Microsoft unveils chat-based workspace

US tech giant Microsoft has unveiled a new chat-based workspace "Microsoft Teams" that brings together people, conversations, content and the tools that teams need to collaborate.

Microsoft Teams provides persistent, threaded chat to keep everyone engaged and informed and also packs a library of emojis, GIFs, custom stickers and memes that gives people a fun way to express personality within their digital workspace.

"Office 365 is the broadest toolkit and platform for creation, communication and collaboration. Microsoft Teams adds a new experience to Office 365 as the chat-based workspace designed to empower the art of teams," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a statement.

Microsoft Teams is also built on Office 365 Groups, the cross-application membership service that makes it easy for people to move naturally from one collaboration tool to another.

The workspace offers the ability for teams to customise the experience to meet their specific needs and team members can create channels to organise conversations by topic.

As part of Office 365, Microsoft Teams offers the global scale and advanced security and compliance capabilities provided by the Microsoft Cloud. Data is encrypted at all times and covered by a transparent operational model with no standing access to customer data, the company said.

The preview of Microsoft Teams is available to Office 365 commercial customers with Office 365 Enterprise or Business plans and is available in 181 countries and 18 languages.