What’s New In Microsoft 365 - June 2021

What’s new in Microsoft 365 this month? Since remote work is still very relevant, Microsoft has been working relentlessly to make the Microsoft 365 experience seamless and organized, whether you’re working remotely or back in the office. Let’s take a look at some highlights from this past month.

Creating Tasks Through Teams Messages

Increasing productivity is what’s new in Microsoft 365! Messaging conversations often result in follow-up actions, but creating a task in a separate app can be disruptive to your workflow. Not to mention the possible distraction between windows and real-time conversations. In order to help increase productivity, they’ve added the ability to create tasks right from any Microsoft Teams chat or channel conversation without having to switch apps or windows. 

Teams Meetings

Organizers and presenters can now spotlight up to seven participants simultaneously during meetings. This can be super useful from online events with multiple speakers (like a panel discussion) to company-wide team meetings so that each department could have a chance to have the floor. 

Speaking of multiple attendees, you can also manage attendee audio and video permissions in Teams meetings to help prevent disruptions and create a safer meeting environment. Bye-bye, awkward Zoom fails!

The New Guy

Getting to know your co-workers better is what’s new in Microsoft 365. Since remote work has become part of the norm, so has remote new-hires. Microsoft has made it easier to make connections within your organization with the new Organization Explorer in Outlook which allows you to find, discover, and explore people and relationships through a new organizational browser experience. 

Automated Scheduler

Finding time that fits everyone’s schedule can be frustrating, inconvenient, and time-consuming. Microsoft said the average time it takes to schedule meetings is 6 to 29 minutes! This month, they released Scheduler, a new Microsoft 365 service that works with Cortana to automate meeting scheduling. Instead of sending out multiple dates and times to attendees, or updating scheduling apps like Doodle and waiting for everybody’s responses, just ask Cortana to see when everybody is available for a meeting, and Cortana will work with the Scheduler service to find times that work best for everyone and send out invites. 

What’s Right for Your Business?

A little overwhelming? Don’t sweat it- once you have your own Certified Microsoft Trainer, they get notifications and first-hand announcements with updates and new features. By staying on top of everything, they’re able to then give you any insights and information that could help your company, a certain team’s process, or just letting your team know of a new function that could save time on their end. When you hire your own Microsoft trainer, they can make personal recommendations and save you a lot of time.