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Microsoft February 2022

Information on the latest updates from Microsoft that will affect your business.

 

This month Microsoft is configuring activity feed notifications in Microsoft Teams, we show you how to pin your own video in Teams meetings and other updates to Sharepoint.


Teams Microsoft Teams Updates

 

1. Walkie Talkie on iOS General Availability

NEW FEATURE
How this will affect your organization:

With Walkie Talkie in Teams, employees can now securely communicate with a familiar push-to-talk (PTT) experience without needing to carry bulky radios. This native built-in app in Teams turns employee or company-owned iOS smartphones and tablets into a walkie-talkie, reducing the number of devices employees must carry and lowering costs for IT.


Customers with frontline workers may want the ability to speak and receive Walkie Talkie calls even when their phones are locked. With general availability, this experience is now possible using purpose-built bluetooth headsets from Blueparrott which include a dedicated PTT button for Walkie Talkie. Walkie Talkie is not pre-installed. To enable this feature for users in your organization, use the Teams Admin Center to include Walkie Talkie in the App Setup Policy assigned for users. Walkie Talkie will become available on the iOS app within 48 hours.

Picture 1

 

2. Teams Phone with Calling Plan replacing Business Voice

LICENSING

How this will affect your organization:

The Teams Phone SMB (Microsoft 365 Business Voice) bundle and the Enterprise (Teams Calling Essentials) bundle are being consolidated into a new offering named Teams Phone with Calling Plan. Starting January 1, 2022, Teams Phone with Calling Plan will be available for purchase. Business Voice will be phased out on February 28, 2022. Currently, there is a bug where Business users are not able to add Teams Phone with Calling Plan. This is actively being worked on for a resolution.

For more information about the offering, click here.
For more information about the latest bug announcement, click here.


When this will happen:
Early January and expect to complete rollout in early February

 

StreamUpdatesStream Updates

 

1. Comment on a video or audio file in SharePoint and OneDrive

NEW FEATURE

How this will affect your organization:
This feature allows you to have threaded conversations on a video or audio filed saved in OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online through a cohesive and familiar commenting experienced like the one used in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Picture 1_new

When this will happen:
Early February and expect that rollout to be completed by late February

 

A_SE2. Microsoft Defender for Business is coming to Microsoft 365 Business Premium

SECURITY ENHANCEMENT

How this will affect your organization:
A new service plan called “Microsoft Defender for Business” will be added to Microsoft 365 Business Premium subscriptions. Microsoft Defender for Business brings enterprise-grade endpoint security to Microsoft 365 Business Premium customers

For more information about this offering, check out my blog post here


When this will happen:
late February and should complete by early March.

 

3. Microsoft Defender for Office 365: Updates to URL Protection Report

SECURITY ENHANCEMENT

How this will affect your organization:

Enhancements to the URL protection report by including new click actions to the reporting. Microsoft will be introducing four new actions that will help Admins have better insights to the new actions that exist within their organization tenant. These new actions are:
• "Admin allowed" - Clicks allowed by the admin as part of the safe links policy
• "Admin block" - Clicks that are blocked by the admin as part of the safe links policy
• "Pending scan" - Clicks on URLs that are pending a scan verdict
• "Admin blocked and click through" - Admin has blocked the link but the user clicked through


Picture 1_jan


When this will happen:
End of March and we expect to be complete by early April.