What’s new in Microsoft 365? August Update

Microsoft has introduced new capabilities in Microsoft 365 to improve connection and collaboration in the workplace.

This month there are new and improved features for Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Office, OneDrive, SharePoint, Viva Goals and WorkLab Guides.

Microsoft has also launched a preview of Experience Insights, which provides an overview of user statistics for Microsoft 365.

Colette Stallbaumer, General Manager, Microsoft 365 and Future of Work, said:

“In today’s changing macroeconomic climate, Microsoft is focused on helping organizations in every industry use technology to overcome challenges and come out stronger.

“From enabling hybrid work to bringing business processes into the workflow, Microsoft 365 helps organizations live up to their digital imperative so they can do more with less.”

Teams call pay-as-you-go

Microsoft is introducing a new Calling for Teams phone pay-per-use plan, giving customers a different subscription option. The Pay-As-You-Go license comes with a phone number, unlimited incoming calls and outgoing calls are charged by the minute.

In July, Microsoft revealed its Teams PSTN user numbers as now exceeding 12 million, nearly double the number it had a year earlier.

Teams Phone Pay-As-You-Go and other subscriptions can be used in conjunction with a Microsoft 365 Phone System.

Microsoft Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint

A sample of new capabilities is reviewed on Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint to help users find, manage access and share files.

OneDrive Home has been redesigned to prioritize displaying your most recent files and activities. Users can also filter files from the top buttons in the ‘Recent file’ list. Document libraries can also be pinned to the Quick Access section on the navigation bar of OneDrive Home.

Microsoft Teams now also has an improved Polling experience. Teams users can create new predefined polls or reuse recent polls as a means of gathering information or increasing participant engagement in meetings and sharing results live. Voice and result animations have been added as further engaging features.

Kaizala will be officially retired on August 31, 2023, and users will be migrated to Teams. Kaizala Pro capabilities are already available in Teams and allow Kaizala to be used in polls, surveys, quizzes and more.

Microsoft Office

Updates to Microsoft Office are designed to enable users to implement their ideas via the web or a mobile device.

Web users can use “Pinning People” to pin their primary contributors to make it easier to access content from their top contacts. People pins are located in “My Content.

Users of the cell phone app can use “Microsoft Feed” to find their relevant activity, files and insights from their Microsoft 365 contacts.

The app also includes Microsoft Lens, which allows users to easily capture and share information from photos and screenshots using the interactive text features.

Viva Goals

Viva Goals is now generally available to Microsoft Viva users. The software helps keep employees aligned with their organization’s goals and create business outcomes that can be used to explain the impact of meeting and missing goals. Viva goals is designed with an objective and key results (OKR) framework in mind. It can be used as a web application or from Teams and other third-party integrations.

Microsoft recently added its own social media platform, Viva Engage, to Teams and the Microsoft 365 platform.

WorkLab manuals

WorkLab Guides were created to help business leaders effectively manage their hybrid work organizations. The guide includes advice on asynchronous collaboration, hosting meetings, knowing when to meet in person, personalizing their approach to meet the needs of their teams and more.

Microsoft has promised to include a number of new product innovations in its September update.

source: uctoday