Important News from Microsoft Ignite 2022
If you're interested in Microsoft products, you may know about Microsoft Ignite. It's held annually and brings out many exciting updates and announcements from the Microsoft world.
Microsoft's last conference was held in October last year. In the hustle and bustle of the recent holidays, you may have missed some of the highlights. That's why we're presenting them to you now.
One thing you'll notice is that Microsoft Teams was highly praised at the event. Microsoft now describes Teams as "the app at the center of Microsoft 365" We can understand why the company keeps improving this virtual workspace. Teams now has over 280 million users. No wonder, considering Microsoft has introduced over 450 new Teams features. And that's just in the last year.
Below, we'll go over some Teams features, along with other Microsoft app announcements from Ignite. These may give you some ideas for your next digital workflow upgrade.
There's a new Teams Premium offering from Microsoft that adds a whole new AI component to the platform.
Cool features include automatic chapter creation from a team meeting. The app also generates personalized highlights for you. That way, you don't have to watch the meeting again later.
If you're holding an international meeting, you can have the subtitles translated in real time. Another new feature is meeting guides. It sets up your meeting options according to your needs.
SmartVision 60 is the first intelligent 360-degree camera that is located in the center of the room. It's able to track the speaker as they move around. The camera is also expected to have a people detection function soon.
SmartVision 60 makes virtual meetings feel much more like real meetings. Instead of just seeing a small video image of one person, the camera's movement can capture an entire team.
Those who are fans of Cisco meeting products will be happy to hear that they now have more options. Microsoft announced that Cisco is now a Teams Room Certified Devices Partner. You can now launch Teams meetings from any certified Cisco meeting device.
One of the virtual workspace apps that support the new hybrid movement is Microsoft Places. This is a team management app that integrates with the rest of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
The office is still around, but for how much longer? During the pandemic, much of the world had to do their work virtually. Many businesses and employees have found that they like it better that way. Seventy-four per cent of US companies have adopted or plan to adopt a permanent hybrid working model.
Microsoft Places is another way Microsoft is leading the hybrid office revolution. Some of the features of the app are:
Another feature announced in relation to hybrid working is Hours and Location. It is a new feature in Teams and Outlook that makes it easier to schedule face-to-face meetings.
It can be difficult to plan face-to-face meetings if you do not know who is working in the office and who is not. If you plan without checking, you are bound to alienate someone. The person will not be pleased if they wanted to work from home that day.
With the new working hours and location feature, you can specify where you are working. You can adjust this from hour to hour. This takes the guesswork out of scheduling.
Another exciting announcement from Microsoft was about the Loop app. It was explained that Loop has been added to the private preview. This gives some companies the opportunity to test the app.
Loop is a collaborative workspace app that allows teams to develop ideas in a virtual space. All data pulled from Microsoft 365 apps is automatically synced to stay up to date.
You may have noticed an unfamiliar application running on Windows. Microsoft Clipchamp was officially announced at the Ignite event. It's a fast and simple video editor for Windows PCs.
Have you ever felt frustrated when you tried to edit a video and didn't have the right tool? Then you should take a closer look at what Clipchamp has to offer. It looks like the learning curve is pretty low.
Microsoft 365 has come a long way in a short amount of time. There are many different app integrations that you can use to support your workflow. But without the help of an expert, it can get a little complicated. Call Onyx IT today to schedule a Microsoft consultation.
Article used with permission from The Technology Press.
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