Take advantage of these 4 new AI features in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a cloud-based communication platform that allows you to chat, call, video conference, and collaborate with others. Its wide range of features includes video conferencing with up to 100 participants, live captions, recording and transcription of meetings, and screen sharing. It’s available on a variety of devices and is offered at various price plans for organizations.

Microsoft Teams Premium users, in particular, will be delighted to know that the platform has become even more feature-rich, boasting AI-powered innovations. Here are Teams’s top AI-powered features that can make meetings, training sessions, and webinars more efficient.

Intelligent recap

Intelligent recap automatically transcribes and summarizes meeting recordings, so you can quickly catch up on what you missed. Fueled by PowerPoint Live, Intelligent Recap uses AI to generate chapters in your meeting recordings based on the content of a presentation, streamlining the process of identifying and selecting the most pertinent segments. It also highlights key moments and action items in your meeting recordings, helping you stay on top of your work.

Imagine that your marketing team is conducting a project review meeting. The meeting covers a lot of ground, from market analysis to campaign strategies to performance metrics. It would be easy for team members to get lost in the details or to miss important information.

But with AI-generated chapters, the meeting recording is automatically segmented into each phase of the presentation. This makes it easy for team members to revisit and discuss specific sections without navigating through lengthy recordings.

Live translation

Live translation translates meetings in real time, allowing everyone to participate, regardless of their language. It also works with live captions, so you can see what’s being said in the speaker’s and your language.

For instance, a multinational company is conducting a strategy alignment virtual meeting with participants from different locations around the world. With AI-driven real-time translations, language diversity no longer poses a hurdle. A sales director in Tokyo can read the captions in Japanese, while their counterparts in Paris follow in French, and the marketing team in Salt Lake City stays engaged in English. This seamless interpretation not only enhances inclusivity but also enriches discussions by ensuring everyone comprehends nuances and context accurately.

It’s worth noting that only the meeting organizer needs to have a Teams Premium subscription to enable live translation for all attendees. This means that everyone in the meeting can fully participate and contribute to the conversation, irrespective of their subscription status.

Meeting templates

Meeting templates allow you to create custom templates for different types of meetings, such as brainstorming sessions, sales calls, or training sessions.

For example, a project manager can create a meeting template for weekly project status update meetings. The template can be preconfigured with settings, such as attendees, recurring schedules, and documentation links. By using this template, the manager is freed from repetitive setup tasks and can focus more on facilitating productive discussions. Moreover, the template enforces the company’s predefined guidelines, ensuring that every meeting adheres to a consistent structure and achieves the intended objectives.

Advanced webinar

Advanced webinars let you do two things efficiently: facilitate smooth event registration and craft tailored experiences for your audience. This new function is useful in a variety of scenarios, encompassing a range of webinars that simplify the process of hosting events.

Consider a real-life use case in which a software company is gearing up for a webinar to launch its latest software solution. With Teams’s advanced webinars feature, attendees can seamlessly register for the event, providing the hosting company with essential insights for planning and follow-ups. In addition, the customization options allow the company to tailor the webinar experience to match its branding, ensuring a consistent and immersive experience for participants. Features like interactive polls, Q&A sessions, and participant engagement analytics enrich the experience, enhancing the company’s ability to connect with its audience.

Want more tips to maximize your productivity tools? NetWize’s business IT professionals are ready to help you. Contact us today.

Direct routing to Microsoft Teams: What is it and what can it do for your business?

The COVID-19 pandemic showed how a crisis can suddenly emerge and prevent your staff from working at the office. Thus, it’s crucial that you adopt solutions that ensure greater workspace flexibility. One of these solutions is Microsoft Teams, which facilitates communication and collaboration through features like chat messaging, video conferencing, project management, and a cloud-based telephony system known as Direct Routing.

What is cloud-based telephony?

Traditional landline telephones are connected to one another by copper wires through the public switched telephone network (PSTN), which refers to all the telephone networks used around the globe. Cloud-based telephones, on the other hand, route voice calls through the internet.

There are several ways to make cloud calls. Besides using physical phones, you can also use software that functions like a telephone, called a virtual phone. With a virtual phone, you can make calls using any device that can run the program. These devices include smartphones, desktop computers, and laptops.

The Teams Phone feature adds Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) capabilities to MS Teams, allowing the program to function as a virtual phone. Unfortunately, because Teams Phone doesn’t connect to the PSTN, it can only be used to communicate with other users in your company, or with users of other communication apps, such as Slack. If you want Teams to be able to communicate with landline phones, you need Direct Routing.

What is Direct Routing on Teams?

Direct Routing allows your Teams client to connect to the PSTN using session border controllers (SBCs). SBCs are hardware or software that function as firewalls for VoIP systems, ensuring the proper transmission of data and preventing unauthorized parties from eavesdropping on calls. You can find different SBCs on the market, but you’ll need Microsoft-certified ones if you want to use Direct Routing.

SBCs are a complex technology and leaving their setup to inexperienced technicians can lead to risky misconfigurations and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. For this reason, setting up Direct Routing is best entrusted to the skilled IT professionals at [company_short].

Why should you use Direct Routing?

With Direct Routing, you no longer have to set up a separate phone line for your remote employees as they can make and receive calls using smartphones or laptops. More than this, Direct Routing lets your business enjoy the following benefits:

Greater control

Direct Routing essentially centralizes your telephony system through Teams. By implementing Direct Routing, your IT department will have an easier time implementing crucial security policies, monitoring usage rates, and enforcing usage limits when needed. It’s also easier to identify and resolve issues in a centralized telephony system because your IT personnel no longer have to deal with multiple, disparate devices.

Decreased costs

Microsoft offers other ways besides Direct Routing to connect your Teams client to the PSTN. These alternatives are Microsoft’s calling plans. The main difference between calling plans and Direct Routing is that the latter allows you to work with third-party service providers. This gives you more options and opportunities for your business to save money.

Additionally, you don’t need to use expensive telephony systems for Direct Routing. You can simply use devices that are already available to you and your employees.

More consistency

With traditional landline telephones, you may have to operate using different lines and devices, which can become quite confusing for your employees and customers. Centralizing your telephony system through Direct Routing streamlines your communication channels and promotes a better experience for everyone.

Direct Routing makes it easier and more convenient to communicate for everyone in your business. Let the IT experts at [company_short] set it up for you. Contact us today to get started.

Tips to make the most of Microsoft Teams

To maintain the efficiency of their remote and hybrid work staff, Salt Lake City businesses leverage all sorts of apps so that teams can work together and keep in touch with one another. A typical setup would have Google productivity apps like Google Docs for collaboration and Slack or Zoom for communication. But if your organization is using Microsoft 365, then there’s no need to use multiple platforms. In fact, when it comes to enhancing collaboration and communication, you just need one app: Microsoft Teams.

In case you don’t know, Microsoft Teams is a chat-based messaging platform where you and your staff members can chat, hold voice/video calls and conferences, and share and work on files. This seemingly simple and easy-to-use app is also packed with useful features. Here are a few tips and tricks you can try to maximize your use of Microsoft Teams.

Tips for admins and users with access to special features

Some features of Teams are only available to admins and to users granted usage permissions by admins. For example, regular staff can’t create their own teams (i.e., user groups that can have their exclusive chat channels, file sharing, and calendar events) unless permitted by company admins. Here are a few tips which are relevant to personnel with special privileges:

Create an FAQ

Set up a Microsoft Teams FAQ for your team to help guide them on how best to use the app. This could include things like:

What is Microsoft Teams?
Who can create a team?
How do I share a file with my team?
How do I invite someone to join my team?
What apps are available for Microsoft Teams?

For help on making your FAQ (and on all of the tips we’re sharing with you here), turn to our Microsoft Teams experts at NetWize.

Always check for team duplication

Teams can be created based on organizational affiliation (e.g., a department) or on shared activities (e.g., a project). If managers are not careful, they may end up creating too many teams. When this happens, there will be too many active lines of communication to keep track of — and team members may eventually feel overwhelmed and start dropping the ball on important tasks.

To avoid this, before creating a team, managers must always check if there’s already an existing team that can serve their purpose. They should also audit Teams every quarter or so to see if they can dissolve teams that are no longer in use. Just like with physical spaces, virtual spaces are much easier to use when they’re orderly and clutter-free.

Minimize the number of channels you create for a team

When a team project has many components, it’s a good idea to create separate communications channels for each component so that discussions and file sharing are limited to relevant members only. However, it’s best to begin with just a few channels and add more as needed. This is because each channel will have its own file archive, so the more channels you have, the more difficult it’ll be to find the documents you need.

Tips for everyone

Here are tips for all types of Microsoft Teams users:

Learn keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts allow Microsoft productivity app users to work faster than if they were to rely on using a mouse. This is because shortcuts become a natural extension to touch typing, and no time is spent moving one’s hand from the keyboard to the mouse. And just like Word and Excel, Teams also has its own set of keyboard shortcuts. Here are a few essential ones you ought to try:

Execute the search function: Ctrl + E
Open files: Ctrl + 6
Blur your background: Ctrl + Shift + P
Mute/Unmute yourself: Ctrl + Shift + M
Turn your camera on/off: Ctrl + Shift + O

For a comprehensive list, go to Keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Teams.

Master the search function

The more everyone uses Teams, the more content your organization will collect in the app, which means that search will become your most-used function over time.

Beyond just typing what you want to look for, you can also utilize Keyword Query Language or KQL to do more advanced searches. Here are four KQL-powered search query formats that Teams supports:

From:[person’s name] + search keyword – Looks for the keyword among the messages a person sent
In:[channel or group chat name] + search keyword – Looks for the keyword within a channel or group chat
Subject:[keyword from a channel message that came with a subject line] – Returns all channel messages that have that keyword in their subject line
Sent:[Date] + search keyword – Looks for the keyword among the messages sent on the specified date

To learn more about KQL, go to Microsoft’s Keyword Query Language (KQL) syntax reference.

Here are two other tricks you can try to search like a pro:

To do an exact match search, enclose your search term in quotation marks.
If you can’t remember the exact word you used, type the first letters you can remember, then place an asterisk (*) at the end. For instance, entering “elec*” will give you results that contain words that begin with those letters, such as elections, electricity, and so on.

Save messages

To ensure that you don’t forget important items, save messages for easy access later on. To save a message, click More options (…) > Save this message.

View your saved messages by clicking on your profile picture, then Saved. Alternatively, you can go to the search box and enter /saved.

Translate messages

Teammates and business partners may send chat messages in a language that you or others don’t understand. To illustrate, non-native English speakers may have difficulty following message threads that are predominantly written in English. Thankfully, Teams users can just hover over a particular message, click on the ellipsis (…), then click Translate.

Teams’s translation capabilities also go beyond written text. The app can add captions to video calls and translate those captions live. As of this writing, you can share the videos in up to six languages. In a video call, just open the Translate to menu and choose the language(s) you prefer. Those watching the video can then click Subtitles On in the lower right-hand corner of their screen so that they can read the translated captions.

To fully leverage Microsoft Teams and other Microsoft products you’re using, rely on our experts at NetWize.

Microsoft tips: File sharing and storage using Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive

Microsoft offers a wide array of productivity tools for businesses of all sizes in Utah. The Office apps are arguably their most well-known tools, but since Microsoft never rests on their laurels, they’ve built apps to cover the collaboration and file storage needs of their customers, too.

Let’s first take a brief look at what Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive are, then check out a few tips and tricks you can use to make the most of these apps.

What are Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive?

Microsoft developers liken team projects to coins. One side of a coin is a Teams channel, a place where your team members can communicate with one another and collaborate on project files. One of the many things you and your teammates can do on that channel is open an Office file in that same channel and not have to open the corresponding Office app separately.

The flip side of the coin is a SharePoint team site, which contains a common repository or folder for those files. The two apps complement each other to make cloud-based teamwork easy-peasy.

OneDrive, on the other hand, is also a storage facility, but is built for use by individuals instead of teams. It’s like your My Documents folder, but in the cloud. OneDrive is for your drafts and for project files that don’t belong in an existing team site or necessitate the creation of a team site yet. You can share files to other individuals or transfer them to SharePoint when you need to.

If your company is big on teamwork and your staff uses Office apps heavily, switching to Microsoft 365 Business will give you access to Teams, SharePoint, and many other awesome productivity apps! Let our IT experts at [company_short] help you find the right subscription plan for your business.

How do you store files in OneDrive and SharePoint?

Here are a couple of convenient ways to add files to the app of your choice.

In OneDrive

Upload to the app

Open OneDrive.
Click the Upload button in the top menu bar.
Pick the folders and files you want to store into your desired location in OneDrive.

Drag and drop to a folder

In the app, select or create a new folder in OneDrive.
Cut, copy, or drag and drop the files or folders you want onto the OneDrive folder you’ve selected or created.

Use the Save As function of MS Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote)

Click the File tab.
Click Save As.
Select the OneDrive account of your choice.

In SharePoint

Upload to the app

Go to a SharePoint site.
Click the Upload button.
Choose the files and folders you want to store on that site.

Drag and drop to a folder

Open SharePoint Online and go to your desired site
Drag and drop what you want onto the destination SharePoint folder.

Use the Save As function of MS Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote)

Click the File tab
Click Save As.
Select the SharePoint site of your choice.

If SharePoint sites do not yet appear:

Click Add a Place.
Select Office 365 SharePoint.
In the dialog box that appears, enter your SharePoint account credentials. SharePoint shortcuts will start appearing as Save As options for all MS Office apps.

How do you share and store files on Teams?

Sharing files of any type with your teammates is easy on Teams — all you need is access to these on the device you’re using. These are the files that are:

Stored on your device
In SharePoint, OneDrive, or other cloud-based storage
On the Files tab of your chats and channels on Teams

To quickly share a file with your team, share it in a group or one-on-one chat

The Conversations tab is where you and your teammates will do most of your communicating. Often, sharing files will be necessary, To share a file, you can copy-paste the link to that file, or you can do the following:

Click the Attach icon (i.e., the button that looks like a paperclip) underneath the box where you type messages.
Drill down to the file’s location, be it in OneDrive or local storage.
Select the file.
Click Open or Share.

Take note that this method might make files difficult to find, as chat threads easily become lengthy. For important files, you’ll want to add them to the Files tab of your Teams channel.

To make your files easy to find on your Teams channel, store them on the Files tab

As previously mentioned, each Teams channel is connected to a distinct SharePoint site. The Files tab of a channel acts as the access point to the main folder of the SharePoint site. Whatever file you upload to the SharePoint site will be accessible on the Files tab, and whatever file you upload to the Files tab will be accessible on the SharePoint site.

There are two main ways to store files on the Files tab:

Via the Upload a copy function of the Conversations tab

While you’re on the Conversations tab, do the following:

Click the Attach icon.
Accomplish one of the three methods below:

To pick a file you opened recently, click Recent, then Upload a copy.
To select from all the files you’re permitted access to on Teams, click Browse Teams and Channels, then Share a link or Upload a copy.
To choose a file from your private storage, click Upload from my computer or OneDrive, then Open or Upload a copy.

Via the Upload function of the Files tab

When you go to the Files tab, you’ll see subfolders (if there are any) and any shared files on the channel you’re in. To upload a file on that tab, follow these steps:

Select the location you want to put the file in. Open subfolders if you have to.
Click the Upload button.
Select File.

Before uploading your file, you may want to create a subfolder first:

On the Files tab, click New.
Select Folder.
Type the name for your new folder.
lick Create.

We’ve only scratched the surface of what you can do with Microsoft’s amazing apps. To discover more about how your business can benefit from these, talk with our IT specialists at [company_short]! Drop us a line or call us at 801-747-3200 today.

The niftiest features and benefits of Microsoft Teams Phone

Microsoft wants you to do everything on their software platforms — and this now includes making and taking phone calls, thanks to Microsoft Teams Phone. This is a powerhouse of a telecommunications solution, so let’s take a look at some of its niftiest features and benefits.

Use auto attendants, call queues, and call escalation

Let’s begin this list with features you’ve come to expect from top-notch Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions:

Auto attendant – Routes callers directly to the person or department they want to reach without having to go through a receptionist or an operator first.
Call queues – Treat callers to custom greetings and play pre-recorded messages or music while they’re on hold.
Call escalation – Easily turn a one-on-one call into a group call with video, screen sharing, and other features.

More of the usual (and not-so-usual) VoIP features can be found in this Microsoft document.

Do away with desk phones — or use feature-rich ones

Why spend extra on a fleet of desk phones when you can simply enroll internet-connected devices, such as desktop computers, laptops, and mobile phones, to Microsoft Teams Phone? If you’re just setting up your telecommunications with Microsoft Teams, you won’t necessarily need desk phones, which means savings from the get-go.

However, if for some reason your team needs to use desk phones and conference room audio devices, there are plenty that are certified to work with Microsoft Teams. Teams-certified desk phones and devices have plenty of innovative features, such as:

Authentication – For the sake of security, don’t let just anybody use your phones. Have phone agents sign in by entering their access credentials on the desk phone or other devices such as their mobile phone or PC.
Hot desking – When a user signs in to a Teams-certified phone, they gain access to their list of contacts and meetings, and their preferences would be applied on that device. Once they’re done using the phone, they can sign out so that the device would be ready for the next user.
One-touch join – This allows users to view their schedules and easily join meetings by just pressing a button.

Did you know? To enroll your telephony device to Microsoft Teams Phone, just sign in to your Microsoft Teams account on that device. It’s that easy!

Microsoft is partnering with more and more device manufacturers so that you can equip your staff with the phone they need to efficiently do their jobs, while enabling your managers to easily oversee them.

Easily monitor and enhance call quality

When problematic calls are reported, Teams’ call analytics enables admins and help desk agents to look into those specific calls to diagnose connection and call quality issues. Admins can also check the call quality dashboard to get a network-wide view of the performance of your Microsoft Teams Phone system.

Teams also has a feature called Quality of Service (QoS), which keeps calls from breaking up and video chats from freezing. This works by prioritizing the delivery of delay-sensitive network traffic such as voice calls and video conferencing streams. That is, QoS allows data packets from delay-sensitive network traffic to cut in line ahead of other data packets that can afford to be delayed, such as those from app downloads.

Easily port existing phone numbers or obtain and assign new numbers for users

If you have existing phone numbers from another service provider, simply send a letter of authorization (LOA) to Microsoft and they will handle transferring your numbers for you.

If you need new numbers for users in Utah, then using the Microsoft Teams admin center ought to be sufficient. In fact, you can pretty much rely on the admin center to get phone numbers for different countries and regions and comply with their rules and regulations.

However, for cases when you can’t get new numbers by using the admin center, or when you need to apply specific area codes or want to use vanity numbers, just send an LOA to Microsoft. They’ll take care of your request from there.

Have someone receive a call for you when you’re busy

There are times when you can’t take or make a call personally, but you don’t want to miss responding to people either, especially when they are important clients. Thankfully, Microsoft Teams Phone has the Delegate feature, which is a way for you to have a Teams member receive and make calls on your behalf.

Let NetWize help you leverage the Microsoft services that will best benefit your business. Leave us a message or call us at 801-747-3200 today.