Microsoft Announces Teams Essentials , a New Teams Stand‐Alone offering for SMB’s

Microsoft has announced the first ever stand-alone offering of Microsoft Teams, specifically designed for small-midsize businesses (SMBs), called Teams Essentials.

It brings together features small businesses need to serve customers, including unlimited group video calls for up to 30 hours, group chat, file sharing, and calendaring. 

Microsoft says the shift to remote and hybrid work has presented ample challenges for companies of all sizes, but the unique challenges that small businesses face require unique solutions, and Microsoft is well-positioned to provide its SMB customers with the best possible tools to succeed.

Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365 says while the past 20 months have been challenging for all organizations, small businesses have been hit the hardest. 

“They’ve had to adapt nearly every aspect of how they operate and work with customers, often without access to critical tools and technologies. The world isn’t going back to the “old” way of working, so small businesses need solutions that are designed specifically for their unique needs to thrive in this new normal.”

Microsoft says Teams Essentials brings existing Teams capabilities together with features specifically designed for small businesses and community groups: 

• Extended meeting times—With meetings that can last up to 30 hours, there’s no need to worry about your Teams Essentials meeting running over its time limit, whether you’re meeting one-on-one or in a group.

• Large meeting capacity—With the ability to host up to 300 people at once, Teams Essentials offers the ability to bring everyone into the same virtual room.

• Calendar integration—In addition to integration with Outlook Calendar, the new Google Calendar integration in Microsoft Teams means you can use your existing calendaring tool to stay on top of schedules and manage your meetings. *Google Calendar integration coming soon.

• Simple, easy invitations—Inviting people to a meeting is easy. Simply add them to the Teams meeting invitation using their email address. They will receive a meeting invitation with a link to join. And if they don’t have Teams, the meeting will open directly in their browser. No sign-up, sign-in, or installation required.

• Interactive meetings—Professional meeting tools and capabilities like meeting lobby, virtual backgrounds, Together mode, live closed captions, live reactions, and more allow any organization to host engaging meetings.

Microsoft  says Team Essentials cost only $4 USD per user per month and is  the most affordable all-in-one solution in the market today.

Customers looking to use Microsoft Teams for personal use can get access to these same features and extended meeting limits with a Microsoft 365 Family and Microsoft 365 Personal subscription.