Microsoft Teams get a major update with breakout rooms and other cool new features.
Microsoft is in a battle between Google and Zoom in order to get the first spot of video-conferencing, calling, meeting services. The lockdown has seen a huge surge in the usage of applications like this. A big new update by Microsoft means now 25,000 people can attend a meeting at one time. This is breakout rooms by Microsoft.
Team membership is currently limited to 5,000 members. Later this year, it will be increased to support up to 25,000 members per individual team, the company said. With breakout rooms, the meeting organizer will be able to split groups according to his needs to discuss different things with different groups.
Presenters can choose to hop between breakout rooms, make announcements to all breakout rooms, and/or close the breakout rooms that then bring everybody back into the main meeting.
Microsoft said that later this year, Teams will have the option for a recap with the meeting recording, transcript, chat, shared files, and more that can be automatically shared in the meeting Chat tab and viewable in the Details tab for each meeting.
There is a new together mode by Microsoft in the upcoming update. Microsoft says “With the new Together mode scenes coming this year, you can transport your team to a variety of settings that can help set the tone and create the experience for your meeting, whether it be an auditorium, a conference room, or a coffee shop.”
There is also a new search result page that shows contacts, voicemails, and calling history at once. Which makes it more efficient and helpful for users. “This redesigned search results page provides better context and faster results, with AI-powered relevance based on the people and content you engage with most in Teams and other Microsoft 365 services,” says Microsoft.
Security
With the addition of so many cool and exciting new features, one must also keep the bar of security very high. Microsoft always makes sure the security is at its best. They are planning to bring on something called Customer keys. With Customer keys, customers will be able to add a layer of encryption using their own keys for Teams, similar to Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive.
Custom layouts will soon arrive on Microsoft Teams. It will enable dynamic content viewing and allow presenters to customize how content shows up for participants during a meeting. So no more formal backgrounds in every meeting. You can get creative.
“Developers will soon be able to integrate their apps into Teams meetings. Create scenarios that have a deep awareness of the meeting context – including roster, roles, and permissions”, Microsoft said.
So a lot of plans for the future by Microsoft. They are really working hard to make people stick to the Microsoft teams. And the upcoming features also sound really cool and helpful. For now, breakout rooms is the biggest talk about the latest update.