From Microsoft, Meta, and Musk to the UC Partner Awards 2022 winners, here are some extracts from popular news stories this week.
Microsoft Adds ‘Games for Work’ to the Teams Platform
Microsoft has released its Games for Work app, which allows Teams users to build stronger connections and boost team morale by playing games.
Reports surfaced earlier this year that Microsoft was in the process of testing the ability for users to play games during Teams meetings.
The app has been developed by Microsoft Casual Games, an Xbox Games Studio, and will allow Teams users to play games such as Solitaire, Minesweeper, and Wordament.
Jill Braff, General Manager of Integrations and Casual Games, Microsoft, commented: “Over 3 billion people around the world play games, serving a crucial role in bringing people together – especially during these last few years.
“Games promote creativity, collaboration and communication in powerful and unique ways, and we can’t wait to see how the Games for Work app on Microsoft Teams inspires productivity and helps foster connections in the workplace.”
Microsoft says the games are easy to play in quick, interactive, and multiplayer versions, with some allowing up to 250 players to participate.
Twitter Employees Fired for Criticising Elon Musk on Slack
Elon Musk fired “dozens” of employees who criticised him on company Slack channels, according to ABC News.
Two former employees of Twitter told the news publication that “dozens” lost their jobs over the criticisms, and they received their termination emails overnight.
Other sources are alleging the number of employees sacked for bashing Twitter’s new CEO could be as many as 20.
The emails from Twitter HR read:
“We regret to inform you that your employment is terminated effective immediately. Your recent behavior has violated company policy.”
One of the employees commented: “I can only assume this was for not showing 100% loyalty on Slack.
“I have heard the same thing has happened to many others.”
Some of the employees who spoke out are reported to have used Twitter, while others are said to have used an internal Slack channel called the “social watercooler”.
UC Partner Awards 2022 Winners Announced
We can finally reveal the winners of the UC Partner Awards 2022!
This year was our second-ever UC Partner Awards, and we are thrilled to say that it has been another huge success. We strongly believe the channel community deserves to be recognised for all the fantastic contributions and innovations they have made to the world of unified communications. Yet again, we have been proved right through the responses we have received and by seeing up close the invaluable work that goes on within the industry.
We are lucky to have had a stellar line-up of judges this year, particularly as their jobs were not made easy with so many high-quality submissions. After extensive deliberation, however, the winners across all fourteen categories have been chosen, and we are excited to share those with you. We also want to give special recognition to all our finalists, some of whom were also given Highly Commended awards. Without further ado, let’s take a look at this year’s winners and finalists of the UC Partner Awards 2022.
Cisco Delivers Largest Ever Quarterly Revenue in Q1
Cisco’s Q1 2023 results have seen the company deliver its largest quarterly revenue in history.
During an investor call on November 16, Cisco reported revenue of $13.6bn for the first quarter, which is up six per cent year over year.
Cisco’s product revenue is up by 8 per cent; however, the company did see revenue fall on the collaboration side, which includes Webex by Cisco, of the organisation.
Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco, commented: “Our fiscal 2023 is off to a good start as we delivered the largest quarterly revenue and second highest quarterly non-GAAP earnings per share in our history.
“These results demonstrate the relevance of our strategy, our differentiated innovation, and our unique position to help our customers become more resilient.”
Scott Herren, Chief Financial Officer, Cisco, put the fall of two per cent down to a decline in meetings which has been partially offset by a growth in calling.
What’s New at Workplace? November 2022 Update
Workplace from Meta has announced new products and feature releases for November.
This month’s releases include video chapters on mobile, improved insights for Knowledge Library, quick link translations in Knowledge Library, enhanced focus behaviour on comments, posts, and notifications, group membership rules for all groups, in-person locations for virtual events, and shake your phone to report bugs.
The online collaboration software tool, Workplace from Meta, provides monthly updates of its latest innovations.
Knowledge Library Updates
Workspace from Meta had added improved insights for the Knowledge Library, which include allowing admins and category editors to view the numbers of people who have visited, reacted to, and commented on their category over a specific time period. Filters can be applied for location, department, and job title. The number of files viewed and downloaded can also be seen. These insights upgrades are available on the Workplace desktop web version.
