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Essential Updates: April Edition

Published on 2020-05-11

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Recommended Microsoft Updates: April

 

Microsoft’s wealth of tools and applications are constantly being updated with bigger and better releases. So much so, that it can be difficult to keep up with and often these updates can be overlooked or forgotten about by users. To make sure our clients are getting the best out of their Microsoft applications we keep track of all the latest updates and changes.

 

We’ve put together a list of a few of our favourite and most interesting updates from April.

Carrying on from March, the mass shift to remote work has pushed Microsoft to focus on usability updates for Microsoft Teams, particularly Teams’ meeting tools and policies. April updates also saw news on the eagerly awaited Yammer and additional analytics to help those managing a team remotely.

 

 

Available now:

 

New in MyAnalytics: insights for people managers

An update to MyAnalytics means that people managers with a MyAnalytics license will be able to use the Insights Outlook add-in. This add-in will allow them to stay connected with team members, prompt them with reminders to reschedule 1:1s if conflicts arise, follow up on important requests, and more. 

Ultimately, this update will help people managers stay up to speed with their team members easily and efficiently. 

Learn more: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/workplace-analytics-myanalytics/new-in-myanalytics-insights-for-people-managers/ba-p/1347789 

 

Measure and improve the Microsoft 365 experience with Microsoft Productivity Score

The Microsoft Productivity Score provides organizations with insights about how people use Microsoft 365 and the technology experiences that support them. As a result, organizations can use the data and insights to improve how work gets done.  

The new features will include a new communication category. This category will be added to the employee experience area and will measure how people communicate over email, Microsoft Teams chat, and Yammer posts.  

Learn more: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/roadmap?filters=&searchterms=63566 

 

A Refreshing New User Interface for Teams Phones

Microsoft has announced a new and improved user interface on Microsoft Teams phones. The new look will help users navigate quickly between features and gain access to favourites.  

The updates include an always available dial pad, the ability to add and remove favourites, and group call pickup. 

The experiences are now available to all users as a firmware update through the Teams Admin Center today.  

Learn more: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/a-refreshing-new-look-for-teams-phones/ba-p/1351532 

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Presenter and Attendee roles for Meetings in Microsoft Teams.

New roles are available for meetings in Microsoft Teams.  With this update, meeting organizers will now have an option to define presenter and attendee roles for meetings. With these roles, presenters can have full control over the meeting. This includes having the ability to share content, mute or remove participants, admit people waiting in the lobby, or start/stop recordings. Participants with the attendee role are not offered these options, making meetings straight forward and regulated.  

This feature has been included as part of the initiative to transition Skype for Business to Microsoft Teams. 

Learn more: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?featureid=51047 

 

Create and award digital publicly verifiable badges in Teams.

Microsoft is bringing a new way to recognize and award open, publicly verifiable digital badges within the Teams interface with an Open Badges app template.   

Using Microsoft Teams' Open Badges app template, users can easily create and grant badges to team members within Teams. Once awarded, recipients and other members of the team are notified. Award details can be viewed by tagging the recipient of the badge inside the channel conversation. 

As with all app templates, the Open Badges templates are open-sourced Teams apps that are production-ready and can be deployed quickly as your organization's internal line-of-business apps. 

Learn more: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/create-and-award-digital-publicly-verifiable-badges-in-teams/ba-p/1307507 

 

 

Coming Soon

 

Group chat with up to 250 people in Teams

Microsoft has moved to increase the group chat maximum. This increase will accommodate those large businesses working from home that require a big project chat with a large group or an ad-hoc discussion with staff at an event, but don't need to start a new team.  

The new limit has risen from 100 and will now be able to accommodate up to 250 users. 

Learn more: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/roadmap?featureid=63577 

 

Yammer: The New Yammer (Public Preview)

The eagerly awaited new Yammer experience for the web has started to roll out and is now available for public preview.  

The new Yammer experience has been completely rebuilt and is Microsoft’s first application to fully leverage the Fluent Design System. 

With the announcement of the public preview, it is looking like Yammer for web will soon catch up with the new mobile experience and be fully rolled out to customers imminently. 

Learn more: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/yammer-blog/the-future-of-yammer-microsoft-ignite-2019/ba-p/976710 

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Live Presentations in PowerPoint for the web are rolling out

Live Presentations enables every audience member to view a presentation on their own devices, like their laptop, tablet, or phone. Each audience member can turn on live captioning and choose subtitles from more than 60 languages. This update is rolling out just in time to assist educators and team members while they work from home. 

The live presentation feature enables reactions in real-time and allows the audience to navigate between slides, ensuring that they remain engaged and that they don’t miss any important details from the presentation.  

Learn more: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/roadmap?featureid=51121 

 

Yammer app for Microsoft Teams

Alongside the rolling out of the new Yammer experience, the new Yammer App for Teams is available, bringing the full experience of Yammer right into any users hub for teamwork.  

With the app, users can participate in conversations, watch live and on-demand events, and browse communities while still having access to projects, chats, and meetings.  

The Yammer App in Teams can be pinned directly into the Teams navigation rail for quick access. 

Learn more: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/yammer-blog/the-yammer-app-for-microsoft-teams-is-now-available/ba-p/1320286 

 

If you think Microsoft 365 might be the tool for you need then get in contact with us. At Walvis Technologies we have helped many businesses make the important move to Microsoft Teams. With our expertise, we make the switch as straightforward as possible and are there to support your company through any teething problems once it's installed.

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