In the January 2024 edition of What’s New in Microsoft Teams, Microsoft showcases 33 exciting features and enhancements. These updates are designed to boost collaboration, streamline workflows, and enhance connectivity within your team. Discover the latest innovations across meetings, chats, Teams Phone, Teams Devices, Platform, and Frontline Workers.

Discover Exciting Features:

  • Immersive Spaces: Transform your meetings into captivating 3D experiences. Choose from pre-built immersive spaces in the view menu during a Teams meeting to engage your team like never before.
  • Decorate Your Background: Utilise AI to personalise your real-world surroundings. Whether decluttering or adding decorative elements like plants to your wall, customise your environment effortlessly.

This month, Microsoft introduced Intelligent Recap, which is now included with Copilot for Microsoft 365. Even without a Teams Premium license, users with a Copilot license can access Intelligent Recap in Teams.

Every month, Microsoft highlights newly certified devices ready for Teams use. Explore various devices tailored for various spaces and needs at aka. ms/teamsdevices.

Chat and Collaboration

Forward chat messages

Introducing Forward Chat, a convenient feature to enhance productivity with fewer clicks. Easily share messages with colleagues by simply right-clicking on the message and selecting “forward,” or by clicking the ellipsis (…) on the message and then selecting “forward.” You can also include additional context to ensure clarity for the recipient. Forward messages to both 1:1 chats and group chats effortlessly.

Meetings

Mesh in Microsoft Teams

To support hybrid work setups and teams spread across different locations, Microsoft has integrated Microsoft Mesh directly into Teams.

Mesh in Teams transforms your regular Teams meetings into immersive 3D experiences, using advanced technology to bridge the gap between virtual connections and face-to-face interactions.

Getting started is simple. During a Teams meeting, navigate to the View menu, choose the immersive space (3D) option, and enter a pre-built immersive environment where 3D collaboration seamlessly blends with the standard 2D meeting interface. Whether it’s a team social event, brainstorming session, or round-table discussion, Mesh in Teams allows you to use familiar Teams features within a 3D space, such as accessing shared content, chatting in Teams, and using live reactions.

Mesh in Teams enhances your favourite Teams features by creating a sense of physical presence with others. This co-presence fosters spontaneous conversations and strengthens the shared experience. Visual and audio cues immerse you in the moment, eliminating distractions. Spatial Audio and audio zones enable multiple conversations simultaneously, facilitating effective communication within subgroups without overlap, similar to real-world interactions.

Mesh in Teams is available with core Teams licenses. Additionally, organisations can organise more significant events with custom immersive experiences through Microsoft Mesh, accessible via Teams Premium.

Intelligent recap incorporated with Copilot for Microsoft 365 license

Introducing Intelligent Recap is now part of your Copilot for Microsoft 365 license. With this enhancement, you gain access to Intelligent Recap for Teams, which gives you a concise summary of your meetings.

After your meetings, utilise Intelligent Recap to receive a summary that includes personalised timeline markers, making it effortless to navigate recordings based on key moments such as when you joined or left, screen sharing instances, and mentions of your name. Additionally, you can explore recordings by speakers, chapters, and topics while accessing AI-generated meeting notes and tasks and easily locating name mentions within the transcript.

Decorate your background

Introducing “Decorate Your Background” to add a touch of fun and personality to your meetings. With this feature, participants can utilise generative background effects in Teams to present themselves in the best light, regardless of their physical surroundings.

“Decorate Your Background” harnesses the power of AI to generate backgrounds that enhance and beautify their real-world environment, whether by decluttering space or adding decorative elements like plants to a wall. This feature is accessible to users with a Teams Premium license, offering an opportunity to elevate the meeting experience.

People-specific link support for Collaborative notes

With the introduction of Collaborative Notes, meetings become more efficient and secure by utilising a new link type. By default, Collaborative Notes now generates a People-Specific Link (PSL), providing a higher access control level than a Company-Specific Link (CSL). This update aligns with tenants implementing file-sharing policies tailored to specific individuals. Tenants who previously couldn’t utilise Collaborative Notes due to the absence of PSL support can now enable and leverage this feature.

Automatically consider 9 videos (3×3) in Teams meetings in Chrome and Edge.

This update enables Microsoft Teams Meetings to automatically show up to 9 videos (3×3) on Chrome and Edge browsers without manual intervention. Previously, Teams Meetings on web browsers only displayed a maximum of 4 videos (2×2) by default.

Facilitated audio and video controls

Enhanced Audio and video controls in meetings aim to simplify and streamline the management of your audio and video settings during team meetings. Now, selecting your camera or microphone device is easier—you can directly choose the desired device from the fly-outs. Additionally, you can now adjust volume, spatial Audio, and noise suppression controls from the audio fly-out.

If you didn’t choose your background during the pre-join screen, changing it is now effortless—you can do so directly from the camera fly-out. Avatars are also accessible from the camera fly-out, enabling their use in meetings. Moreover, brightness and soft focus adjustments can be made directly from the camera fly-out.

Virtual appointments

Assign team and set spell for on-demand Virtual Appointments.

For scheduling administrators and staff overseeing on-demand appointments, there’s now the ability to assign specific staff members and establish appointment durations. This ensures that each on-demand appointment has an assigned staff member and a predefined duration. The designated staff member receives a notification for the on-demand appointment. This feature is accessible to users with a Teams Premium license.

SMS notifications in Virtual Appointments template

Text notifications via SMS are now integrated into the Virtual Appointments template within the Teams app, enhancing the appointment experience for attendees. Attendees will receive SMS notifications containing appointment details, and the meeting joins link, allowing them to join directly from their mobile devices if preferred. Text notifications are sent for appointment confirmation, updates, and a reminder 15 minutes before the appointment starts. This feature is accessible to users with a Teams Premium license and is currently available for users in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Teams Rooms and Devices

Discover a range of certified devices tailored for diverse spaces and applications at aka.ms/teamsdevices.

Newly Certified Devices:

  • AVer VB350: Featuring a Hybrid 18X Zoom designed for Medium & Large Rooms, this sleek video bar boasts dual 4K lenses, seamless lens switching, upgraded audio technology, and effortless setup. Elevate your video meetings with premium audio and video quality. Learn more about AVer – VB350.
  • Lenovo ThinkSmart 180: This premium conference bar offers superior Audio and visual experiences with its modern design and AI-accelerated performance. Transform your small and medium-sized meeting rooms into cutting-edge collaboration spaces with this stylish and easy-to-install device. Discover Smart Collaboration | Lenovo Tech today.
  • AudioCodes RXV200-B20 Bundle: Designed for optimal hybrid meeting experiences in focus rooms, this bundle includes the RXV200 intelligent A/V hub, RX-PAD touch room controller, RXVCam50 camera, and RX15 speaker. Orchestrating multiple audio and video peripherals, the RXV200 ensures an immersive meeting experience for all participants, supporting content sharing and a wide range of AI capabilities. Learn more about AudioCodes RXV200 bundles.
  • AudioCodes RXVCam10-CC: Now certified for Teams, this content camera facilitates easy sharing of whiteboard content between in-person and remote meeting participants. Leveraging Microsoft Teams AI, it offers intelligent whiteboard detection, image sharpening, contrast adjustment, and more for enhanced collaboration in hybrid meetings. Explore RXVCam10-CC.

Teams Rooms Management:

  • BYOD Meeting Spaces Management with Teams Rooms Pro Management: Gain comprehensive insights into BYOD rooms’ utilisation and activities with the Pro Management Portal. Empower IT admins to make informed decisions based on valuable data.
  • New Shared Display Mode for BYOD Meeting Rooms: Extend your Teams meeting via a pop-out and view-only version of the stage on the TV screen in BYOD meeting rooms. Ensure meeting content is displayed prominently while maintaining privacy for personal desktops.

Teams Phone

New partner integrations for Teams Phone contact center

Microsoft’s Teams Phone contact centre and compliance recording certification programs guarantee seamless functionality and reliability by subjecting contact centre and compliance recording solutions to rigorous third-party testing. Recently, Microsoft has certified two new ISV partners: BrightPattern and CenterPal. With these additions, Microsoft now boasts 24 certified Contact Center solution partners and 13 certified Compliance Recording solution partners, with more partnerships in the pipeline.

Enhancements to Mobile In-Call User Experience

Experience improved access to calling features with a revamped user interface during calls to enhance your mobile calling experience.

Live Meeting Status for Mobile

Stay informed with the live status of meetings directly from your Teams calendar on mobile devices. View participant pictures, meeting recording status, and duration of the ongoing meeting for a more comprehensive understanding.

Play Azure Protected Voicemail in Mobile Teams App

Access your Azure-protected voicemails seamlessly through the Teams app on your mobile device. Receive notifications for voicemails within the Teams app and easily access them via the attached link, opening them directly in your web browser.

Discover Collaborative Apps

1Page

The 1Page app serves as an all-in-one productivity tool designed to empower sales professionals. It facilitates connections with data, insights, and potential or existing customers. With the Copilot plugin, users can now access streamlined data and real-time insights from the 1Page app using conversational language prompts across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

Alvao

Alvao for Microsoft Teams streamlines routine processes, enhances team productivity, and aids users in focusing on essential projects. With its recent expansion into Microsoft 365 applications, Alvao enables easier connecting tickets opened in Outlook with an agent. The app simplifies logging chat messages to tickets, provides a manageable list of tickets for resolution tracking, and empowers agents to address and resolve tickets promptly.

Calm

Calm for Microsoft Teams integrates the leading app for meditation, sleep, and relaxation into your daily workflow. Calm’s mindfulness content promotes relaxation, productivity, and connectivity by offering access to over 3,000 Calm sessions within the Teams interface. Users can engage in mindfulness sessions individually or with others in chats and meetings, receive personalised recommendations, set reminders for mental health breaks, and more to facilitate resetting, stress reduction, and resilience building.

Planning for Educators

Empower educators to streamline the planning process within Microsoft Teams, allowing them to dedicate more time to teaching. This flexible planning tool enables educators to organise and manage class resources, including lesson plans, assignments, files, videos, and links. Students also benefit from Planning’s comprehensive visual timeline and enhanced accessibility through Microsoft’s Immersive Reader.

SYNQ Frontline Hero

The SYNQ Frontline Hero app brings SYNQ’s retail services to Microsoft Teams, facilitating seamless connections between retail store staff and customers. Staff can efficiently manage in-store and curbside pickup orders, promptly respond to customer inquiries in chat, and address requests for staff assistance or customer service, all within the convenience of Teams.

IT Administration and Security

Configure Maintenance Window for Teams Devices

Teams administrators can now set up time windows for maintenance tasks on Teams devices within the Teams Admin Center, ensuring efficient device updates and maintenance management.

Extended Real-Time Telemetry Retention

Admins in the Teams admin centre can troubleshoot meeting quality more effectively with extended real-time telemetry retention, available for up to 7 days after the conclusion of a meeting for users with Teams Premium licenses. This feature enables admins to identify and resolve quality issues with detailed telemetry for up to 7 days post-meeting.

Microsoft Teams Admin Center – External Domain Activity Report

Teams administrators gain insights into user interactions with managed domains through the external domain activity report. This report displays the domains communicated via organised communication and the number of internal users involved, offering valuable visibility into external domain activity.

Watermark Support for Recording Playback

Meetings with watermarks can now have recording enabled, displaying an email ID watermark during playback of recorded meetings. This feature, available with a Teams Premium license, allows users to view recorded content with watermarking on web and mobile platforms, enhancing security and compliance measures.

New Meeting Option and Meeting Policy ‘Turn off Copying or Forwarding of Meeting Chat’

Introducing a new meeting option to disable copying and sharing of meeting chat messages for participants, preventing data leakage. Admins can control organiser access to this feature in the Meeting Options page and set default values in Meeting Templates, requiring a Teams Premium license for implementation.

Frontline Worker Solutions

Automatically Listen to Multiple Channels – Walkie-Talkie

Frontline workers using Walkie Talkie in Teams can now automatically listen to incoming messages from up to 5 pinned favourite Teams channels. This feature simplifies communication and allows seamless PTT transitions across multiple channels without manual switching.

Allow Frontline Teams to Set Shift Availability for Specific Dates

Frontline workers can now set their preferred dates for work, enhancing flexibility in managing scheduling needs beyond weekly availability options.

Wrapping up

TECHOM Systems delivers comprehensive Microsoft Teams deployment services, leveraging January 2024’s innovations for enhanced collaboration. We integrate immersive 3D experiences, advanced chat tools, and certified Teams Devices, fostering engagement and productivity. We ensure a seamless transition to maximise organisational efficiency by focusing on security and user empowerment.

Our expertise extends to deploying cutting-edge team devices and optimising meeting spaces for seamless communication. Robust security measures prioritise data protection and compliance. Our holistic approach includes comprehensive training and support, empowering your workforce for sustained success.

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Partner with TECHOM Systems to unlock Microsoft Teams’ full potential and drive your organisation’s productivity forward.

Schedule a Free Consultation today, and let’s ensure your communication strategy is future-proof and fully aligned with your business objectives.