Shawn is CEO at CoreView, a top Microsoft 365 Mgmt Solution for IT leaders who want to take control of M365 Governance and Delegation.
Microsoft might be pushing Teams off its starting line-up soon—but I’m not convinced it will have much impact on its playing time.
In August, the Verge reported that Microsoft was planning to unbundle Teams from its other Office products in some markets, meaning it would no longer automatically be installed on devices for Microsoft Office users. Microsoft has confirmed this and has begun laying out the specifics of how the unbundling will occur, including pricing. The Verge also reported that the move is meant to fend off antitrust concerns from European regulators.
“Today we are announcing proactive changes that we hope will start to address these concerns in a meaningful way, even while the European Commission’s investigation continues and we cooperate with it,” Microsoft announced in a blog post on August 31. “These changes will impact our Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites for business customers in the European Economic Area and Switzerland.”
It’s impossible to know how regulators will see the decision, though Bloomberg reported that regardless of the changes, regulators were pressing forward with their investigation. What will all of this mean for users? From a product-use standpoint, I expect most companies will probably continue to use the video-calling and messaging app at similar rates to what we currently see. However, it will probably make things more complicated for IT administrators. In short, I believe we could end up in the same place we are now, but with more user licenses to track.
Cutting Microsoft No Slack
The European Union is said to be investigating Microsoft in response to a complaint filed by Slack back in 2020. At the time, Slack alleged that the company was violating antitrust regulations by bundling Teams with Office. Of course, Slack has since been acquired by Salesforce, Inc., so the company’s perspective on bundling products might have shifted since then.
Computer World reported that it wasn’t just Slack, though. There is also a dispute between the EU and Microsoft over its search engine, Bing. Microsoft has contended that Bing should not be subject to the EU’s Digital Markets Act legislation. The European Commission is considering the matter and should have a decision in a few months, according to Computer World.
This is not the first time Microsoft has faced scrutiny for its bundling practices. Reuters reported, “Microsoft…has been hit with 2.2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in EU fines in the previous decade for cases involving so-called tying and other practices.” However, it’s interesting to me that this current dispute could result in the Teams application specifically being the one that’s unbundled because it’s arguably more integrated into the other Office applications than almost anything else the company offers.
But as many have come to realize, Teams represents a fundamental shift in how we do business. This might actually be the issue for antitrust regulators. In that sense, it is similar to Internet Explorer, which Microsoft once bundled with its Windows operating system until the company was sued by the U.S. government for that practice.
Teams As An Integral Part Of The Workforce
Internet Explorer was a foundational technology. It changed the paradigm for how we interact with our computers. Now, I believe Teams is doing the same for how we interact with one another. And from my perspective, competitors are likely worried because they understand the importance of the moment.
By all accounts, bundling Teams has, objectively, been successful for Microsoft. Launched in 2017, the application already has 300 million monthly active users, according to information from the company’s April 2023 earnings call.
In fact, many companies have embraced Teams as a core part of their operations, especially as staff have shifted to work-from-home routines. Now, the conversation is focused on governance and how to get the most out of the application. So, I’m not hearing anyone ask, “How do we make sure people are using Teams to chat with their colleagues?” Rather, I’m hearing people ask, “How do we prevent Teams sprawl because we actually have so much use that it’s overflowing?”
Filling In The Unbundling Gaps
There is some question as to whether an EU issue would eventually impact Microsoft users globally. I’m of the belief that it will. International companies probably won’t want the headache of having to track conflicting licenses around the world. In the long run, it’s likely going to be easier for Microsoft to apply the unbundled model everywhere.
Well, it’ll be “easier” up to a point. With Teams being offered as a separate license, and even potentially at different price points, IT administrators will likely need to manage more work on the back end of things.
Microsoft Teams is a technology that is useful for many users. For IT administrators, though, it can be difficult to manage. Microsoft understandably prioritizes making the best software possible to make Teams a productive collaboration tool. But sometimes, that means leaving out things that would make the lives of IT administrators easier. Here are some tips to help administrators find their way.
• Create automation with report-based and event-based workflows.
• Create and manage policies that address security concerns automatically, such as forcing changed passwords or activating multifactor authentication.
• Automate license management by creating a process to reclaim licenses when a user becomes inactive.
With these tips, administrators can hopefully ease some of the potential frustrations they might otherwise face when navigating the unbundling of Teams.
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