Microsoft announced a flurry of announcements Thursday to improve the tech giant’s hybrid work experience products and services, including a “front row” layout for Teams Rooms users and changes to Microsoft’s collaborative Whiteboard application. 

Although many Americans are contemplating the end of the epidemic and a probable return to work, collaborative tools that allow for remote working continue to expand as a key industry. 

In a pre-recorded video released with the product announcements, Jared Spataro, corporate vice president for Microsoft 365, said, “As much of the world shifts to a hybrid work model, it’s clear that we’re living through a pivotal moment that amounts to a once-in-a-generation shift in the way we work.” 

Microsoft Teams has so much promise for app developers that it was dubbed “the age of collaborative applications” by Rajesh Jha, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Office Product Group, back in May. 

CEO Satya Nadella mentioned Teams in Microsoft’s most recent quarterly earnings report in April, citing it as a key resource for the company’s growth. Although precise revenue figures for Microsoft Teams were not provided in the quarterly report, Nadella stated that the service had more than 145 million daily active users, which is up from a year ago. Year over year, the number of companies with more than 1,000 users virtually quadrupled. 

Luis Alvarez, CEO of Microsoft partner Alvarez Technology Group in Salinas, Calif., told CRN that remote working has helped him build his Teams company. Clients are reimagining their conference rooms for in-person and online meetings in order to “make those sessions inclusive rather than treating remote team members as second-class employees,” he added. 

Here’s how each product and service’s announcement were broken down. 

• More Collaboration Tools 

According to Microsoft, users of Teams conversations now have the option to pin messages in a chat for later retrieval by other users. Within a Teams meeting, users may co-create agendas, take notes, and assign tasks, with the agendas, notes, and tasks automatically gathering under a new meeting notes tab in OneNote. 

Microsoft has added Teams meetings, OneNote, Outlook, and Whiteboard to its “fluid components” feature for live collaboration. 

In addition, the Teams mobile app now includes PowerPoint Live and Dynamic view. Custom backgrounds are currently available on iOS and will be accessible on Android in the near future. 

• In team rooms, use the ‘front row’ layout 

Microsoft has introduced a new Teams meeting style designed with Teams Rooms users in mind. The “front row” style puts the video gallery to the bottom of the screen and surrounds meeting material with agendas, tasks, and notes. Participants in a physical Teams Room or working remotely will have more visibility in the meeting conversation. The conversation functionality will be available in single and multiple monitor setups soon. 

Microsoft will add live responses and a video highlight feature to Teams Rooms this summer, as well as other capabilities from the Teams desktop app. Users will be able to pin several video streams starting this autumn. 

According to Microsoft, Teams-focused hardware partners Jabra, Logitech, Poly, and now Neat provide AI-powered camera technologies to improve the Teams conference experience. 

Teams experiences will be accessible throughout Neat’s device lineup later this year. The Neat Symmetry function utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) and high-resolution sensors to zero in on and auto frame each person in a room. 

Users of Logitech Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini will have two perspectives on Teams meeting displays, one for the active speaker and one for the participants, thanks to the new RightSight2 function, which will be available later this year. As each speaker speaks, the camera will shift to them. According to Microsoft, Logitech will soon provide Teams-certified true wireless earphones for mobile devices and the desktop. 

The Poly Studio E70 intelligent camera monitors active speakers and automatically frames and zooms them using AI and machine learning.