Dive into our SEPTEMBER 2024 Microsoft Teams Show!

In this month's episode of our Microsoft Teams news show, host Rob Scott returns with a deep dive into the latest updates and features that are reshaping the Teams ecosystem. Joined by Tom Arbuthnot from Empowering Cloud and a panel of Microsoft Teams experts, the discussion covers significant advancements, from contact center enhancements to AI-driven meeting summaries.

In this update, we talk through the most popular Teams news headlines with this month’s special guests:

• Rob Scott, Publisher at UC Today
• Tom Arbuthnot, Empowering Cloud
• Satish Upadhyaya, Microsoft Unified Communications Architect, SOFTEL Communications
• Kevin Kieller, Co-Founder & Lead Analyst, enableUC
• Graham Walsh, Director, Global Technical Sales, Alliances, Neat
• Amanda Sterner, Employee Experience & Productivity Expert

Whether you're an IT professional, a business leader, or simply a Teams enthusiast, this episode offers invaluable insights into how these updates can improve your collaboration experience.

• Callback for Call Queues: Microsoft Teams now lets callers request a callback instead of waiting on hold. Discover how this game-changing feature could revolutionize customer service operations.
• Intelligent Recap for Ad-hoc Meetings: Coming in October, Intelligent Recap will bring AI-driven summaries to spontaneous meetings and calls. Find out how this feature could transform your meeting follow-ups.
• Channel Cards: Quick overviews of channel activities are now at your fingertips with the new Channel Cards. How will this impact team collaboration in Teams?
• Town Hall Reactions & Graph APIs: New reactions and Q&A export features are here for Town Halls in Teams. Explore how these tools enhance large-scale events and meetings.
• Voice Isolation on MacOS: AI-powered noise suppression is now available for Mac users. Learn why this feature is a must-have for hybrid work environments.

Rooms and Devices:

• Custom Backgrounds in Teams Rooms on Android: Customization just got a boost! Find out how custom backgrounds in Teams Rooms on Android can elevate your meeting experience.
• Join Zoom Meetings with ID on Teams Rooms on Android: Joining Zoom meetings just got easier on Teams Rooms. What does this mean for businesses juggling multiple platforms?
• Dynamic Video Tile Size in Teams Rooms on Windows: Teams Rooms on Windows now adjusts video tile size based on room occupancy. Discover how this dynamic feature enhances video conferencing.
•  Direct Recording in Teams Rooms on Windows: Start and stop meeting recordings directly from Teams Rooms on Windows. Learn how this feature simplifies the recording process.
• PowerPoint Live in Cloud Video Interop: PowerPoint Live presentations can now be displayed as video content in Cloud Video Interop. See how this boosts remote presentation quality.
• BYOD Participant Roster Grouping: The new participant roster grouping in Teams BYOD rooms brings individual identification and meeting intelligence to the next level.
• Yealink Teams Phones on MDEP: Yealink’s new Teams phones run on the Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform. What does this mean for the Teams device landscape?

Events and Plugs:

Watch on YouTube.

Dive into our AUGUST 2024 Microsoft Teams Show! Host Tom Wright teams up with special guest Tom Arbuthnot from Empowering.Cloud to unpack recent updates and announcements. Joined by a panel of seasoned Teams experts, find out what’s new in the Teams ecosystem.

In this update, we talk through the most popular Teams news headlines with this month’s special guests:

• Ryan Herbst, Vice President & Chief Device Strategist, UnifiedCommunications.com
• Josh Blalock, Chief Video Evangelist at Jabra

Microsoft Teams News

• Microsoft Earnings FY24 Q4 
• Modern Work Insights 
• Multiple Teams Client Improvements 
• Speaker recognition for all Teams Rooms on Windows 
• Microsoft Teams devices updates / Chat Notification Service Depreciation
•  Teams Displays
•  End of support September 2025 
• Microsoft to discontinue Microsoft 365 connectors in Teams (but extends deadlines to move to Power Automate)

Connect with Rob Scott and Tom Arbuthnot on socials here:

Rob Scott

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Tom Arbuthnot

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Thanks for watching, if you’d like more content like this, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel.

You can also join in the conversation on our Twitter and LinkedIn pages.

Join our new LinkedIn Community Group.

Dive into our July 2024 Microsoft Teams Show! Host Rob Scott teams up with special guest Tom Arbuthnot from Empowering.Cloud to unpack recent updates and announcements. Joined by a panel of seasoned Teams experts, find out what’s new in the Teams ecosystem.

In this update, we talk through the most popular Teams news headlines with this month’s special guests:

• Graham Walsh, Product Specialist at Neat
• Ryan Herbst, Vice President & Chief Device Strategist, UnifiedCommunications.com

Microsoft Teams News

• European Commission's Objections: Discussion on the European Commission's formal statement of objections to Microsoft regarding the bundling of Teams with Office 365/Microsoft 365.
• Microsoft Teams Phone Intelligent Call Recap: Now generally available, part of Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
• Recording and Transcription Policies: New policies for recording and transcription including explicit consent requirements.
• Copilot Sales Plugin: AI assistant for sales meetings and CRM integration.
• Intelligent Translation of Chats: Automatic language translation in text chats.
• Multi-tenant Enhancements: Improvements for organizations with multiple tenants.
• Custom Backgrounds for Teams Rooms Panels: Consistent branding inside and outside meeting rooms, available with Teams Rooms Pro license.
• SIP Interoperability: Enhanced interoperability with third-party services through Pexip.

Teams Events 

• Virtual Converge Partner Bootcamp (APAC): July 8th to July 10th, 9 PM to 1 AM PDT.
• Teams Fireside Chat with Traci Herr: July 11th, discussing Intune and Android devices.
• Microsoft Teams Devices Ask Us Anything: July 15th and 16th.

Connect with Rob Scott and Tom Arbuthnot on socials here:

Rob Scott

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Tom Arbuthnot

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Thanks for watching, if you’d like more content like this, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel.

You can also join in the conversation on our Twitter and LinkedIn pages.

Join our new LinkedIn Community Group.

Dive into our JUNE 2024 Microsoft Teams Show! Host Rob Scott teams up with special guest Tom Arbuthnot from Empowering.Cloud to unpack recent updates and announcements. Joined by a panel of seasoned Teams experts, find out what’s new in the Teams ecosystem.

In this update, we talk through the most popular Teams news headlines with this month’s special guests:

• Graham Walsh, Product Specialist at Neat
• Kevin Kieller, Co-Founder and Lead Analyst, enableUC
• Satish Upadhyaya, MVP, Microsoft 365 UC Architect
• Ryan Herbst, Vice President & Chief Device Strategist, UnifiedCommunications.com

Microsoft Teams News

• Copilot+ PCs and Microsoft Recall
• Team Copilot - a new personal assistant?
• Places Public Preview - 'an app that reimagines flexible work'
• Bookable Desks in Microsoft Teams update
• A big drop of new capabilities to help you manage Microsoft Teams channels
• Intelligent Recap updates - even more language support announced
• Custom emojis and reactions - dangerous or fun? or both? We discuss
• Slash commands to complete tasks more quickly
• Live Events retirement delayed
• Roadmap - some cool new features coming up!

 Teams Events 

• Teams Fireside Chat - Juan Rivera, Microsoft Corporate Vice President for Teams Calling, Meetings and Devices - June 13
• Microsoft Teams Devices Ask Me Anything - June 17 (EMEA/US) and 18 (APAC)
• Virtual Converged Communications Partner Technical Bootcamp - June 18 - 20
• Microsoft UC User Group London - June 19 - WPP office, London
• Experts Live
• Commsverse - June 26 - 27

Dive into our MAY 2024 Microsoft Teams Show! Host Kieran Devlin teams up with special guest Tom Arbuthnot from Empowering.Cloud to unpack recent updates and announcements. Joined by a panel of seasoned Teams experts, find out what’s new in the Teams ecosystem.

In this update, we talk through the most popular Teams news headlines with this month’s special guests:

• Graham Walsh, Product Specialist at Neat
• Kevin Kieller, Co-Founder and Lead Analyst, enableUC
• Josh Blalock, Chief Video Evangelist at Jabra
• Randy Chapman, Solutions Engineer in Video Collaboration, Logitech

Teams News

• Microsoft is reportedly developing its own AI platform to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT. What does this mean for Microsoft, its AI strategy and its OpenAI partnership?
• Microsoft Quarterly earnings - 20 million Teams Phone users, an increase on 17 million last July
• Over one million Microsoft Teams Rooms customers
• Teams Rooms on Windows 5.0 - Lots of new features for Teams Rooms!
• New Teams update now on Teams Rooms
• Zero Touch Deployment with Windows Autopilot
• Skype for Business Deprecation
• Meeting Chat shown by default in Gallery View for Teams Rooms on Windows
• Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro Portal Remote Access - How does it work and could it be a gamechanger for IT admins?
• Restricted SharePoint search began rolling out in public preview for Copilot for Microsoft 365
• New Notebook for Copilot (on the web) - What exactly is it and how does it work?

Teams Events 

• European Collaboration Summit - May 14-16
• Microsoft Teams Devices Ask Me Anything - May 21-22
• Microsoft Build, Seattle and Online - May 21-23
• UCX Manchester - May 21-22
• Teams Fireside Chat with Juan Rivera - June 13
• Commsverse - June 26-27

Dive into our APRIL 2024 Microsoft Teams Show! Host Rob Scott teams up with special guest Tom Arbuthnot from Empowering.Cloud to unpack recent updates and announcements. Joined by a panel of seasoned Teams experts, find out what’s new in the Teams ecosystem.

In this update, we talk through the most popular Teams news headlines with this month’s special guests:

• Graham Walsh, Product Specialist at Neat
• Kevin Kieller, Co-Founder and Lead Analyst, enableUC
• Josh Blalock, Chief Video Evangelist at Jabra

BIG NEWS: Microsoft to Decouple Teams from Office – A Global Game-Changer!

Teams Phone's New Horizons

• The upcoming Queues app in Teams Premium (Summer 2024) 
• Reliability redefined with a Teams Phone service level agreement promising 99.999% uptime 
• Strategic Survivable Branch Appliance Enhancements 
• Teams Phone Mobile's new operator roster

Teams Phone Devices 

• Enhanced Teams Phone devices UI for streamlined call handling directly from your phone’s home screen. 
• Multi-task like a pro with improved multi-call handling. 
• Sophisticated contact management for swift communication. 
• Remote admin controls via TAC for bulk configuration and contact management

Meetings and Rooms Revolution

• Josh Blalock announces Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform (MDEP) launches with Jabra and Yealink. 
• AV1 enhancement for screen sharing in Teams — expect lower bandwidth usage and smoother frame rates. 
• IntelliFrame's automatic camera switching and multiple camera view for a richer remote experience. 
• Upcoming intelligent speaker recognition and transcript attribution for a more inclusive meeting atmosphere. 
• Simplified join options with ultrasound proximity, QR code, and meeting ID features. 

Copilot's Intelligent Evolution

• Copilot compose enhancements bring smarter interactions to Teams chat. 
• Intelligent call and meeting recaps in Teams Premium and Teams Mobile.

 Teams Events 

• • Comms svNext - April 23
  • Microsoft 365 Community Conference - April 30 - May 1 -2
  • Teams Fireside chat - May 9 
  • Commsverse - June 26-27

UC Today host Rob Scott is joined by Microsoft Teams Expert and Co-Founder of Empowering.Cloud, Tom Arbuthnot and a panel of experts from the Microsoft Teams community.

In this update, we talk through the most popular Teams news headlines with this month’s special guests:

• Graham Walsh, Product Specialist at Neat
• Satish Upadhyaya, MVP, Microsoft 365 UC Architect
• Amanda Sterner, Microsoft MVP, Technical Architect, Advania – Knowledge Factory

Microsoft Teams News

•  Copilot for finance
• Copilot new languages

Teams Rooms

• Android Rooms Big Update
• Daily maintenance restart window for Teams Rooms on Android devices
• Control your Teams Room with your Windows PC on both Windows and Android
• Microsoft Teams now supports Android Auto

Teams Phone

• 96 countries now on Operator Connect
• Private line is now available
• Select IP phone models from Snom compatible with SIP Gateway
• Public preview of Azure Operator Call Protection

Events

• Channel Partners Conference & Expo - 11 March
• Teams Fireside Chat - 14 March
• Enterprise Connect - Everything a Teams Service Owner needs to know - 25 March
• CommsVNext - 23 April
• Ignite has a date! In Chicago and online - 18-22 November, 2024

UC Today host Rob Scott is joined by Microsoft Teams Expert and Co-Founder of Empowering.Cloud, Tom Arbuthnot and a panel of experts from the Microsoft Teams community.

In this update, we talk through the most popular Teams news headlines with this month’s special guests:

• Graham Walsh, Product Specialist at Neat
• Kevin Kieller, Co-Founder and Lead Analyst, enableUC

Microsoft Teams News

• 10 years of Satya Nadella
• Highlights from ISE 2024
• Android Roadmap Update
• Microsoft Teams and other Office Apps on the Apple Vision Pro
• Improvements for BYOD meeting spaces
• Microsoft Copilot for Sales and Copilot for Service are now generally available
• Decorate your Teams Video background now GA (Premium)

Events

• Microsoft Teams Devices Ask Me Anything - 19-20 February
• Teams Nation Online - 21st February
• Microsoft Teams Phone Summit - 5-7 March
• Microsoft UC User Group London at Poly EEC - 7 March
• Enterprise Connect - Everything a Teams Service Owner needs to know - 25 March

UC Today host Rob Scott is joined by Microsoft Teams Expert and Co-Founder of Empowering.Cloud, Tom Arbuthnot and a panel of experts from the Microsoft Teams community.

In this update, we talk through the most popular Teams news headlines with this month’s special guests:

• Satish Upadhyaya, Microsoft Unified Communications Architect, Softel
• Amanda Sterner, Technical Architect, Advania

Microsoft Teams News

• New Front Line Worker Teams Phone License
• Operator Connect in India
• Is 2024 the year of Copilot or the year of Premium?
• Join Teams work meetings from Microsoft Teams (free) and vice versa
• Loop components in Teams channels
• Teams Android Auto

Events

• ISE 2024 - January 30-February 2
• Teams Fireside Chat - February 8
• Microsoft Teams Devices Ask Me Anything - February 19-20

Join Rob Scott from UC Today for an insightful 2024 Microsoft Teams predictions show! We're delighted to have Tom Arbuthnot, a renowned Microsoft Teams expert and co-founder of Empowering.Cloud, on board to discuss this year's exciting predictions.

Our panel of Teams experts shared their insights on the evolving landscape of Microsoft Teams. From the integration of AI and mobility solutions to the potential expansion of Microsoft Calling Plans, we cover a wide range of topics that promise to shape the future of teamwork and technology.

Key Predictions:

• Prediction #1: Teams Phone Mobile User Numbers by Patrick Watson
• Prediction #2: AI and Teams Premium Enhancements by Tom Arbuthnot
• Prediction #3: Copilot's Slow Adoption for SMBs by Graham Walsh
• Prediction #4: Microsoft's In-House Contact Centre Solution by Dan Balitewicz
• Prediction #5: The Rise of Copilot and Changes to Teams Premium by Kevin Kieller
• Prediction #6: Teams Integration with Social Apps by Josh Blalock
• Prediction #7: Copilot as the New Voice Assistant by Randy Chapman
• Prediction #8: Global Expansion of Microsoft Calling Plans by Satish Upadhyaya
• Prediction #9: The Year of Teamwork by Amanda Sterner
• Prediction #10: Next-Level Teams Rooms Experience by Ryan Herbst
• Prediction #11: Higher Adoption of Viva Engage by Ståle Hansen
• Prediction #12: Enhanced Employee Engagement in Teams by Rob Scott

UC Today host Rob Scott is joined by Microsoft Teams Expert and Co-Founder of Empowering.Cloud, Tom Arbuthnot and a panel of experts from the Microsoft Teams community.

In this update, we talk through the most popular Teams news headlines from Microsoft Ignite with this month’s special guests:

• Kevin Kieller, Co-Founder and Lead Analyst, enableUC
• Josh Blalock, Microsoft MVP & Chief Video Evangelist at Jabra
• Satish Upadhyaya, Microsoft Unified Communications Architect, Softel
• Ryan Herbst, Vice President & Chief Device Strategist, UnifiedCommunications.com
• Patrick Watson, Head of Research, Cavell Group
• Ståle Hansen, Founder, CEO and Principal Cloud Architect, CloudWay

Microsoft Teams News

• Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams Channels and Teams Phone, including post call
• Intelligent recap will be included with M365 Copilot in December
• Teams Phone: Voice isolation was announced, Private Line, Website click to call, Shared Calling
• Microsoft Teams Rooms: Multi-stream and Cloud IntelliFrame, Speaker recognition with existing devices, Windows Autopilot and One-time password deployment, Pro portal remote access, Ultrasonic proximity join, Teams live events on Teams Rooms
• Teams Rooms on Android: Premium features support and calendar view update
• Surface Hub 3
• Teams Rooms on Windows: First 4k device and sub-$1000 Microsoft Teams Rooms
• Shared Space discovery and reporting via Teams desktop client with Pro Management Service QR codes for space reservation and Teams Display Sign-in
• BYOD Rooms - Teams Shared Display Mode
• 3D Meetings Coming to Teams in January, Immersive Spaces and Microsoft Mesh generally available soon