What might be next in Microsoft Teams for 2019?
First of all, happy new year! I’m looking forward to all the new opportunities, features, services and integrations around communication and collaboration at the modern or digital workplace. The fresh new year will bring us some new capabilities to do more with Microsoft Teams as well as related apps or services.
To me, the most noticeable Microsoft Teams capabilities which we’ll probably see in 2019 are (01/01/2019 might be subject to change):
- Shared Line Appearance – Allows multiple calls on a single phone number with delegates who can answer the calls.
- Call Park – Park a call “on hold” and grab the call from another endpoint to resume the call by using an unique code, e.g. #150.
- Location Based Routing (LBR) – Route PSTN voice calls based on the location, e.g. emergency call outbreaks for roaming users…
- Group Call Pickup – This enables a group of users to pickup / grab an incoming call for a colleague.
- Yammer Tab in Teams (Preview) – Easily access Yammer via a tab
- SharePoint web parts as tabs in Teams – Direct access SharePoint web parts via a tab in Teams
- Screen sharing in a private chat session – Without calling you can share you screen
- Support for Oracle SBCs in Direct Routing
- Safe Links Protection for Microsoft Teams – Protects users from opening bad / malicious links
- Create an org-wide team (for up to 2,500 users) in Microsoft Teams
- Broadcast Meetings – Town-hall-stlye / large meetings via Teams
- Team Templates – Pre-define Teams and re-use this template to provision a team
- Manage Teams from Admin Center
- Compact Mode – A lightweight client experience for users who might not need all the rich experience elements as in the default client view (https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/17408641-compact-mode)
- …
The above mentioned features and capabilities might be subject to change. This post is just a list to quickly recognize what we could get soon with Microsoft Teams. For more, stay tuned here or directly on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap:
- Microsoft 365 Roadmap [filter set on: “In Development”,”Rolling Out”,”teams”] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/roadmap?filters=In%20Development%2CRolling%20Out&searchterms=teams
- Microsoft Teams User Voice (don’t forget to vote for capabilities/features you like or post your ideas here and get it voted) https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public
Where can I get OneDrive for Business adoption guidiance material?
Rolling out and adopting Micrsoft OneDrive for Business (ODFB) is a great opportunity to get rid of your legacy onprem file servers, shares, local device saved data and roaming profiles etc.
ODFB enables you to access your files from a versatile set of endpoints (PC/Mac/common Browsers/iOS/Android) and keep your data safe and in sync. You can also share certain files with others as needed. However, ODFB is one part for storing data. It is primarily for your documents. Working requires also other options for data collaboration, distribution and sharing therefore you might want to consider SharePoint Online as backend for storing files within your company, department or team.
To start and abandon your legacy file repository you can find supportiv guidiance and details for ODFB, e.g.
- Usage Scenarios for OneDrive
- Guidance on how OneDrive can be utiliized
- Use Cases
- Success measuring options
- Planning communication
- …
https://resources.techcommunity.microsoft.com/resources/onedrive-adoption/
Microsoft Teams Adoption Hub launched
A new resource hub for Microsoft Teams Adoption was launched. It provides supportiv material for users and guidiance in your company.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/adopt-microsoft-teams-landing-page
The hub will be improved over time so stay tuned and take a look around to see what’s new.
