It’s hard to believe it’s been four years since I wrote about my not-so-glowing experience with Teams during a series of training sessions. Back then, I was dealing with tech glitches, clunky breakout rooms, and a lot of frustration. But fast forward to 2025, and a lot has changed. Teams (and I) have come a long way, and with it, the whole video conferencing landscape has evolved.
When I first wrote that blog, Teams was jostling with serious competition in the corporate world. Now, due to it’s integrated functionality it’s the default platform for most organisations. Thankfully; a lot of things are better:
Breakout rooms: finally useful
One of the biggest gripes I had back in the day was the nightmare that was managing breakout rooms. It was a real pain to move people between rooms or delegate that task to anyone else. Well, good news: Teams has finally caught up. You can now delegate breakout room management to co-hosts (no more being the lone breakout room controller!) and move participants between rooms on the fly. Organising meetings with breakout rooms is a lot less stressful – It’s a small but crucial improvement.
Enhanced security
Teams has become the go-to platform for secure collaboration, and increasingly clients are citing this as an important feature. With stronger data encryption, advanced security features, and admin controls, it’s now the trusted place to for protecting sensitive information and meeting compliance standards.
New features & usability: more than just a meeting tool
One thing that’s really made Teams stand out over the last few years is how it’s evolved to enable collaboration. Yes it allows people to meet virtually, but now it integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft tools like Word, Excel, and OneNote, letting people collaborate live during meetings and outside of them too.
The landscape: Zoom and Google Meet still in the mix
That said, Teams isn’t without competition. Google Meet has had a bit of a resurgence, particularly in the education and creative sectors. With its integration into Google Workspace, it’s a solid choice for those who don’t need the full bells and whistles of Teams. On the flip side, Zoom—which at one point seemed like the go-to platform—has started to feel a bit outdated, especially around its update cycle and pricing.
Teams is now the standard, and I’m onboard!
Increasingly, clients now expect online meetings to be on Teams. Mentioning Zoom elicits confused looks, (“Is it still 2021?”). It’s a clear sign that there’s been a shift, and that Teams and its seamless integrations have become the new standard for corporate collaboration. Thanks to recent improvements, Teams has become an integral part of my toolkit, and I’ve started to enjoy using it ( I never thought I would say that).
It’s been interesting to reflect on how much has changed since the pandemic, and I’ll be curious to revisit in a few years to see how things have evolved.
Thanks for reading!
