What’s New in Microsoft Teams? 9 New Features You Should Be Using
What’s new in Microsoft Teams? Microsoft has been dedicated to improving the entire MS 365 platform, including the features and functionality of Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams has been updated throughout 2020, and there are a number of new features that you might not be aware of, or that you might not yet be using. As Teams grows and expands, it’s important to figure out how it can best fit into your team’s efforts and workflow.
So, let’s take a look at some of the best 2020 Microsoft teams new features.
1. Display Names
Sometimes the simplest features have the most impact on day-to-day life. With Display Names, everyone can choose their own identifier, which makes searching for information much easier. You don’t need to use email addresses or keep a list of contacts. This is especially useful in larger teams, as all you have to remember is a name.
2. Read Receipts
While you can turn it off, read receipts are exceptionally useful for seeing when someone has read your message, even if they haven’t responded. If they read a notice at 4:00 and it’s only 4:10, you know that they may still be working on a reply. If they read a notice at 8:00 and it’s already noon, you might need to check in. These features may seem minute, but they add to the connectivity between team members, and make it easier to interact with each other. (And it makes it less possible to just ignore messages as they come in!)
3. Editing Crossposts
Previously, it could be a mess if you accidentally made an error in a crosspost. Which was unfortunate, because crossposts are often the most important messages. Now, you can edit crossposts at will, making it easier to remain professional and include the information people need.
4. Work Offline
Not everyone has reliable internet, especially when working from home. And now that everyone is working from home, people may find that their internet is acting increasingly erratic. But now people on MS Teams can still work offline. Even if the internet has dropped, you can review your messages, or even create messages; they’ll just be sent after you reconnect. And that also means that you aren’t going to lose contact or find it difficult to keep going if your connection briefly drops.
5. Better Calendar and Event Scheduling
MS Teams is all about collaboration, and that’s why calendars and events have been improved. You’re now able to launch options when looking at a calendar event, such as chatting directly with the people attending. The event scheduling options have also grown.
6. End Meetings
You now have control to end a meeting that you’ve started. Have you ever started a meeting, only to find that employees or students continue to talk well after it’s over? Well, that’s not always conducive. Now, you can set a scheduled finish time and shut everything down, so you don’t need to worry about it, and you don’t get stuck in a meeting that never seems to end. After all, just because the meeting has officially ended, it doesn’t stop people from asking you questions.
7. Include System Audio
When you’re hosting an event, you’re now able to include system audio. This is particularly important if you’re delivering information in the form of a tutorial, as people may need to be able to pick up on audio cues. That also means you can run things like training videos and people will be able to both see and hear them.
8. Raising Your Hand
What happens if someone wants to ask a question but someone else is talking? This has been a notorious issue with video calls. Some people feel talked over, because they can’t call attention to themselves. Now, you’re able to select an icon to “raise your hand,” signifying that you have a question when it’s polite to offer it. Obviously, this is particularly useful for classes (as are the new attendance features), but it’s also great for big team meetings, and corporate webinars.
9. Booking Appointments
Through a new app, users can now book appointments rather than just scheduling events. If you have an HR coordinator who tends to be busy, or other individuals who need to frequently meet with people such as internal auditors, booking appointments can streamline the entire process.
So, what’s new in Microsoft Teams? Quite a lot. These are only some of the Microsoft Teams new features, there are more to come. MS Teams is constantly changing and evolving, and any features that you don’t see yet are likely to be in the works. And, the background, changes have also been made to provide greater levels of resources, meet with more team members at the same time, and even have more people in live chat at the same time.
If you need help implementing these features, or if you still need to make your transition to Office 365 and Microsoft Teams, it’s time to connect with a knowledgeable partner. Contact the experts at Red River to get started today.
