Enterprise Connect showcases new UC features in Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Teams Phone
By Brenna Robinson, General Manager, Microsoft SMB At this year’s Enterprise Connect conference, Microsoft showcased new products and solutions improving business communications and collaboration. The Enterprise Connect conference features the latest unified communications (UC) trends, technologies and best practices to help you expand your business. We’d like to share some of the announcements we’ve made, including new ways to manage your phone calls in Microsoft Teams Phone with the new Queues app. We’ve also enhanced Microsoft Teams channels with the new discover feed, and we’ve added meet now to group chats. Teams Phone and unified communications Microsoft Teams Phone is a key addition for a small business already using Microsoft Teams because it’s the only cloud telephone solution natively built for Teams. A business can get the benefits of unified communications without many technical hassles or much extra expense. UC puts all your communications medium under one roof, including things like voice, chat, collaboration, scheduling, presence management and more. Unifying these capabilities lets you save on costs and increase productivity because you can see all your communications inside a single interface rather than having to switch across multiple providers. It also greatly helps with external communications, like customer service for example, since it combines conversations from different channels into a single, productive exchange. Teams Phone is your shortest path to all those benefits because it’s purpose-built to easily integrate with Teams. Queues app Case in point is the new Queues application now in private preview. This new app improves call management for Teams Phone users by allowing individuals to better manage customer calls and for supervisors to manage incoming call queues. It also provides new call analytics. The app will be available in the Teams Store and can be pinned to the left rail of the Teams client. The Queues app will be available as part of Teams Premium in Summer 2024 and requires a Teams Phone subscription. We are offering a limited number of pre-launch previews for interested customers. Share your interest by nominating your organization to participate. Private Line We also want you to know that the Private line feature we announced last fall is now generally available. Private line allows you to identify and respond to priority callers, the people whose calls you want to receive immediately without wait times. Private line is like having a second, private line that is only accessible to hand-picked contacts. Your priority callers can call you directly and bypass delegates, admins, or assistants. Supporting incoming calls only, Private line calls will be distinguished by a unique notification and ringtone. Private line requires a Teams Phone subscription. Discover feed in channels Beyond Teams Phone, we’ve enhanced our core Teams collaboration and communication experience with discover feed, which builds off Teams channels. A channel enables workgroups to collaborate in a dedicated virtual workspace that you can organize by topic. But with so much communication happening every day, it can be hard to keep track of the information that’s most important to you. The new discover feed is a personalized feed. It surfaces all the content most relevant for you, based on the people you work with and topics you might be interested in. Discover posts you may not be aware of because you are not directly mentioned, replied to, or tagged. You can then add comments or share a post just like any other channel. Find out more about Teams discover feed. Meet now in Teams group chat (May 2024) We are also enhancing Teams meet now feature by adding it to your group chats. This will make it even easier to start a conversation with others in your business without having to schedule a meeting. Meet now in group chat lets you communicate with your colleagues no matter where they’re located. You can start a huddle as easily as if you met by the water cooler. It’s a ringless experience that notifies you when a huddle has started and who initiated it. Then you can choose to join it or decline if you are busy. Since the huddle started from an existing group chat, any chats you send while the meeting is in progress will stay a part of your ongoing group chat thread, which maintains the right context around the content, and helps you find the information when you need it. Meet now will be available in the spring. Copilot in Teams compose enhancements Copilot in Teams can help transform your ideas into clear chat messages and channels posts. Just type a few words or sentences and Copilot will draft a message for you. You can also ask Copilot to customize a message by using your own prompt, like “make it shorter” or “add a call to action.” This capability will be available this spring and will require a Copilot for Microsoft 365 license. Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Microsoft 365 Business Premium customers can enhance their Teams experience with all these new features and be ready for the new Copilot capabilities as they’re released. Just add Teams Premium, Copilot for Microsoft 365 1 , and Teams Phone to your subscription. If you do not already have these core productivity offerings, you can purchase them now and then add Copilot for Microsoft 365 to your subscription. s Resources Find the right Microsoft 365 business plan for your business. Learn more about how to set up and use your Microsoft 365 subscription and find tips and templates to help you accomplish your business tasks. Get free resources, tech training, and guidance to keep your business thriving and growing. Partners can access training resources, customer decks and deployment checklists to do more with Microsoft 365. Copilot for Microsoft 365 may not be available for all markets and languages. To purchase, enterprise customers must have a license for Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 or Office 365 E3 or E5, and business customers must have a license for Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Business Premium, or a version of these suites that no longer includes Microsoft Teams.Microsoft 365 innovations for small and medium business in 2023
Brenna Robinson, General Manager, Modern Work, Small and Medium Business We’ve been busy building new products and features for Microsoft 365—all so you can be more productive, creative and grow your customer base. From enabling payments right in the Teams app to enhancing security for your small business, we’ve covered lots of areas this year—and hope to provide even more innovations in 2024. Expand your business Microsoft Teams Payments app In May, we added the Payments app to Microsoft Teams. Getting paid for appointments, classes, and webinars becomes much easier with the Payments app—letting you easily manage and collect your funds from inside a Teams meeting. To make the app a seamless experience, we partnered with leading players in the payments space—a necessary step, since Payments combines collaboration capabilities with ecommerce. The partner support from PayPal, and Stripe mean easier interactions with customers and faster payments for you. Find out how to get started Microsoft Teams In November, we expanded our support for service-oriented small businesses by adding Microsoft Bookings to Microsoft Teams Essentials. Using the Bookings app your customers can easily book a meeting with you or one of your employees, freeing you up from the routine task of scheduling. The schedule synchs for all your Teams users and integrates seamlessly with Teams to enable virtual meetings, too. Of all the apps in the Microsoft 365 portfolio, our customers consistently identify Teams as one of its most indispensable resources once they use it for the first time. If you’re not yet a Teams user, try Microsoft Teams Essentials now without commitment—it's free for 30 days for all US customers. 1 We also made it easier for admins to set up Teams without having to navigate the Teams Admin Center or the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. There’s now an easy and intuitive Admin app inside Microsoft Teams that provides recommendations for your specific settings needs. You can enable or disable features or ask for Microsoft support all without leaving Teams. The app is automatically installed and available to admins in businesses with less than 25 users. This experience is being rolled out gradually to users. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can download in the Teams app store. Unlock the power of Microsoft Teams by connecting with industry experts to get your questions answered about how to integrate Teams into your operations. Use the following links to learn more about each webinar and register. North and South Americas, Europe time zones January 16, 9:00 am PST: Protect and enhance meeting experience with Microsoft Teams Premium January 17, 9:00 am PST: Empower your business with Microsoft Teams devices January 18 9:00 am PST: Collaborate with enterprises using M365 MTO and MTMA Boost your brand recognition Microsoft Clipchamp One of our exciting additions to the Microsoft 365 family in 2023 is the new Clipchamp video editor. If you’ve tried to use video editing software before and given up because the learning curve was too steep, then we challenge you to give Clipchamp a try. We designed Clipchamp with ease of use at the top of our priority list, but we didn’t skimp on functionality. It has all the basic editing tools you probably know, such as trimming, cropping, and speed control. But what sets Clipchamp apart is that you’ll be able to use these tools immediately without having to pore over manuals or deal with a lot of trial and error. Clipchamp lets you make high-quality recordings right out of the box. You’ll go from raw footage to a fully edited video smoothly and quickly. When you’re ready to level up your editing, there are more advanced features available like timeline editing and audio processing. Best of all the app is integrated with all your other Microsoft 365 apps and it will even auto-format your video for third-party delivery channels, including Facebook and YouTube. Find out how to access Microsoft Clipchamp Working even smarter and faster Microsoft Loop Another exciting addition to the Microsoft 365 app family is Microsoft Loop. Think of it as an essential co-creation app, supercharged by AI. Loop keeps your work organized by bringing all the parts of your project together in one place—all while giving you and your team the flexibility to collaborate in your preferred app using Loop components. These are portable pieces of content that you can add to any other Microsoft 365 app, including Microsoft Outlook, Teams, and more. Once they’re added, they’ll keep all of your Loop updates synced inside your favorite app so there’s no need to learn another app. The Loop app is available for all Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Microsoft 365 Business Premium customers at no additional charge and you can add it on a mobile app for iOS or Android. Microsoft Teams Phone We’ve added useful new features to Microsoft Teams Phone. First, there’s shared calling, which allows admins to enable a group of licensed users to make and receive phone calls using a single number and calling plan. For example, a single phone number can be shared by all store personnel at a small hardware to be able to make outbound calls to customers and receive incoming calls to the same number. We also included the reverse, namely a private line feature. This lets you set up a second phone number for a single user or group that bypasses any admins, assistants, or delegates. Think of it as a hotline for your most important calls. You can also receive alerts for protected voicemail (encrypted voicemails left by either internal or external callers.) There’s also the new click-to-call feature, which makes it easy for customers to reach your sales and support teams directly from your web page or app. Developers can add, customize, and program the widget to connect customers to a specific Teams user, call queue, or auto attendant. We want you to know about our promotional offer that includes both Microsoft Teams Essentials and Teams Phone with a choice of calling plans. Discover more online or visit your preferred reseller. 2 Join us for an engaging and informative webinar as we delve into the world of the Microsoft Teams Phone and discover how it can revolutionize communication and collaboration for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs). January 15, 9:00 am PST: Grow your business with Microsoft Teams Phone (North and South Americas, Europe time zones) Reliable security in Microsoft 365 Microsoft Defender for Business Cyberattacks are constantly growing more sophisticated and your security needs to keep pace. 3 Traditional security layers like antivirus and antimalware just aren’t enough, which is why we enhanced Microsoft Defender for Business throughout the year. Defender for Business now has next-gen Defender Antivirus which not only protects against known threats, but also identifies and helps protect against emerging dangers. We’ve also added post-breach technologies such as Endpoint Detection and Response, and AI powered Automated Investigation and Remediation and Automatic Attack Disruption. These technologies both detect and respond to threats. We’ve simplified mobile security so employees using Android or iOS devices can stay secure on the go without the need for add-ons or device management. Finally, the new monthly security reports in Defender for Business make it easier to gauge your business’ security status across the entire threat landscape, including access and identity, devices, information control and apps. They also provide recommendations for outstanding issues and closing any gaps that might still be open. Find out more on the Microsoft security web page for small and medium business. Microsoft 365 Business Premium brings the Office apps, Microsoft 365 services and Teams, with a comprehensive security suite to SMBs—offering protection across identity and access with Microsoft Entra ID Plan 1 (formerly Azure AD Premium Plan 1), endpoint security with Defender for Business, protection across email, Teams, OneDrive with Defender for Office 365, data protection with Azure Information protection and device management with Microsoft Intune. Find out more about Microsoft 365 Business Premium Always evolving These are just a few of the new features and capabilities we added to the Microsoft 365 platform in 2023, and we’ve already got more in the works for 2024. We are committed to providing tools that help you move your business forward. Keep current on what’s coming to Microsoft 365, by visiting the Microsoft 365 Roadmap. Resources Find the right Microsoft 365 business plan for you. Learn more about how to set up and use your Microsoft 365 subscription and find tips and templates to help you accomplish your business tasks. Get free resources, tech training, and guidance to keep your business thriving and growing. Partners can access training resources, customer decks and deployment checklists to do more with Microsoft 365. After your one-month free trial, you will be charged the applicable subscription fee. Credit card required. Cancel any time to stop future charges. The discount offer is available to new and existing customers who license a 12-month Microsoft Teams Essentials and Microsoft Teams Phone bundle (with or without a Microsoft Teams calling plan) through Direct and CSP direct channels between July 17, 2023, and June 30, 2024. This promotion is valid in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. This annual subscription automatically renews and is subject to recurring billing at the regular price and selected term. Customers can cancel at any time to stop future charges. Microsoft reserves the right to cancel, change, or suspend this offer at any time without notice. 82 percent of ransomware attacks target small businesses per The Devastating Impact of Ransomware Attacks on Small Businesses and cost of cybercrimes to small businesses reached $2.4 billion worldwide in 2021 per Accelerating Our Economy Through Better Security: Helping America’s Small Businesses Address Cyber Threats May 2, 2023.
