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3 min read

Nothing can stop a team

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“Nothing can stop a team.” If you said that to me a few months back, I would have probably thought: Yes. Teamwork is powerful. At Microsoft we’re big believers in the power of teams, and we understand that successful teamwork today requires so much more than just connecting during meetings or over chat. It’s about sharing crucial knowledge quickly to keep work moving forward while also keeping everyone up to speed. We built Microsoft Teams as a place where customers could call, meet, chat, and collaborate all in one place—so that teams always have the critical context they need to work together, even when they need to work apart.

Fast-forward to a world of remote everything. Teachers connecting with students in virtual classrooms. Doctors and nurses taking essential consultations online. Factory-floor managers pivoting to produce much-needed medical supplies. And they’re using Teams to do it. We have watched as millions of you lean into, and build upon, the Teams technology. So now, at this extraordinary inflection point in human history, when I hear the words “nothing can stop a team,” I think: Wow, yes. What a profound and moving truth. And thanks to our customers, we get to see that truth play out every day.

Today, we are debuting a series of stories from customers who embody the spirit of unstoppable teams. This first video is unlike any other we’ve created. It had no director. No crew. No just-right lighting or fancy mics. It’s just real people, connecting over real Teams meetings and calls, to share the impactful work they’ve been doing since they’ve had to work apart. For me, their stories capture the essence of why Microsoft exists in the first place: to empower every individual and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As a platform and tools company, we’re here to help educators and healthcare professionals connect with students and patients from anywhere, to help multinationals and small businesses stay productive, and to help people everywhere keep reaching higher—even in difficult times.

A bit more about the organizations we featured:

  • Founded in 1088, the University of Bologna is the oldest university in the western world. And innovation is at the heart of their continued success over the centuries. “Unibo,” as insiders call it, first reached out to Microsoft at the end of February to ask for support in bringing their classes online to help create learning continuity for the students. In its first week, the university went live with 50 percent of the classes, and by the second week they were at 100 percent. They now reach 87,000 students with more than 3,600 courses online, with positive feedback from IT, faculty, and the students. The school reports that the response was extraordinary, with students and teachers turning to social media to spread the news. As one professor put it on Twitter: “This was big.”
  • The Metropolitan Police Service is running its London COVID-19 technology response on Teams. Across the organization, from uniform police patrol officers to forensic teams, up through command teams and across specialists and operational support, the Metropolitan Police Service is now “living on Teams” to keep each other connected and running smoothly so it can keep London safe.
  • St. Luke’s University Health Network serves approximately 1 million people across 10 counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In a matter of weeks, they transformed the way they work and deliver patient care through Teams and since April 1 have scheduled over 17,000 patient virtual visits. This allowed them to continue critical outpatient visits while protecting both patients and physicians from COVID-19 exposure and preserving valuable resources like masks and gloves. Tablets have also been installed in patient rooms so providers could engage with infected patients via Teams, minimizing exposure while still allowing for face-to-face connections between patients and caregivers.
  • In response to COVID-19 L’Oréal quickly adapted a plant in France to produce hand sanitizer and then expanded the effort to 28 of its factories across the globe. Teams allowed for this to happen rapidly with efficient and effective coordination and communication. L’Oréal has started to donate thousands of liters of hand sanitizer to hospitals, pharmacies, care personnel staff, and retailers’ staff around the world who need it to operate. “Teams technology made it possible to work remotely in all continuity to implement quickly our new priorities,” added Barbara Lavernos, EVP Technologies and Operations.

Hearing these customers’ stories, I am blown away by the sheer strength of our human will to connect and keep work moving. They come from different countries and very different industries, but together they represent millions of people around the world who are discovering that nothing can stop a team. At Microsoft, we are committed to building the tools that help keep them working together, through the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.