Microsoft Adds Fluid Components to Teams for Hybrid Work Environments
Zoom partner Neat is joining the Microsoft Teams ecosystem
June 18, 2021
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Fluid components are coming to Teams’ chat, letting multiple users co-author and edit chat messages. Users can also create content such as lists and tables, or they can share a task list. Team members can add or update content within chat messages with all changes and edits remaining in sync.
Users can pin messages and chat threads, making it easier to find important messages. Pinning content will also let other teams more easily have quick access to active content rather than having to search for it. Users can also copy and paste Fluid Components onto the Outlook Calendar Board.
A meeting organizer can set up an agenda that appears in the meeting workspace using fluid components. Meeting attendees can collectively create and share notes and assigned tasks using OneNote. Flow components are designed to give participants a clear view of topics covered and follow-up tasks. Any participant can open the meeting Notes in OneNote work on them with others in real time.
A new meeting layout in Microsoft Teams Rooms aims to make remote participants feel more connected with a group in the office. For example, the video gallery in the meeting rooms can be placed at the bottom of the screen, allowing remote participants to appear as everyone is together. Meeting content such as the agendas, tasks and notes, can be set to appear in the middle of the screen. Because they are Fluid components can be updated in real time. The meeting chat is also now visible to everyone. Microsoft will offer this new meeting layout to all Teams rooms equipped with either single or dual display configurations.
Currently, when multiple people were in the same meeting room, transcription services are unable to distinguish between speakers. Yealink or EPOS are the first partners that will offer intelligent speakers that use an enhanced version of Microsoft’s voice recognition technology in Teams to properly attribute a speaker within the meeting transcript.
In addition to the new solutions from Neat, Poly and other partners, Microsoft is also bringing these new features to its own Surface Hub meeting room offering. It includes a new meeting stage that supports Together Mode scenes and Power Point Live.
This fall, the company will release a new Microsoft Whiteboard, which will let meeting participants simultaneously draw on the same canvas. It will use Microsoft Fluid components, which will let participants build and co-author components such as charts, as well as inserting existing content to the whiteboard. It will also include different templates.
PowerPoint Live on Teams has a new inking capability, letting presenters annotate a presentation or use a laser pointing feature. The new slide translation feature is designed to make it easier to share information with global audiences.
Aimed at those who may have missed a meeting or want to refer to a discussion, Meeting Recap uses the meeting agenda notes and tasks, in context with the meeting, the transcript and other shared content.
As a part of Microsoft Viva Insights app, users can engage with guided meditation from Headspace to help those who participate in back-to-back meetings. Viva Insights lets users schedule daily focus time to work uninterrupted. Later this year, Microsoft said it will introduce a new focus mode for Viva Insights and provide the ability to track progress on important tasks in 25-minute intervals with regularly scheduled breaks. Also, Viva insights will let users set quiet time to silence after hours mobile notifications in Teams and Outlook.
As a part of Microsoft Viva Insights app, users can engage with guided meditation from Headspace to help those who participate in back-to-back meetings. Viva Insights lets users schedule daily focus time to work uninterrupted. Later this year, Microsoft said it will introduce a new focus mode for Viva Insights and provide the ability to track progress on important tasks in 25-minute intervals with regularly scheduled breaks. Also, Viva insights will let users set quiet time to silence after hours mobile notifications in Teams and Outlook.
Microsoft is bringing its Fluid components to Teams to enable the shift to what it calls hybrid, asynchronous work models. The new features will make meeting participants feel as though they are all together, Microsoft said.
It is expected that hybrid work environments will become more evident in the coming months. Microsoft signaled the launch of new collaborative Teams solutions for hybrid scenarios during last month’s Build event. Cisco underscored a similar expectation of hybrid work environments last week with the launch of its revamped Webex Suite.
Microsoft, which says there are more than 145 million active Teams users, now has a notable new partner: Neat. Neat’s cameras, audio and conference room solutions are notably used for Zoom meetings. Microsoft and Neat have inked their first partnership to offer Teams-based integration with Neat Bar, Neat Pad and Neat Board.
Neat said the products are currently undergoing Teams’ certification. They should be ready during Q4 of this year, as well as others that will be announced. The products support technologies offered by Neat. The Symmetry solution frames all participants in a meeting room as though they had their own camera. Neat Audio is designed to prevent a person from being cut off when two people speak simultaneously. Neat Bubble suppresses background noise.
Neat’s Simen Teigre
Simen Teigre, CEO of Neat, said in a statement: “By expanding Neat’s support to Microsoft Teams users, customers now have greater flexibility with their choice of device and can enjoy the simple and delightful Neat experience that brings people closer together in a hybrid world.”
Poly Studio Intelligent Camera
Poly, which offers a broad portfolio of Microsoft Teams Rooms cameras and complete conference room solutions, is launching Poly Studio E70. The company describes it as an intelligent camera that also detects who is actively speaking and it can zoom in on that person. They are also working on delivering a segmented view capability that will display multiple people in their own individual frames.
Among other ecosystem partners, EPOS, Jabra, Lenovo, Logitech and Yealink are delivering new wares to support the new Microsoft Teams features.
During a 19-minute video, Marissa Salazar, Microsoft Teams senior product marketing manager demonstrated some of the key new features. Click through the gallery above to learn about 10 of them.
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