What’s New in Microsoft Teams: November 2024

Microsoft Teams is continuously evolving, delivering new features and improvements that enhance user experience and optimize daily workflows. From Teams Rooms enhancements to chat and channel upgrades, and improved meeting and calling functionalities, Microsoft Teams aims to support both remote and in-office teams in dynamic work environments. As a Microsoft partner, our company, TTMS, is excited about the possibilities these updates bring to foster better collaboration and user convenience. Here’s an overview of the latest features and how they benefit Teams users.

1. Easier Management of Information and Teams

A new info panel in 1:1 and group chats enables quick access to key resources, including a participant list, pinned messages, shared files, and a search option. This feature is particularly helpful for users who frequently revisit important information or need to search through chat histories when collaborating on projects.

Additionally, the revamped view of teams and channels provides a clear organizational structure, with options to filter and manage projects, and access analytical insights. Now, as the number of channels and teams grows, employees can more easily find the information they need. A screenshot of this new team and channel structure, highlighting its management options, will make it easier for users to understand these updates.

2. Improved Meeting and Webinar Experience

Teams now offers notifications of completed meeting summaries in the Activity feed, allowing users to quickly review key points even if they couldn’t attend the meeting. Adding a screenshot of this notification will illustrate how simple it has become to manage such summaries.

Meeting organizers also have new controls over admitting participants from the lobby, deciding who has access to the meeting. This flexibility is especially useful in larger meetings, as organizers can grant access rights to co-organizers and presenters. A screenshot of these settings can help illustrate how easy it is to manage meeting access.

Thanks to voice isolation for MacOS, remote workers can now enjoy clearer sound by eliminating background noise. Using AI, this feature filters out unwanted sounds, providing a distraction-free meeting experience – a function especially valued by remote teams.

3. New Tools for Managing Large-Scale Events

For organizers of large-scale events like Town Halls, webinars, and training sessions, Microsoft Teams now offers enhanced tools to streamline the entire process of managing participants and communications. One of the key improvements is the ability to integrate with external email platforms, enabling organizers to handle event-related communication from within Teams in a much more efficient manner.

This integration allows organizers and co-organizers to send a range of messages, such as invitations, reminders, follow-ups, and updates, directly to participants’ inboxes, eliminating the need to switch between multiple platforms. For instance, organizers can set up automated reminders for registrants, confirm attendance, or even send personalized thank-you notes after the event, ensuring that participants remain engaged throughout the event lifecycle. This streamlined approach enhances the overall experience, allowing hosts to focus more on content delivery and less on administrative tasks.

In addition to communication improvements, Teams also provides expanded control settings for admitting attendees. With these new controls, organizers can specify who has permission to allow participants into the event from the lobby, whether it’s just the organizer or also co-organizers and presenters. This flexibility is particularly useful for managing large or complex sessions where different team members might need to take on specific roles, ensuring a smooth and efficient start to each meeting or presentation.

These updates not only enhance the logistical side of event management but also create a more polished experience for attendees, who benefit from timely communications and efficient event handling. A few well-placed screenshots of the integration with email platforms and the lobby management controls can effectively illustrate how these tools make large-scale event management simpler and more effective in Teams.

4. Teams Phone: Professional Call Queue Management

For organizations that rely on phone calls, the new Queues app in Teams Phone offers significant benefits. Agents can make calls on behalf of call queues and auto attendants, while supervisors have real-time visibility into call statistics and can monitor conversations. This feature will be particularly valuable to customer service teams, and screenshots of the Queue app’s interface can help illustrate the management possibilities it brings to customer support.

5. Digital Signage in Microsoft Teams Rooms

The new digital signage feature in Teams Rooms on Windows allows companies to leverage unused screens in meeting rooms to display dynamic content, such as company communications, news, guidelines, or announcements. Integration with providers like Appspace and XOGO further expands the scope of this feature. A screenshot showing an example of this dynamic signage will demonstrate how companies can maximize their workspace for internal communication.

For organizations that use multiple meeting platforms, Microsoft Teams Rooms now allows users to join meetings on other platforms such as Google Meet, Zoom, and Cisco Webex. This cross-platform support is especially useful for teams working with clients and partners who use various solutions. A screenshot of an inter-platform meeting in progress can help visualize this new functionality.

6. Custom Branding for Meetings with Frosted Glass Effect

The frosted glass effect for meeting backgrounds is a feature that allows companies to add a subtle, professional touch to their Teams meetings by displaying a blurred logo or brand element in the background. This effect can enhance the look of your meetings, providing a clean and sophisticated branded experience. Here’s a quick guide on how to apply this effect:

1. Open Microsoft Teams and start a new meeting or join an existing one.
2. Once in the meeting, click on the More Actions button (represented by three dots).
3. Select Apply background effects from the dropdown menu.
4. In the background effects menu, choose or upload a custom image with your logo that includes a frosted or blurred effect. If needed, you can design a background in a graphics editor to add your logo with a frosted effect.
5. Apply the chosen background by clicking Preview to check how it looks and then select Apply to set it as your background for the meeting.

This setup helps your branding look modern and appealing, while maintaining a minimalist and unobtrusive presence in your meetings.

7. Summary

The latest Microsoft Teams updates provide companies with innovative tools to enhance efficiency, user experience, and workplace positivity. From the new info panel to the Queue app and frosted glass branding, Microsoft’s enhancements align with the evolving needs of modern businesses.

At TTMS, as a Microsoft partner, we offer comprehensive support for Microsoft 365 solutions, enabling seamless collaboration, data security, and tailored productivity tools. These recent innovations represent another step towards excellence in providing solutions that not only support teamwork and workflow but also strengthen brand integrity and trust. Contact us now!

Explore our previous articles about Microsoft Teams: TTMS Blog – The World Through the Eyes of IT Experts