What new features are coming to MS Teams to power your remote workforce?

Communication app Microsoft Teams has been exploding in popularity since the pandemic has begun and continues to be one of the most popular video conferencing and virtual collaboration tools.

Before the pandemic, the service had 32 million daily active users. That jumped to 115 million as of October of 2020, and now MS Teams has 145 million people using on the platform.

One of the reasons Teams has gained such popularity is that Microsoft has continued to pour a lot of time, effort, and multiple features enhancements into the application. It’s designed to enable remote teams in more ways than any other conferencing or chat app.

Teams is available with Microsoft 365 and it has also just been natively integrated into Windows 11 to enable video, audio, and chat connections from the desktop.

Microsoft Teams allows employees to hold virtual meetings, collaborate within the app on Word or Excel documents, share files securely in chat channels, and much more. In the last few years, Microsoft even introduced a VoIP add-on for the application.

The company shows no signs of slowing down. At the recent Microsoft Ignite 2021 event, a number of new features were announced for Teams that users can expect to facilitate their connections in the near future.

Teams Connect

Have you ever felt disconnected from external companies that you work with because you can’t easily chat with them in your internal company app? Microsoft is changing this by allowing companies to connect easily with other organisations or individuals that aren’t part of their account from inside Teams.

Rather than having to add someone as a guest user, you’ll be able to create a channel using Teams Connect and invite other individuals and organisations (like consultants or clients) to that channel. The channel will show up natively along with your other internal Teams channels allowing you to more fluidly communicate with others outside your company.

Features to Make Virtual Meetings More Efficient

Sometimes, small changes can make a big difference in how effectively your online meetings run. An example of this can be found in some of the new user experience features being added to Teams in early 2022.

These include enhancements that make meetings better, like:

·       The ability to schedule team roles in a meeting so people will know what’s expected of them

·       The ability for the presenter to see the order that hands were raised

·       Users can pin or hide their own video

Virtual Green Room for Webinar & Event Presenters

One thing that can always be awkward when presenting webinars or video events is communicating with those presenting without the attendees seeing or hearing you.

One of the new webinar and broadcast capabilities being added to MS Teams is a virtual green room. This will give presenters and organisers a virtual space of their own to socialise, monitor chat and Q&A, and discuss any last-minute event details, all separate from the main video conference.

More Control Over What Attendees See

One of the things that can be frustrating when you’re giving a virtual presentation is the lack of control over what participants see on their side of the screen.

Microsoft is adding more controls in Teams for meeting presenters to help them better engage the audience and remove distractions. Presenters will be able to choose which participant videos are displayed on the screen, the same is true for any shared content.

Mesh for Teams for 3D Immersive Environments

The most futuristic enhancement announced at Microsoft Ignite was Mesh for Teams, which brings your Teams meetings into a 3D virtual space. This feature will require the use of VR headsets, and it is an indication of where the virtual world is going next.

Imagine being able to onboard customers to your company software from across the world, but still have an immersive experience. This technology can also be used to replace a 2D photo that displays when a user has their webcam off and replace it with a realistic 3D representation of the person.

New Q&A Experience

Many webinars incorporate a participant Q&A, which is usually done in the chat box of the video session. Teams will elevate the Q&A experience by enabling more structure for both webinars and moderated meetings.

Presenters will have the ability to:

·       Mark best answers

·       Filter responses

·       Moderate and dismiss questions

·       Pin posts to the top of the Q&A area

Q&A is already available in public preview and will provide a more organised format for meeting presenters and users.

IS YOUR WORK-FROM-HOME TEAM FULLY OPTIMISED WITH DIGITAL TOOLS?

BrightSkye can help your UK business tap into the full value of Microsoft Teams to enable communications between your work-from-home teams, office teams, and those outside your company.

Contact us today to schedule a consultation at 0141 212 2240 or reach out online.