What’s coming to Microsoft Teams in 2021?

Throughout 2020, Microsoft introduced several new features to help businesses operate remotely during the pandemic. From the 1st of this month you will need to purchase an add-on to be able to continue using these features.

A lot of these features were created specifically for those hosting live events, in programs such as Microsoft Teams, Stream and Yammer.

These features included:

• Up to 16 hours of event broadcasting.
• Up to 50 different events could be hosted simultaneously by one host.
• An updated limit on attendees – up to 20,000 people are now supported.
• Up to 100,000 attendees can be planned through the Microsoft 365 assistance program. If you get in contact with Microsoft, they will provide you with the best options for what you are looking for.

So, what’s coming in 2021?

The virus has forced a lot of us to make the transition into working from home, which has had a massive effect on the way we use our computer systems. It’s been important for us to be able to easily get in contact with others and become more flexible in our working environments. We predict that 2021 will be a year for new apps that we started using in 2020 (because of the pandemic) to become a solid part of our daily working life.

Microsoft Teams has become one of Microsoft’s most popular platforms and is on its way to becoming as significant as your internet browser. Because of this, the company are constantly looking for ways to improve and develop their program to integrate perfectly into other Office programs and your work schedule.

When using Teams, there are certain elements that restrict how flexible we can be when working in different locations. For example, if you’re on a call and you must suddenly dash off somewhere, you may be stuck in a situation where you must leave the call and risk missing out on vital information from your colleagues or postpone an important meeting.

In 2021, Microsoft are introducing a feature that allows you to transfer your call between laptop and phone. This will allow you to continue your call wherever you may be, we can’t wait!

We’ve also heard rumours of Outlook being brought into Teams. This will make it possible to send copies of emails, conversations and attachments and start chats related to specific email messages. When sharing to Teams from Outlook, a popup window will appear where you will be able to confirm where or who you would like to share the content to and if you would like to add any attachments.

Overall, we think 2021 will be a great year for new technology!

Just another reminder- to continue using some of the Teams features you will need to purchase the add-on from the 1st January 2021.