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MVP Webinar Series Highlights – Advancing Modern Work Through Microsoft Teams Part 2

CMMA Blog

MVP Webinar Series Highlights – Advancing Modern Work Through Microsoft Teams Part II

Microsoft Teams has proved to be an invaluable tool, enabling businesses to communicate and collaborate more effectively and efficiently. Microsoft Teams is a vast platform and navigating its extensive list of capabilities can be challenging. Our MVP series was developed for this purpose – to help users get the most out of their Teams subscription by connecting them with the foremost experts in the field.

From optimizing your network to uncovering Teams strategies and tools to improve your workflow, this webinar series covers a range of useful topics:

Episode 1: Optimizing Your Network for Microsoft Teams
Episode 2: Empowering Collaboration with Microsoft Teams Devices
Episode 3: Developing Inclusive Communications Through Microsoft Teams
Episode 4: Supporting Neurodiversity with Microsoft Teams

In this article, we will briefly recap episodes three and four, highlighting some of the top tips from each episode. Highlights from episodes one and two can be seen in part one of our webinar series highlights .

Episode 3: Developing Inclusive Communications Through Microsoft Teams

With millions of users working daily in Microsoft Teams, companies must understand the different video-based communication and collaboration interfaces available before choosing the right format for any given situation. In episode three Daniel Glenn , M365 Apps & Services MVP, walks you through:

  • Using Live Events and Webinars
  • Breakout Rooms and when to use them
  • Using video to communicate through Microsoft Teams
  • Viva Engage and Microsoft Teams

In the clip below, Daniel when and how to use breakout rooms to increase engagement and collaboration in meetings.


Tips for Creating Inclusive Meetings

  1. Select the best type of meeting – Understand the capabilities of each meeting type and pick the interface that best matches your participant’s needs.
  2. Use breakout rooms – Large meetings can deter engagement. Breakout rooms create smaller spaces that make it easier and more comfortable for people to interact and share with the group.
  3. Turn your video on – Video shows people that you are engaged. It also allows them to understand your level of commitment while letting them engage with you more easily.
  4. Connect with Viva Engage – Use Viva Engage to connect with leadership and communities, share knowledge, and spark engagement.

Episode 4: Supporting Neurodiversity with Microsoft Teams

Global studies estimate that as much as 40% of the population lives with cognitive differences like ADHD, dyslexia, and dyspraxia. In theory, at least one person you work with has a cognitive difference. This means that they may communicate, consume, and interpret things differently.

Episode four features Megan Strant and Loryan Strant , M365 Apps & Services MVPs who share tools available on the M365 platform that support neurodiverse individuals and help them work more efficiently. In this episode, they cover:

  • Enhanced focus
  • Reading and writing
  • Leveraging audio and video tools
  • Other M365 app enhancements

In the clip below, Megan Strant and Loryan Strant discuss the Enhanced Focus tools that are available in Microsoft Teams and how they can be used to improve your workflow.

Tips for Creating Enhanced Focus

  1. Viva Insights Focus Time – Carve out time to focus and get work done. The Focus Time feature automatically schedules focus time for you, sets your status to “Focus” to alert others, mutes notifications and gives you reports to track how much focus time you honored.
  2. Teams presence and status messages – A Focus mode status is only sometimes enough to deter people from booking a meeting or messaging you. You can manually change your Teams status to let people know you are unavailable and add a status message to let them know why you can’t respond immediately and/or when you will be available again.
  3. Tuning out – Sometimes you need to tune out all the beeps that can derail your focus and reduce the noise and distractions. Learning to manage notifications for posts and chats and leaving meeting chats that you are not attending can help cut the volume. If a conversation has caught your attention and there is an action item in there, rather than becoming a part of the conversation, consider using “Create a Task” to help narrow your focus and return to it when you are ready.

Explore Each Topic On-Demand

Microsoft Teams has become an integral tool in the modern workplace, enabling seamless communication and collaboration regardless of device or location. The multitude of features in the Teams platform can be overwhelming to approach on your own. However, by leveraging the tips and strategies provided by the Microsoft MVPs who joined us for this series, you can easily get the most out of your Teams subscription while improving your workflow.

The post MVP Webinar Series Highlights – Advancing Modern Work Through Microsoft Teams Part 2 appeared first on Kollective Technology .

To view our Partner blog, click here

Three Business Principles to Avoid Compliance Woes

CMMA Blog

There are many perks of hiring independent contractors, including being able to:

  • Outsource tasks not core to your business
  • Engage workers for specific, short-term, or highly specialized tasks
  • End engagement whenever it makes sense
  • Avoid much of the onboarding hassle
  • Avoid paying a premium for benefits

Engaging independent contractors is very appealing, but is only to a company’s advantage when they stay in accordance with IRS guidelines. Otherwise, they could find themselves in very hot, very expensive water.

Three Business Principles to Stay Out of Trouble When Engaging Independent Contractors

Do Your Due Diligence Up Front

Doing the right things up front will save you headaches later. It’s that whole ounce of prevention thing. One of the most important things you can do to stay on solid ground is to classify workers correctly . It’s one of the very best ways to avoid unwanted interactions with the IRS. A worker’s classification is the foundation for what benefits they’re entitled to by law. There’s a misconception out there that the IRS is only paying to the big companies—the Ubers and Instacarts of the world. This isn’t true and it’s quite a risk to operate like it is. Expensive legal disputes over worker classification have affected companies whose names you’ve never heard of right alongside the Fortune 500 companies that make the headlines. Following the rules and classifying correctly from the beginning saves time in the long run and puts companies on solid ground if the IRS does come knocking.

Make Adjustments When Needed

Classification rules are always changing, right along with the employment landscape. Businesses cannot set something up and then forget about it. We cannot predict exactly how things will change, but we can be sure that they will. A new system could include portable benefits that travel with workers from company to company or something we’ve not heard anything about yet. Whatever happens, businesses that stay in tune with legal considerations are in position to adapt as those changes come. When a company doesn’t have the internal staff or bandwidth to accomplish this, engaging a third party to handle the details is a very sound business decision.

Have a Mutual Understanding—In Writing—With Every Independent Contractor

An independent contractor arrangement can be good for workers and companies alike. Many workers prefer the setup and, with lower costs to employers, it can be a win-win. Still, since workers have to make their own arrangements for retirement, health insurance, and worker’s compensation, which can be a burden. The main way to prevent issues surrounding this is for both parties to understand expectations up front. Whether they’re working for you for a one-time assignment or have a monthly agreement, having a contract with each independent contractor is important. It’s not just good for businesses. Having clear expectations up front is good for workers, too.

The Bottom Line

Currently, there is no standard playbook that guides businesses exactly how to pay contractors fairly while keeping costs down. To navigate it all legally and ethically, you must have the internal resources or the right partner that does. PayReel keeps up with the rules and developments and makes the adjustments on clients’ behalf. This handy guide  helps determine whether having a third party handle these details is a good idea for your business. In addition to handling worker classification , PayReel handles other risky aspects of business, including payroll and payroll taxes. Going above and beyond by classifying workers correctly from the beginning, being in position to adapt to changes, and having a clear understanding of expectations is more than warm a warm and fuzzy notion. It’s a sound business decision, too.

The post Three Business Principles to Avoid Compliance Woes appeared first on PayReel .

To view our Partner blog, click here

Introducing Our New VP of Technology: Mark Lindley

CMMA Blog

Overseeing all things tech is a big job for just about any company, and with the software that’s core to our business and the level of information that crosses our paths, PayReel is no exception. That’s why we’re so happy to welcome a long-time expert to our team!

Mark Lindley: VP of Technology 

Mark oversees the company’s communications, PC security, software engineering, and core application. Security is a top priority at PayReel and Mark is responsible for the firewalls, penetration tests, user education, and PC updates that keep clients safe.

Mark has a wealth of experience in security, telecommunications, software engineering, software development, and enterprise architecture. He has been in the industry long enough to remember when computers weren’t a part of daily life and has led multiple companies through the massive changes of the previous 3 decades. He has held leadership roles with companies like iLending, William M Mercer, Coopers and Lybrand, CIMCO Communications, and Comcast.

Mark’s background, in conjunction with his propensity for business, make him a good fit for his role at PayReel. He is used to adapting to changing times and he always considers the business value of the solutions he presents.

Just as he strives to find the best solutions in his work, Mark strives to improve himself in his personal areas of interest—such as golf and fitness. He loves hiking, running, fishing—anything that gets him outdoors—and he also enjoys cross-generational rock & roll and SciFi movies.

Something Else: It’d be a mistake to put Mark into a “tech guy” or any other type of box. His interests and background are diverse: He was a pole vaulter in college and even used to show dogs as a kid.

The post Introducing Our New VP of Technology: Mark Lindley appeared first on PayReel .

To view our Partner blog, click here