Finally a reason to check Microsoft Teams: Payday!

Microsoft has recently unveiled its latest feature, enabling payments to be processed within its Teams video conferencing platform. This innovative addition is expected to offer small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) an effortless means of collecting payments during their virtual meetings.

“We have partnered with some of the largest players in the payments space to combine the core collaboration capabilities in Teams with powerful commerce features in the first-of-its-kind app that allows you to accept payment during business conversations. With a mutual focus on helping small businesses prosper, we are excited to partner with GoDaddy, PayPal, and Stripe to help you increase your revenue and make it even easier for customers to interact with you,” Microsoft’s blog post reads.

With this launch, Microsoft aims to cater to the needs of the 11 million SMBs currently utilizing its services.

In an effort to outpace rival scheduling software and payment gateways, Microsoft has integrated a range of features within its Teams platform, enabling users to manage most aspects of their virtual interactions seamlessly.

This means that professionals like lawyers or financial advisors can now receive payments for their consulting services without relying on third-party software. Moreover, businesses operating in the virtual space may find the need for a separate payment platform to be redundant.

“For example, a lawyer or financial advisor can collect payments for consultative appointments, a real estate instructor can do the same for license-renewal sessions, or a teacher for tutoring classes—all while the customer is engaging with them,” Microsoft explains.

The Teams Payments app is expected to be an ideal solution for sole traders and contractors, particularly those working in the health and fitness industries. With its seamless integration and efficient payment processing, the app is likely to offer customers a smoother and more convenient transaction experience. However, to process payments, business owners will need to have an account with one of the three initial launch partners.

When will Teams Payment be available?

The timeline for the full general availability of Teams Payments is currently unknown. However, the public preview version is readily accessible for users subscribed to Teams Essentials ($4 per month) and Microsoft 365 Business (starting from $6 per month), at no additional cost, making it an extremely cost-effective way for businesses to receive payments.

While there are no membership fees charged by the payment platforms, standard transaction fees still apply. It's important to note that PayPal and Stripe are the only payment options currently available, despite the partnership with GoDaddy, which is expected to be supported in the near future.

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