The news: Microsoft said there are now 145 million daily active users on Microsoft Teams, its fast-growing collaboration software. That’s up from 115 million in October and 75 million in April 2020.
Why it matters: The pandemic and shift to remote work has caused a huge spike in Teams usage. Microsoft is aiming to make Teams a central hub and operating system for work, attempting to give its communication and collaboration software an edge over rivals such as Zoom, Slack and Google, while expanding its productivity technologies further beyond the core Microsoft Office suite.
Teams has an advantage over competitors because it is offered as a component of the Microsoft 365 subscription plans that include the company’s widely used Office productivity software. Microsoft is able to integrate Teams with other 365 apps such as PowerPoint and Dynamics.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts Tuesday that Teams is “not about just meetings or about just chat — most importantly it’s a platform.”
Even as workers come back to the office, Nadella said that usage still continues to grow “in markets where employees have returned to the workplace.”
New features: Microsoft has steadily added more capabilities to Teams over the past year, including shared external channels, “Together Mode,” live transcriptions, and more.
Earnings: Microsoft on Tuesday also announced its fiscal third quarter earnings, beating expectations with $41.7 billion in revenue. Overall revenue in the Productivity and Business Processes division was $13.6 billion, up 15%. The division includes Office and related products, including Microsoft Teams.
