Microsoft crowned “Best of Enterprise Connect” for new Teams features
Just over a year since it’s official launch, Microsoft Teams has won big at Enterprise Connect 2018, taking home the show’s top prize: “Best of Enterprise Connect”, based on the reimagined vision for Teams as the hub for teamwork in Office 365.
Competing in a crowded field of nominations from 40 companies, finalists were judged on factors including technology advancement, scope and reach, relevancy for large and midmarket enterprises, pricing, and business impact— all areas in which Teams distinguishes itself – fending off tough competition including Cisco, Slack, Facebook, Plantronics and Polycom.
“significantly advanced user experience for the workplace”
The key to this win is all down to Microsoft’s significantly advanced user experience for the workplace – desktop and mobile – that it calls ‘Microsoft Teams with Intelligent Communications – The Hub for Teamwork in Office 365.
Marty Parker, category judge and principal consultant for UniComm Consulting said: “When all the new features are evaluated and are compared to the collaborative workspace offers of other UC and UCaaS vendors, it’s clear that Microsoft has delivered a significantly expanded level of communications-centric capability to support the roles and tasks needed to succeed as a knowledge worker, information worker, or manager of those groups.”
Microsoft Teams, a cloud-based team collaboration and communications solution built on Office 365. A day before winning the award, Microsoft went public on a number of enhancements which will take Teams to the next level by adding artificial intelligence (AI) and automation into team collaboration workflows.
Specifically, Microsoft introduced new voice and meeting skills which will be built on the Microsoft Graph, Microsoft Cognitive Services, and Cortana – these services already provide much of the glue and intelligence that binds other Office 365 collaboration and security services together.
In summary, the new key features being released over the coming weeks and months are:
- One-click meeting recording, with automatic transcription and timecoding for ease of search (this will include facial recognition matching speaker to remarks to follow)
- In-line message translation for approximately 80 languages – built on Microsoft Translator Technology
- Voice commands for Teams-connected devices, using Microsoft’s virtual assistant Cortana
- Click to background blur on video calls
- Proximity detection that lets users find and add Skype Room Systems to meetings
- Content sharing from mobile devices during meetings (a feature well overdue and heavily requested)
If you’d like to learn more about how Microsoft Teams could work for your organisation, book your Modern Workplace Innovation Centre Experience today, where we will cover:
- An overview of Microsoft Teams
- Road map your journey from Skype for Business to Teams
- Interactive live demonstration of Teams in action
- An overview of Teams deployment
- Answer any technical or management questions you may have
Written by Rob Quickenden, Cisilion’s Chief Strategy Officer
