With the increased pressure on Microsoft Teams as a result of an upsurge in demand during this Coronavirus pandemic, the need for the technology to be updated further in the form of new and improved features has to be a priority for many of these providers. No need to panic as Microsoft has got this in hand by releasing another 5 new features for its online video and collaboration platform, Microsoft Teams.
In our latest blog article, we take you through these 5 new features that are now available from today.
Ability to set background effects policy for users
For those that are tenant admins, you will soon discover that you will be able to assign a user-level policy which will allow you to determine how users engage with background effects in Teams meetings. To give you an example of some of the options that will be available, these include: offer no filters, background blur only as well as the ability for users to choose their own customised images.
Ability to access meeting options when in a Teams meeting
You will see that Microsoft is simplifying the process for meeting organisers to quickly adjust their presenter and meeting room settings after a meeting has begun by giving a link from within the participants pane. This new functionality is now available for both scheduled and ‘Meet Now’ meetings.
New & improved meeting join launcher user experience
You will find that every time a user launches a Teams meeting via a link, you will see that there are much clearer instructions on how that user can join the meeting. At this stage, you will see that you will be able to join the meeting online, download the Teams client or join with the native Teams client. This new feature is already being rolled out with all users expected to see this in place within the next few weeks.
Greater policy controls around screen sharing in chats
As most of you probably already know, screen share from chats allows you to present your screen to the other participants in the chat whether it be 1 to 1 or in a group chat. You will find that this entry point was previously dictated to by the AllowPrivateCalling policy. However, if you choose to disable this, you will find that users are not able to share their screens from within the chat module. This has now changed as the option to start a screen share from chat will now be dictated to by the ScreenSharingMode policy.
Ability to download a participant report in a Teams meeting
This is a fantastic new feature as it will allow meeting organisers to know who turned up to their Teams meetings. This can be found out by downloading a participant report which you will see is in the roster view as well as join and leave times for participants. It is important to note that this feature is only present within the meeting while the meeting is still ongoing.
Next Steps?
If you are a small and medium sized business looking to get started with Microsoft Teams or looking to get some additional Teams training then please contact one of our IT experts today to discuss all the different options that are available for your business.
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