How to set up Microsoft Teams for your business: a step-by-step guide
By Jera IT
Originally published July 2021. Refreshed November 2026: Microsoft retired Skype in May 2025 and attackers now use Teams chats to pose as IT support, so we've rewritten this guide around setting Teams up properly and safely.
Microsoft Teams can be the easiest way for a business to keep everyone connected: chat, meetings, files and even phone calls in one place. Or it can become a sprawl of duplicate teams and files nobody can find. The difference is the set-up.
The short answer: check your licences, set your security and sharing settings first, create a small number of well-named teams, then invite staff and show them how you want it used.
Before you start
- Licences. Teams comes with most Microsoft 365 business plans. Check that everyone who needs it is licensed. (Microsoft also sells some plans without Teams, so check your invoice.)
- Who’s in charge. Decide who can create new teams. If everyone can, you’ll soon have dozens.
- Naming. Agree simple names, such as Department or Client: Name, so teams are easy to find.
Step by step
1. Set your security and sharing policies
In the Teams admin centre, decide before anyone is invited:
- Guest access. Decide whether people outside your business can be added to teams. (See Teams guest access.)
- External access. Decide who staff can chat with and call outside your organisation, and restrict it to the organisations you actually work with.
- Meeting settings. Decide who can bypass the lobby and who can present, and whether meetings are recorded.
- Retention. Decide how long chats and files are kept.
2. Plan teams and channels
Start small. Five to ten teams is plenty for most small businesses. Build them around how work actually happens:
| Team | Example channels |
|---|---|
| Whole company | Announcements, Social, IT help |
| Finance | Invoices, Month end, Payroll |
| Sales | Leads, Proposals, Marketing |
| Client projects | One channel per active client or project |
Each team gets its own SharePoint site, so files shared in a channel live in one place with the right permissions.
3. Move files in deliberately
Don’t drag every old folder across. Move current files into the right team and leave archives where they are, or move them in a second phase.
4. Invite staff and set expectations
Agree a few simple habits: chats for quick one-to-one questions, channels for team work, files shared as links rather than attachments, and status set so people know when you’re free. A 30-minute introduction saves weeks of confusion. See Microsoft 365 end user training.
5. Add the extras
- Teams Phone replaces your old phone system. It is an add-on licence, plus a calling plan for your numbers.
- Meeting room devices give you one-touch joining.
- Backup protects Teams chats and files. See why you need to back up Microsoft 365.
- Meeting summaries (Microsoft calls them intelligent recap) need a Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot licence for each person who uses them (Microsoft). See Copilot for small business.
What has changed: security and AI
- Attackers use Teams. Criminals message staff in Teams posing as the IT helpdesk, asking them to approve a login or install remote-access software. Restricting external access and telling staff how IT will really contact them closes the easiest way in.
- Copilot is in the menus, not in the price. AI meeting summaries need a paid Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, and Copilot can only see what each person can see. Tidy permissions before you turn it on.
- Teams replaced Skype. Microsoft retired Skype on 5 May 2025 (Microsoft), and Teams is now its calling and meetings platform for business and personal use.
How Jera can help
We set up Microsoft Teams for businesses across Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeenshire as part of our managed IT, from the security settings to Teams Phone. If your Teams has grown messy, book a call and we’ll tidy it in one go.
Frequently asked questions
How do I set up Microsoft Teams for my business?
Check your Microsoft 365 plan includes Teams, sign in to the Teams admin centre, set your security and sharing policies, plan a small number of teams and channels, then invite staff and give them a short introduction. Your IT provider can do the admin side for you.
Is Microsoft Teams free for business?
Teams is included in most Microsoft 365 business plans, and there's a standalone Teams Essentials licence. The free personal version of Teams isn't designed for running a business: it lacks the admin and security controls a business needs.
What's the difference between a team and a channel in Teams?
A team is a group of people with a shared space, for example 'Finance' or 'Client projects'. Channels are topics inside a team, for example 'Invoices' or 'Month end'. Each team also gets its own SharePoint site where its files are stored.
How do I add external people to Microsoft Teams?
Either add them as guests, which gives them access to specific teams and files, or chat with them through external access, which lets you message and call people in other organisations without giving them access to your content. Set both up deliberately and restrict them to organisations you trust.
Can Microsoft Teams replace our phone system?
Yes. With Teams Phone, staff can make and receive normal phone calls in Teams on a laptop, desk phone or mobile, using your existing numbers. Teams Phone is an add-on licence, and you also need a calling plan or another way to connect to the phone network. It's a common move as the UK's old phone network is switched off.
