Microsoft CEO chats Teams and the competition in new interview

Satya Nadella discusses how Teams can be a single user interface for much of the web.

What you need to know

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discusses Microsoft Teams in a recent interview.
• Nadella explains how Teams can act as a single user interface for much of the web.
• The CEO also responds to critics of Microsoft's strategy with Teams.

Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella discusses the development and future of MIcrosoft Teams in a recent interview with the Financial Times. Microsoft Teams saw massive growth throughout 2020 but could become even bigger, according to Nadella.

In his interview with the Financial Times, Nadella talks about how Teams can act as a single user interface for much of the web, including video calls, collaboration tools, online communication, and services. He refers to the service as an "organising layer," which pulls together tools into a single workspace. He also points out that Teams can be a platform for developers to create services.

The Financial Times summarizes a key part of its interview with Nadella, stating, "According to Satya Nadella, Microsoft's chief executive, Teams is on its way to becoming a digital platform as significant as the internet browser, or a computer operating system."

Microsoft's competition, including Slack and Salesforce, have been critical of Microsoft. At times, the companies have accused microsoft of creating a closed software platform. Teams comes bundled with several other Microsoft services, which some companies have voiced concerns over. In response to criticism, Nadella told the Financial Times, "I think they should probably look at themselves in the mirror before they shoot their mouth off."

The accusation of a closed platform is an interesting one. Nadella spoke with the Financial Times about how Microsoft Teams integrates with several other services. Additionally, Microsoft's own Windows operating system allows people to use programs like Slack.

Microsoft Teams sat at 13 million daily active users in 2019, but that userbase exploded up to 115 million at the end of September 2020. That growth occurred for several reasons, including, of course, the global pandemic that forced millions to work and study from home. But the growth of Teams isn't simply a result of circumstance. I recently broke down how 2020 was actually the year of Microsoft Teams. It appears that Nadella thinks 2021 could be the year of Teams as well.