Microsoft was among the first corporations to advise other companies that the epidemic would permanently alter work patterns. 2 years later, the company has supported remote work in its services as well as in practice in terms of how and where its workers complete their job. It announced modifications to Microsoft Teams, Office 365 apps, and even Surface hardware yesterday in order to better the hybrid reality of remote and office work. 

Microsoft is improving Outlook to make it simpler to identify if coworkers are intending to attend meetings in person and not as more organizations comeback to workplaces and consider a combination of remote and office work. In Q2, a new Outlook RSVP service will be available on public preview in the online version of Outlook, allowing meeting participants to choose whether they will participate remotely or in person. 

“This is just one component that I believe will indeed assist employees to identify who is in the workplace as well as how to improve those meeting sessions,” the vice president of Microsoft Teams, says in an interview. Although it does not seem to be as extensive as Gmail’s work location function, the general manager of Microsoft Teams says that the corporation is considering “how do we display that at a glance view throughout your day or week.” 

Once attendees are in a Teams meeting, a number of enhancements are being implemented to help accommodate virtual attendees. A new Front Row arrangement is now available in Microsoft Teams, which relocates the video gallery to the bottom of the screen so that participants in meeting rooms can see virtual coworkers one on one. For over one year, the company has been teasing this new style, and it’s been a key component of the corporation’s view of the future of meetings. 

Additionally, the company is improving the companion device experiences for Teams Rooms so that in-person participants may attend meetings with their very own device and be requested to activate camera so that virtual attendees can now see them more readily on the inside of a meeting room. “There are approximately 90 million meeting rooms in the globe, and fewer than 8% of them are video-enabled,” vice president of Teams explains. As a result, this is a significant change for the majority of organizations. 

In the spirit of video conferences, the company is also releasing a new Surface Hub smart camera. You can find out more about it right here. 

Loop components are also an important aspect of the company’s view of the future of working. Microsoft Loop components are discrete units of cooperative Office material that may be copied, pasted, and exchanged with each other. Consider taking notes in a Microsoft Teams meeting and afterwards replicating those notes into an email, but the notes keep updating as other individuals amend them within emails and Teams. 

It’s a strong notion, originally known as Fluid, that the company has been teasing for a few years. Loop components, which first appeared in Teams in January this year, are now finding their way to Outlook mail, connecting Microsoft’s primary communication platforms. 

Microsoft’s approach to hybrid working would be incomplete without certain enhancements to Microsoft PowerPoint. Microsoft PowerPoint’s new cameo and recording studio capabilities have now been incorporated. Cameo integrates a Teams camera into your presentation slide deck, while recording studio allows users to record themselves talking to any slide. They’re also intended to enhance distant coworkers’ meeting experiences, and the combo will be accessible in Q2. 

Changes to Microsoft Whiteboard in Teams will also be available in Q2. If you’ve never used a Whiteboard before, it’s simply a blank slate for ideas, but it can be challenging to consider how and where to graphically portray your thoughts. The company is now offering over 50 templates to make it easier to begin scribbling ideas down, as well as additional contextual reactions for immediate input from coworkers. 

Each of these product modifications are impacted by Microsoft’s own study data gathered from over 30,000 individuals working in organizations all across the globe. Microsoft’s most recent work trends index data sheds light on employee attitudes about hybrid working. 

According to Microsoft’s research, 18% of individuals left their employment in 2021, and so many people choose work-life balance, agility, and health over monetary concerns. 

The challenge for companies now would be to make workplaces profitable and to welcome workplace flexibility even more. “Officials must ensure that the workplace is worthwhile the travel,” the vice president argues. Many people will have to choose between coming into the workplace whenever it makes sense and work from home the rest of the time, so Microsoft’s adjustments to how Teams works will be a welcomed advance in making remote coworkers feel equally significant as those who arrive in person. 

The company is nowadays preparing to demonstrate how it will modify Windows for hybrid working. On April 5th this year, the tech company will host an event focused on new efficiency and safety enhancements to Windows 11 that match the changing realities of workplace and remote work that several people currently experience.