Organizations that tuned into the Q3 Tech Insider Update hosted by JourneyTEAM were presented with the latest communication and collaboration enhancements and integrations released for Microsoft Teams. The updates include task management capabilities with a new Tasks app, as well as Together Mode in video conferencing. Yammer has also been integrated as a Community app to make Teams an even more effective and powerful home base for daily operations. Finally, Microsoft Lists are now generally available in Teams so organizations can track issues and organize information from one location.
Microsoft Teams
· Tasks in Teams (Planner and To Do)
· Together Mode
Microsoft Teams brings together all the tools organizations need to chat with colleagues, have meetings, and collaborate in one central workspace. Adding to the centralized experience is the new Tasks app that merges individual tasks, powered by Microsoft To-Do, and team tasks powered by Microsoft Planner, for complete task management. The Tasks app in Teams is now available in desktop, web, and mobile experiences. Users can navigate to the app on the left side to get access to their Planner and personalized To-Do tasks. Within an individual team’s Channel, the Tasks app can be made available as a tab across the top.
When the Tasks app is installed on the Teams desktop client, users can also see it on their web and mobile environments. However, guest users will be limited only to mobile and not be able to see it on the desktop version.
A fresh take on interactive video conferences, the new Together Mode feature combines decades of research and development to virtually connect attendees in one space. The virtual filter makes it appear as though the participants are in the same environment, side-by-side, like seated in an auditorium, coffee shop or meeting room. This feature enables more effective meetings in the work-from-home era as many people suffer from “meeting fatigue.” Together Mode can help engage participants through “togetherness,” and allow presenters to better gauge audience reactions as a whole. This feature, as demonstrated in the video below, works best with participants sitting forward in front of their webcams.
Yammer Communities App / Team Integration
· Yammer Communities app now integrated in Teams
· Teams now a greater home base of operations
Yammer is an enterprise social networking platform that connects and engages employees through shared communication such as messaging, news and announcements, as well as live and on-demand internal events. Now, Yammer Communities has been brought to the Teams experience. By integrating the Yammer Communities app, Teams becomes an even greater hub for operations and communications across the organization.
Microsoft Lists App / Team Integration
· Lists general availability in Teams
The Microsoft Lists app helps organizations track and organize work simply with customizable views, rules, and alerts that keep employees on the same page. Now organizations can create lists directly within Teams.
All the standard features that are available for Lists in SharePoint web are also now accessible in the Lists app for Teams. Microsoft started rolling this out at the end of July for targeted release tenants, but it is now generally available. The integrated experience provides Lists in three main views – grid, gallery, and calendar, and also offers custom views. Lists can be created from scratch, or users can select from eight ready-made standard templates to get started such as asset manager, event, itinerary, issue tracker, onboarding checklist, and more. It also features three industry-specific templates: Patients, Loans, and Incidents.
The Lists app will be available in individual Channels as a tab. Users that want to track a list can click the “+” button next to tabs, search for the Lists app in the tab gallery, and easily add it.
A standalone Microsoft Lists app for iOS is anticipated for Q4 this year that will allow users to access these lists on a mobile device.
Get Started with JourneyTEAM
JourneyTEAM was recently awarded Microsoft US Partner of the Year for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (Media & Communications) and the Microsoft Eagle Crystal trophy as a top 5 partner for Dynamics 365 Business Central software implementations. JourneyTEAM has a proven track record with successful Microsoft technology implementations and can help you put Microsoft Teams to work as the central hub for all your communication, organization, and collaboration.