Increasingly, the world of work is evolving to suit a new style of flexible employee. Since the pandemic, concepts like hybrid and remote work have become commonplace in businesses around the globe. These workplace strategies allow companies to reduce overheads, increase productivity, and appeal to a wider range of talented professionals.
However, creating a “workplace” in an environment where teams are increasingly distributed can be complicated. Business leaders need to be able to effectively organise and manage both physical and virtual environments designed to empower their staff.
As part of the 2022 Ignite Conference, Microsoft announced a new tool in a series of solutions released to empower the hybrid workforce. The introduction of “Microsoft Places” coincides with a broader push by the technology innovator to align and synchronise employees in the evolving future workplaces.
With this tool, companies can engage, empower, and organise their teams like never before.
What is Microsoft Places? An Introduction
Microsoft Places is a team management application designed to work seamlessly with the rest of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. The app allows individual users to create dedicated dashboards where they can keep track of their to-do lists and resources. At the same time, business leaders can keep an eye on which team members are scheduled to be present in the office throughout the week.
According to Microsoft, Places is a dedicated tool for simplifying hybrid working. It will help managers to plan how office space is used, as well as giving teams more guidance into their work schedule, with tips on travel time and schedule management.
Microsoft has also suggested Places will assist companies in collecting information around the “sentiment” related to hybrid work practices. This could help business leaders to produce workplace policies more likely to boost employee engagement and experience.
In-depth analytics and reports will empower supervisors and managers to organise their resources based not just on the best outcomes for the business, but the needs of individual staff members. The solution builds on Microsoft’s view of the “Connected workplace”, which combines experience, with technology platforms, infrastructure, and planning.
The Features of Microsoft Places:
Microsoft Places combines multiple planning and resource management solutions into a single application for business leaders and employees alike. The core focus of the app is in helping leaders to coordinate their staff, and achieve the right outcomes through hybrid scheduling and intelligent technology. Here’s what companies will be able to do with Microsoft Places:
Leverage Hybrid Scheduling and Intelligent Booking
The hybrid scheduling system built into Microsoft Places collects data signals from Teams and Outlook to help users see when different colleagues are likely to be in the office. Business leaders can see which days have the most in-office attendance, so they can manage real-estate correctly.
There’s also an intelligent booking system to help users discover spaces with the right technology to manage in-person, and hybrid meetings. Included recommendations also offer users an overview of the shortest commute times, when to leave based on the traffic of the day, and when meetings are scheduled to take place.
Modernize office spaces with intelligent tools
Microsoft Spaces helps companies to take full advantage of both their physical and virtual workplaces. Wayfinding solutions prevent users from wasting time searching for the right conference room, with maps sent direct to their mobile devices. There’s also hot desk booking to help users see where their colleagues are sitting, so they can choose the right position for collaboration.
Once users reach the correct office space, they’ll be able to leverage an integration between Places and Microsoft Teams Rooms, to ensure everyone can connect in an engaging meeting. Microsoft Places will also include “serendipitous meet-ups”, so colleagues can engage in impromptu discussions with anyone in the office.
Optimize resource management
To ensure they manage physical space effectively, Microsoft Places will provide managers and leaders with utilization data, occupancy trends, and energy-saving tips. This should allow teams to make dynamic adjustments to space usage day by day. There’s also a space optimization feature, which reduces the available floors in operation on days when fewer team members are active.
Leaders can collect trend data about places and people across their entire portfolio, for better team management. What’s more, Places will integrate with the full Microsoft 365 environment, including Outlook, Teams, and Viva, as well as Microsoft Graph for deeper data insights. Notably, Microsoft has also said the data collected on the Microsoft Graph and Places platforms will adhere to the strict privacy and compliance standards held by the brand.
Microsoft Places and Partnerships
In order to rapidly address the changing needs of newly evolving workplaces, Microsoft has not only built a wide range of features for Places, but also partnered with leading industry experts in different landscapes. The company has already formed connections with innovators in the Experience, Platform, Infrastructure, Environment, and Planning sectors.
This ensures companies will be able to access the tools and services they already use in their workplace within the Places application. Some of the partners already announced for the application include Autodesk, Avanade, Honeywell, Genetec, SwiftConnect, and JLL.
According to Microsoft, the diverse ecosystem of partners will ensure companies can use Places to create holistic, engaging, and impactful environments where employees from all backgrounds can thrive. Further partnerships are likely to be announced going forward.
How to Create Microsoft Places
Microsoft Places has yet to be fully unveiled by the Microsoft team. Once this solution is introduced, it’s intended to be more of a platform than a standalone app. Ideally, Microsoft wants Places to become the core virtual workspace for the age of hybrid work.
While Places is launching “soon” in beta mode, companies with an investment in the Microsoft ecosystem can still start building more inclusive environments for their teams within Microsoft Teams. The usage and management data gathered in Teams leading will be leveraged in the Places app when it’s ready to launch, giving organisations a fantastic starting point for their campaigns.
Microsoft believes Places will help companies to create the kind of meaningful workspaces capable of generating excellent productivity, engagement, and experiences among teams.
