#Microsoft365 and the ‘Which Tool & When’ Quandary

Arguably, the question that frustrates Microsoft 365 product leadership more than any other is “Which tool should I use, and when?” And the only real answer to this question is one that frustrates just about every customer: “It depends.” Within that response is the reality that what is a “best practice” for one company may not be the “best practice” for others. There are common features across products and seemingly competing capabilities, but that it because different organizations work in different ways and require those common features. Some organizations are email-centric, others prefer social experiences, and still others want list and libraries and workflow automation. There is no single way to work that satisfies all of these working styles, or collaboration cultures. Instead of “It depends,” the longer answer to the question “Which tool & when” might be “Use what makes sense, and what fits your organizational culture.”

As the features within SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Yammer, OneDrive, and all of the others within the M365 ecosystem become more intertwined, it does seem like people are asking the “Which tool & when?” question less and less. But is this due to the maturity of the technology,  or with continued growth and broader adoption, are people just finally “getting it?”

For the next #CollabTalk TweetJam on Tuesday, April 27th at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern we will gather as a community to discuss “Are Customers Still Asking ‘Which Tool & When’?”  and share different perspectives and real-world examples of how the Microsoft 365 platform has moved beyond the “inner loop, outer loop” discussions and, quite possibly, has found its groove. Or not. Regardless of how you feel about the question, it should be a hearty community discussion, and I’m looking forward to participating!

Anyone can join this community discussion using Twitter and the #CollabTalk hashtag or your favorite Twitter platform. You do not need to be an “expert” to participate in the online conversation, and can ask questions, comment on the questions posed, or just “lurk” in the background. These online discussions are open to anyone — you do not have to be on the panel to participate.

This month’s tweetjam is being sponsored by tyGraph and AvePoint. Thanks for your support!

If you have never participated in one of these tweetjams, it’s pretty simple: anyone can jump in and share their thoughts, or just lurk in the wings and absorb the wisdom of the crowd. Either way, it’ll be a TON of content to consume in a single hour. You can follow the live session using the Twitter UI of your choice (Twitter.com, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, whatever). How it works is that I’ll post a series of questions every few minutes, and people will respond to Q1, Q2, Q3 and so forth with A1, A2, A3, always including the #CollabTalk hashtag with their answers. Feel free to reply as often (or as little) as you’d like, ask your own follow up questions, share relevant links, re-tweet others, and engage with the audience.

The questions we will discuss during the session include:

1. In your view, which features/tools are driving the most growth and adoption of the #Microsoft365 platform, and why?
2. Are your customers or your organization still asking which #Microsoft365 tools to use, and when?
3. Is #MicrosoftTeams changing the way your customers/organization collaborate? Has it become your “hub for teamwork?”
4. While #SharePoint remains the top solution for Intranets, has its role evolved with you customers/organization?
5. With #Yammer growth again on the rise, which business scenarios are driving this growth?
6. In your opinion, what are the primary gaps in the #Microsoft365 offerings, and how are customers filling this gap?
7. What 3 things could Microsoft do to help answer outstanding questions about “Which Tool & When?”

As always, there will be side-questions, side-conversations, and wise-cracking throughout. This is open to the public, so please join in the discussion! The dialog is always thought-provoking and fun.

Participating on this panel (so far):

• Darrell Webster (@DarrellaaS), Office Apps & Services MVP and co-founder REgarding365.com
• Wes Preston (@idubbs), SharePoint MVP, evangelist,  and owner at TrecStone
• Emily Mancini (@EEmancini), Microsoft MVP, PnP team member, architect at Sympraxis Consulting
• John Peltonen (@johnpeltonen), founding partner at 3Sharp
• Eric Overfield (@ericoverfield), Microsoft Regional Director, SharePoint MVP, and founder of PixelMill
• Nicki Borell (@NickiBorell), Microsoft MVP & RD, evangelist & consultant for SharePoint, Office 365 and Azure
• Martina Grom (@magrom), co-founder of atwork.at, Office 365 MVP and Microsoft Regional Director
• Kurt Kragh Sørensen (@KurtKragh),  intranet consultant and owner of IntraTeam.com
• Patrick Curran (@pcfromdc), federal cto at Planet Technologies
• Treb Gatte (@marqueeinsights), Business Solutions MVP, international speaker/man of mystery at Marquee Insights
• John White (@diverdown1964), dual SharePoint and Data Platform MVP, cto at UnlimitedViz and tyGraph
• Laura Rogers (@WonderLaura), SharePoint MVP, consultant, and owner of IW Mentor
• John Peluso (@johnconnected), Microsoft Regional Director, and chief product officer at AvePoint
• Adam Ball (@AdamCBall), co-founder of COUCUG, Teams and Skype for Business MVP
• Hal Hostetler (@TVWizard), Microsoft MVP and senior field engineer and social media coordinator for Roland, Schorr & Tower
• Dux Raymond Sy (@meetdux), Microsoft Regional Director, SharePoint MVP, and Chief Brand Officer at AvePoint
• Stacy Deere-Strole (@sldeere), SharePoint MVP and owner of Focal Point Solutions
• Ed Senez (@edsenez), president at UnlimitedViz and tyGraph
• Kevin McDonnell (@kevmcdonk), solutions architect at CPS
• Matt Varney (@thevarnish), intranet manager at KCTCS
• Suzanne George (@spgenie), Microsoft Regional Director, MCTS, and chief architect for collaboration services at Cognizant
• Michal Sobotkiewicz (@michalsobot), founder and ceo of @KanBoHQ
• Jay Leask (@jayleask), principal solution engineer for AvePoint Public Sector
• Eli Robillard (@erobillard), SharePoint MVP, musician, fly-fisher, collaboration technology guy
• Sarah Haase (@sarahhaase), Microsoft MVP, corporate collaboration evangelist & librarian, organizer of SPS Twin Cities
• Paul Swider (@pswider), cto at RealActivity, and enterprise SharePoint strategist
• Mike Maadarani (@mikemaadarani), Office Apps & Services MVP, cloud solution architect at MCM Consulting
• Nick Brattoli (@Byrdttoli), Microsoft MVP, founder and lead consultant at Byrdttoli Enterprise Consulting
• David Patrick (@DavidEPatrick),  Office Servers & Services MVP, user group organizer, subject matter expert with DSA, Inc.
• Tobiasz Koprowski (@KoprowskiT), Data Platform MVP, founder and consultant at Shadowland Consulting
• Sascha Fredrich (@saschaF80), IT consultant of Microsoft solutions at bei Bechtle AG
• and your host, Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Microsoft MVP & RD, #CollabTalk founder, Microsoft gtm director at AvePoint

If you would like to be included on one of these panels, please drop me a line via email, LinkedIn, or Twitter. And thank you again to tyGraph for your support of these CollabTalk tweetjams! And finally, if you are interested in being a sponsor of a future tweetjam, please contact me.

For our May tweetjam, we’re partnering with the Teams Nation event on May 12th at 11am Pacific, providing an end-of-event tweetjam panel discussion on “Improving Productivity in the Enterprise.” As always, the conversion is open to anyone who would like to participate. If you’d like to join many of the speakers as part of the panel, please DM me.