Microsoft Teams has introduced a new channel experience to enhance worker productivity and collaboration.
Now generally available in both the classic and new Teams client, the revamp was inspired by Microsoft noticing that many customers were not using channels to their full capacity, so applied user research, customer feedback and communication platform trends to improve the collaborative channels experience.
Noga Ronen, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft, said:
Getting things done successfully in a fast-moving workplace requires teams to work closely together and operate off the same information(…) The new channels experience, now generally available in classic and new Teams, makes it easier to focus on key topics, engage with the right stakeholders, and find specific information so your team can accomplish more together.”
The new channel experience is enabled in all channel variations, such as standard, private, and shared channels.
How Exactly Does the New Channels System Work?
Channels’ new conversation view enables colleagues to pinpoint which channel topic and conversation to centre on. Users can scan the conversation, return whenever they want to find content and reply directly to a thread, identically to a chat. Users can pop out the post to monitor the conversation while focusing on other work. Pinning a post will highlight its significance to the channel’s members and allow users to return to it for future reference.
Users can choose to see recent posts or the compose box at the top or bottom of a channel, aiding users to catch up on the latest conversation, engage in the discussion or start a new one. Channels will initially default to presenting the most recent posts and compose box at the bottom, but users can change the order by selecting “See new posts at top” in the channel settings.
The updated compose box experience streamlines the user experience, allowing workers to collaborate with their team to produce a post to discuss a specific topic in the project or deliver an announcement to underline a milestone or significant piece of news.
Teams has simplified the channels’ information pane to offer a clear outlay of important channel information and provide valuable context, including the channel’s description, member list and pinned conversations.
There is an improved in-channel search experience. This experience encompasses a “find in channel” search button integrated into the channel information pane. Search within a specific channel, and the results will be presented on the right side of the screen. Users can assess their search results and the channel interface in a single pane without leaving their main work focus. After a user clicks a search result, they are taken to that specific message part of the discussion.
Lastly, users can use hashtags referencing Viva Topics to offer business context in channels. This can bring together information on critical subjects, including topic overview, topic performance, relevant resources, and people active in the area.
What Happened in Teams Last Week?
Microsoft Teams continues to go from strength to strength, with Teams Premium growing to 10,000 paying customers, according to Microsoft’s latest earnings, which were released last week.
Microsoft’s latest financial update, which recorded significant revenue and net income growth, underlined that Teams Rooms has seen nine consecutive quarters of triple-digit growth, while Teams has now reached 320 million monthly active users (MAU). Satya Nadella, Microsoft Chairman and CEO, also highlighted the arrival of the new Teams client, “Teams 2.0”, and the improved performance and user experience of the new app.
Last week also saw Microsoft reveal a “private line” feature coming to Teams that bypasses all organisational policies for calling. The feature will become generally available in November and enables users to set up a private number to their Teams account that can be made available to a choice group of colleagues who can call the user directly.
Calling the private line number bypasses all organisational policies, including delegates, admins, or assistants. Furthermore, Teams will add a distinct ringtone and notification to alert the user that the private number is explicitly calling them. It will, for now, only support incoming calls and will not be usable for contacting others.
