Microsoft Ignite is taking place this week in the United States. The event is one of Microsoft’s biggest annual gatherings where they take the opportunity to update their community on the latest news and updates for their portfolio. Today they revealed that their collaboration platform, Microsoft Teams, is the fastest growing business app in Microsoft history.
The popularity of Microsoft Teams is undeniable. The investment in the platform from Microsoft, and its availability as part of the Office 365 application suite, has resulted in the platform’s rapid uptake across the globe. Earlier this year we bought you news that Microsoft Teams now offers feature parity with Skype for Business, Microsoft’s unified communication platform. The pace of development in Teams means that it is now the leading communication and collaboration platform for Microsoft. This is now reflected in its growth figures which have been publicised by Microsoft today.
After less than two years in market, more than 329,000 organizations worldwide use Microsoft Teams, including 87 of the Fortune 100 companies. In fact, 54 customers now have more than 10,000 users of Teams, and Accenture just crossed the 100,000 user mark in Teams, leading the field in terms of large enterprises. Further growth has been boosted by the recently announced free version of Teams.
Microsoft will continue to add powerful new capabilities to enhance teamwork and collaboration. New artificial intelligence (AI)-powered meeting features are now generally available, these include background blur and meeting recording. Background blur uses facial detection to blur the background during video meetings, and meeting recording allows Teams users to playback recorded meeting content at any time with captions and a searchable, timecoded transcription.
Microsoft are also making live and on-demand events in Microsoft 365 generally available next month, so users can create and stream events in Teams, Microsoft Stream, or Yammer to inform and engage employees wherever they are. Employees can now watch videos on the go with the Stream mobile app for iOS and Android, with support for offline viewing. Microsoft are also combining with their ecosystem of device partners to deliver new devices optimised for Teams meetings and calling, including the new Surface Hub 2, which will ship in the spring of 2019. Surface Hub 2 is designed for dynamic teamwork and features a light and sleek design that’s easier to move and fit in any workspace.
Learn more about the Microsoft communication and collaboration platforms, including Teams, by listening to our regular Microsoft podcast.
UC Today are in attendance at Microsoft Ignite for the whole week to make sure you stay up to date with latest from the Microsoft world of communication and collaboration.
