The Microsoft Teams Monthly Update for January 2024 is here! Covering the following and much more in only 13 minutes!Copilot for Microsoft 365 is now available to all user accounts, including business plans, with no seat minimum. This is a big unlock for small businesses and E plans.Copilot Pro is launched for Microsoft 365 personal and family plans, offering AI assistance integration into Office apps.Teams Android Auto integration is coming in February, offering a full Teams client experience for Android users.Microsoft has made improvements to the Teams invite interface, making it clearer and easier to use.Thanks to this month's sponsor Pure-IP for your continued support of the communityNote that this is an audio-only version of the update, so if you would like to see the accompanying slides then you can watch the video version on the Empowering.Cloud platform here: https://app.empowering.cloud/briefings/328/Microsoft-Teams-Monthly-Update-January-2024

Rohan Milne, CEO at Switch Connect and Tom Arbuthnot discuss the impact and role of AI in the workspace, with a focus on its potential and limitations in different applicationsThe importance of understanding experience or voice and PSTN within the Managed Service Provider (MSP) communityStrategies for optimizing Microsoft Teams as a collaboration platform rather than just a PBXImpact of AI in the contact center space and its potential to disrupt current modelsExamples of challenges of implementing Teams Calling in government and enterprise settings due to existing contracts and siloed operations are highlightedLimitations of AI in areas like the order of actual execution of tasksPotential for AI to evolve to a state where it can provide real-time insights and analytics for businessesHow Teams can be leveraged for an ROI rather than being seen as an expense for businessesThanks to Ribbon, this episode's sponsor, for your continued support of the Empowering.Cloud community. 

Greg emphasizes the importance of thinking critically about each component of a room and using standards as a guideThe importance of standards and proper room design for Microsoft Teams rooms and technology-enabled spacesThe real-world challenges of room design, the need for audio quality and the opportunity for improvement in remote experiencesThe ROI of investing in technology-enabled spacesThanks to Crestron, this episode's sponsor, for your continued support of the community and for helping to make content like this possible. 

Damian Lewis is a digital workplace specialist at a global enterprise responsible for Teams telephony, Microsoft Teams Rooms, and other Teams-related projects.Tom and Damian discuss the challenges of migrating legacy telephony into Teams, especially the porting of numbers, which can be unpredictable and time-consuming.An ideal operational model for telephony in Teams is still being defined, including allocating responsibilities between the network team and the collaboration/digital workplace team.Damian's organization has established a weekly Microsoft Message Center review board to stay on top of updates, assess their impact, and communicate them to users through a "did you know?" communication.Keeping track of Message Center updates is crucial to avoid surprises and ensure smooth operations, especially for significant changes like the retirement of Stream Classic or introducing new features.Damian recommends following the YouTube channel "365 Message Center Show" hosted by Daryl Webster and Daniel Glenn for additional insights into Microsoft updates.Thank you to Numonix, this episode's sponsor, for your continued support of the community. 

In this podcast episode, Tom Arbuthnot speaks to Vandana Thomas, Microsoft Teams Phone Mobile Product Leader about what we've seen in Teams Phone Mobile throughout 2023 and what we can expect to come in 2024. Thanks to Luware for sponsoring this episode, check out their Microsoft Teams Contact Center solution here: Luware | Contact Center and Routing SolutionsTeams Phone Mobile has launched in nine countries with six operators.There are plans to expand the market coverage, aiming for 10 more markets next year.The integration of AI features, such as CoPilot, in Teams Phone Mobile is a big focus.We discuss features planned in the future. 

In this Microsoft Teams Insider Podcast episode, Micah Singer, CEO of Kurmi Software, and Tom Arbuthnot discuss a range of topics around the future of Enterprise IT:potential impact of generative AI on software developmentshift towards remote work and how it's driving demand for more IT infrastructurerole of AI in IT securitythe rise of low-code and no-code applicationsmonetisation of cloud infrastructurethe need for greater automation in IT management

Michael Tressler is a Senior Solutions Consultant at Jabra, focusing on pre-sales technical support for Jabra products, including audio and video devices.In this podcast Michael explains his journey from early coding, to IT roles to Microsoft and then to JabraJabra has also recently launched an Android-based video bar, providing an all-in-one solution for video conferencing.Thanks to Jabra, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of the community and helping making content like this possible. 

In this podcast episode, Tom Arbuthnot and Sam Kennedy, discuss Crestron's product Automate VX for outside-in camera views in meeting rooms. The multi-camera solution aims to provide a more equitable meeting experience by intelligently selecting the best camera angle for each moment during a meeting. The Automate VX has also recently been Microsoft Teams certified, making it the first multi-camera solution to have been certified by Teams.Thanks to Crestron, this episode's sponsor, for their continued support of the community and helping to make this podcast possible. 

In this podcast episode, Tom Arbuthnot and Chris Goodwill discuss the impact of AI on contact centers and the opportunities it opens up for innovation and improvement in content centers.AI will have a significant impact on contact centers in terms of driving efficiencies and improving customer experience.Quick wins in the B2C space include using chatbots for simple tasks like waste collection or ordering recycling bins.Digital transformation is essential for contact centers to drive better customer experiences and satisfaction.The use of AI in contact centers can lead to cost savings, skill changes, and job opportunities in different areas.Microsoft has introduced Dynamics Contact Center platform and Digital Contact Center platform (DCCP) to provide contact center solutions.Dynamics Contact Center platform is tightly integrated with Dynamics CRM and offers voice and omni-channel capabilities.Partners and customers need to understand the options available, leverage the best solutions, and stay open to the evolving contact center market.Thanks to Ribbon, the sponsor of this episode, for your continued support and making it possible for us to produce content like this. 

In this podcast, Tom Arbuthnot interviews Alistair Pidd from Pure IP, discussing the maturity and scale of Microsoft Teams in the enterprise market. Thank you to Pure IP, the sponsor of this episode, for helping to make this podcast possible. Microsoft Teams has undergone significant changes and improvements in the last year, such as the introduction of SIP gateway, shared calling with auto-attendant administration, and the migration away from 3PIP devices.Managing the scale and complexity of Teams deployments in large enterprises requires careful planning and change control to ensure stability and minimize disruptions to service.Responsibilities for managing Teams deployments in enterprises often involve multiple teams, including network, voice, applications, and meeting room teams.Automation and outsourcing services, such as managed SBCs, are becoming more common as enterprises seek to simplify their Teams deployments and reduce the complexity of managing phone systems.Reporting and analytics capabilities in Teams, especially for call queues and support desks, remain an area where improvements are needed to provide better visibility and insights.