Microsoft is introducing a new type of meeting to its Microsoft Teams platform in the form of Virtual Appointments.
According to the Microsoft 365 roadmap, Virtual Appointments will be tailored for business-to-customer (B2C) meetings with people outside your organisation.
The roadmap post states: "Virtual Appointment is a new Teams meeting type tailored for B2C meetings with people outside of your organization.
"When using the meeting type, guests will get a meeting invitation that includes important appointment details to make joining easy.
"They can join from any device—no need to install Teams—and experience a comfortable pre-appointment virtual waiting room until you're ready to begin."
The Virtual Appointments feature will be available to Microsoft Teams users who use the platform's desktop client.
Microsoft states that the new meeting type will be generally available to users in February 2023.
The launch of Virtual Appointments is reported to coincide with the release of a new Teams licence, Microsoft Teams Premium.
The Premium licence includes many features for Virtual Appointments that aren't included in a standard Teams licence.
These features include the following:
- Customise lobby waiting rooms with themes and logos
- Send SMS notifications to participants
- Chat with attendees in the lobby waiting room
- Organisational and departmental analytics are available
- Manage scheduled appointments in the queue
- Manage on-demand appointments in the queue
- Send follow-ups following the virtual appointments
Microsoft has recently announced that the Teams platform is now fully integrated into its HoloLens 2 augmented reality headset.
