Microsoft has announced a series of impressive updates to their ever-popular platform, Teams. Their announcement revealed the introduction of new features such as CarPlay integration and improved calling features which, according to Microsoft, make Teams a better replacement for a traditional work phone.
2020 has definitely been the year of Microsoft Teams which has been one of the mainstream go-to remote work solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, the platform was growing at a steady pace but as millions of people have been forced to work from home, its popularity has continued to accelerate. As a result, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has revealed that Microsoft Teams now has in excess of 115 million daily active users.
Gif sourced via Microsoft.
By integrating with Apple’s CarPlay, Microsoft Teams users can now place and receive calls via Teams using built-in vehicle controls. Teams users will be able to initiate and join calls from their dashboard or use Siri hands-free if they prefer. The CarPlay feature will be useful for people who are often on the road needing to talk to people in the office or in a group.
Microsoft said:
“CarPlay support: Placing and receiving calls in the car will soon be easier than ever, thanks to CarPlay support for Teams Calling. With CarPlay, you can use your vehicle’s built-in controls to operate Teams, including using Siri to place and answer calls.”
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Microsoft also announced plans to improve the Teams calling experience in early 2021, allowing users to be able to move a call between the desktop and mobile versions of Teams. The streamlined calling features will bring all related elements – the dial pad, call history, voicemail, contacts and settings into a single location. Additionally, you can now save call recordings to OneDrive or SharePoint, making them more accessible to everyone.
“Transfer calls between mobile and desktop: Teams makes it easy to place and receive calls from several different endpoints, including desktop and mobile devices, but sometimes you need to move locations or devices to finish your call. Starting in early 2021, you will be able to shift your calls between your mobile and desktop endpoints with an easy-to-use interface on the Teams app.”
“Call merge: Calling users can bring multiple different one to one calls together to combine conversations and simplify multiple conversations. Call merge is now available for both PSTN calls and VoIP calls.”
It’s clear that Microsoft Teams is now the go-to tool to allow businesses to collaborate virtually. With this in mind, we are anticipating even more new and exciting features to launch in 2021, so stay tuned!
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