Microsoft has expanded Teams with a number of new functionalities. The chat service can now be provided with a custom background and live subtitles. In addition, it is possible to stream live events and interactions on a whiteboard are clearly shown.
A first innovative new feature makes it easier to interact with a whiteboard in meetings with remote participants. The person in front of the whiteboard is as it were masked, so that the entire board remains visible at all times. This option ensures that the notes on the whiteboard are better seen by participants, even while they are writing.
All a user needs is a webcam. The software then captures the physical whiteboard itself and can even import it digitally into Microsoft Teams for editing or archiving. Teams testers currently have access to this option, before it is rolled out generally.
With the adapted backgrounds, users can pretend to be on the beach or in a forest. It is possible to use your own images. The option will be available later this year.
The new option of live subtitling is particularly advantageous for the deaf, hard of hearing or users in noisy environments. As soon as a speaker starts the presentation, the subtitles appear live on screen. Microsoft wants to extend the option with live translation in the future.
Live Events
Live Events allows a user to stream a live broadcast for up to 10,000 viewers. These viewers do not necessarily need a Team account and can even interact with the broadcast via a live Q&A. Microsoft recently launched a similar feature for LinkedIn.
Finally, Microsoft is still testing secure private channels in Teams, both internally and with selected external customers. That much-needed option should be available later this year. Administrators can restrict access to channels in this way without having to create separate teams.
More than 500,000 organisations
More than 500,000 organizations now use Microsoft Teams, 91 of which are Fortune 100. An important reason for this is of course that the chat app is part of Office 365. But also the addition of increasingly unique and specialized features help Teams to stand out from major competitor Slack.
Related: Microsoft integrates Yammer into Teams
This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.