes it easier for you to keep them secure and accessible.

Advantages of Using Teams to Catalog Your Business Communications

There are a number of communication types that can happen in the Microsoft Teams app. These are all captured according to the channel you choose.

For example, in the case of the lead with a disjointed communication trail, you could set up a Teams channel for “New Leads.” Then connect your website contact form to Teams so all new contacts come in to the “New Leads” channel.

The salesperson could then call the lead from within Teams, using their mobile phone and the Microsoft 365 Business Voice VoIP add on, so the experience is just as convenient. That call is then captured within the same channel.

Later, when the lead calls in to order, the receptionist could easily be aware of that this person has already made contact because their information would be easy to find in the “New Leads” channel of Teams. Notes from the call could be typed into that same channel.

That’s a snapshot of how using Teams can greatly improve your communication capture strategy.

Here are ways that Teams helps you keep your communications and content more secure and protected.

Keeps Information Together

Teams allows you to organize your data and communications however you like into channels. The interface captures in one place:

• Calls
• Video conferences
• Shared file attachments
• Emails (that you forward to a Teams channel)
• Instant messages
• Communications from other apps that are integrated with Teams

Communications can be accessed by those that need them through the use of a keyword search. They can also be secured to only those that need access and have encryption applied.

Secure Who Can Access Data

You have the ability to secure Teams chat channels that you set up. These can be secured by department or simply by the staff members you invite to join the channel.

For example, a private channel could be set up for your accounting department, with access restricted to your accounting team. You can then designate that any communications that include financial information, such as a customer credit card number, can only be shared in that channel.

This keeps that sensitive financial information secure and ensures only those that need access have it, reducing the risk of a breach.

Security Features in Teams

Information that’s stored on a variety of employee computers or mobile devices, may be at risk if those devices don’t have proper threat protection or security safeguards.

Microsoft Teams is protected by a number of security protocols that you can enable to ensure your communications stored in the platform remain secure.

Safeguards include:

• Multi-Factor Authentication: You can enable multi-factor authentication for all users, which helps prevent the chance of an account hack and an unauthorized user gaining access to your information.
• Encryption of Data: Teams enforces team-wide and organization-wide encryption of data while in transit and at rest. This helps prevent data compromise and enhances data privacy compliance.
• Advanced Threat Protection (ATP): You can use ATP with Microsoft Teams, which will help you identify any content that is malicious in nature, and block access to it.
• Safe Attachments: This feature is designed to scan for any malicious file attachments in Teams and prevent them from being sent to users.
• Compliance: There are a number of compliance features that can be used with Teams to further protect your communications. These include information barriers, communication compliance, data loss prevention, and more.

Get Started with Microsoft Teams for Better Communications

Cloud software like Microsoft 365 and Teams can be made more powerful through the use of customization. The experts at Quantum PC Services can get you started on the right path to consolidate and secure your data for better efficiency.

Contact us today to learn more. Call 920-256-1214 or reach us online.