As we have seen this year, development of Microsoft Teams is gathering pace. As the communication app wars continue with the likes of Zoom and Slack, Microsoft has been proactive in ensuring Teams is evolving. Leading the features debuting in August was Spotlight Mode. Microsoft says this tool will arrive over the coming months and allows a meeting host to lock their video as a main view. In other words, the presenter can make their content the same view across all participants. Elsewhere, Microsoft made some more subtle changes. For example, meeting recordings can be saved for users who are in countries where recording is disabled. This would be regions where Microsoft has not in-country datacenters. When a user saves a recording, it is stored in the nearest Microsoft Azure region.
More Features
Also in August, Microsoft Teams call merging was introduced. With this feature, users can merge Teams PSTN and VOIP calls together for single or group calls. Furthermore, users can tap into Visio files through dedicated tabs in a chat. Microsoft also revealed real-time presence, which gives users the ability to make their availability status more individual. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced Teams is getting 20,000 meeting participants and a new cloud calling service. Elsewhere in the newest Teams upgrade, users can also add company branding. Microsoft says the tool is coming soon and allows companies to brand their meetings with logos. However, Microsoft says this ability will only be available through a new plan called Advanced Communications.
