Microsoft announces new features in Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 for hybrid work

Microsoft has announced new features across Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365, Surface Hub, and Microsoft Viva that help reimagine the office experience, promote more impactful meetings and aim to encourage seamless communication and collaboration within flexible work.

The company has introduced over 1800 new 3D fluent emojis with the option to pick emojis that better represent themselves with the skin tone selector. In Outlook Mail, Microsoft is introducing Loop Components that helps improve hybrid brainstorming, completion of action items and making decisions together without having to switch context or apps. A single component can be updated at the same time whether you are in Teams or Outlook. 

A new feature called the Inspiration library is coming to Microsoft Viva in public preview as part of the Viva Insights app in Teams. The Inspiration library turns insights into action with access to curated content and best practices from top sources like Harvard Business Review and Thrive. The Inspiration library preview will begin rolling out to Microsoft 365 users with the Microsoft Viva Insights app in Teams later in March 2022 and will be available worldwide in 11 supported languages by the end of April 2022.

Microsoft is introducing a new offering in Microsoft Teams Phone called Operator Connect Mobile. The feature is built in partnership with some of the world’s largest telecom operators. This assigns a single business-provided mobile phone number for desktop and mobile devices, making it seamless to move calls across networks and devices with no interruptions. To support flexible work styles, two PowerPoint experiences, cameo and recording studio, are being brought together. This will make it possible for presenters to deliver presentations with PowerPoint Live in Teams, whether or not they attend the meeting.

Microsoft has also announced a new AI-powered Microsoft Surface Hub 2 Smart Camera that uses automatic framing technology to dynamically adjust your Teams video feed to provide remote team members with a dynamic view of in-room interactions.