Post-COVID business reality has shifted dramatically, with many companies providing flex and hybrid structures to their employees for the first time ever. Even as the arrangement has (unexpectedly) proven beneficial for productivity and morale, disagreements can arise regarding the ratio of time spent in the office and at home. Microsoft is set to introduce a new app to assist employees and managers with a hybrid workforce in determining when going into the office is appropriate.

The new Microsoft Places app will inform users when a significant number of their colleagues will be in the office or attending a meeting onsite. The app will also tell managers when the office is likely to be empty – so they can make strategic decisions regarding electricity, cooling, cafeteria staff, and more. Companies with flex workspace, a newer concept with employees sharing desks as they come and go, can monitor and manage the space they need to accommodate all of their employees.

As discussed last week, the software giant is also introducing a new version of the Teams chat with premium features. Teams will also now offer a conferencing app to create summaries of meetings with personalized highlights. This feature will let employees decide to skip the meeting if it is not critical and review the notes later. Many employees often complain about too many meetings but don’t want to miss a meeting just in case important information is shared. With this new feature, employees can better manage their time. Microsoft shares that Teams Premium will be broadly available at $10 per user per month as of February 2023.

More Feature Upgrades for the Hybrid Workforce

Microsoft will also offer OpenAI’s Dall-E, which creates images from text prompts, to select customers of Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI cloud service. Azure OpenAI allows Microsoft cloud clients to utilize some of the artificial intelligence functionality that OpenAI has generated. The company will also implement the image creation tool in one of its consumer Design services and its Bing search image creation tool.

The new workforce management app and the updates to Teams were among the products and services Microsoft introduced recently at its annual conference known as Ignite. The company also revealed several other announcements:

  • A new partnership with Cisco Systems allows users to join Teams meetings utilizing Cisco hardware. The association is worthy of mention because Cisco also offers a rival to Teams, the Webex conferencing software.
  • A new artificial intelligence tool from Syntex will scan and index company information and content to allow intuitive searching and availability to diverse corporate applications.
  • A new Microsoft 365 application that puts Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other more recent Microsoft products together in one place.

Many SMBs could benefit significantly from learning about how this new teamwork and collaboration tool can help their business operations. These companies may not have the resources or expertise to implement Teams to help with their hybrid workforce, but professional assistance is available through outside consulting and managed services firms.

Alliance IT is a managed services firm that provides support and expertise for all Microsoft products. Call us today for more information if your Sarasota-area company requires consulting services regarding Teams and other new Microsoft offerings.