In the latest episode of UC Today's Microsoft Teams News Show, experts Tom Arbuthnot, Ryan Herbst, and Josh Blalock delve into the significant updates and developments surrounding Microsoft Teams.
The discussion covers Microsoft's recent earnings, AI-powered features, and Teams Rooms and devices enhancements.
Here's a rundown of the key insights from the show.
Microsoft's Strong Performance and Copilot's Growing Impact
The show started with Microsoft’s quarterly results, which revealed impressive growth across the board.
"Copilot and AI were the top of the agenda," Arbuthnot said, highlighting that Copilot was mentioned a staggering 42 times during the earnings call.
The earnings revealed that over 77,000 organisations are using Copilot, a number that has surged by 180% year on year.
Moreover, 50,000 organisations have used Copilot Studio to create custom Copilots, showcasing the growing adoption of AI tools within the Microsoft ecosystem.
Microsoft Teams, while not as heavily featured on the earnings call as in years gone by, was given more attention than in previous quarters.
Teams Premium has reached over 3 million users, marking a 400 percent increase year on year.
"Three million is a good number, but it's less than 1% of the active users," Arbuthnot said, indicating that there's a vast potential market still untapped.
Teams Rooms and AI-Powered Features: A Game Changer?
One of the most exciting updates discussed is the new AI-powered feature for speaker recognition in Teams Rooms.
Our panel said this feature, which has been in the works for a while, represents a significant leap forward in meeting technology.
Arbuthnot said: "Microsoft has moved that recognition technology to being cloud-processed, which means any Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows, any of the hardware, will now enable that capability."
This is a significant enhancement as it eliminates the need for specific hardware, making the feature accessible to a broader range of users. It also brings the feature to organisations that have invested in high-end meeting room technology without access to intelligent speakers.
In addition, Blalock underscored the accessibility and inclusivity that this feature brings.
"From an inclusive standpoint, when you think about live transcriptions, that's an accessibility feature,” he said.
“It is a collaboration feature, but it's also accessibility for the hard of hearing, etc."
“Being able to open that up across all organisations that may need that capability is hugely impactful.”
Herbst pointed out that the ability to use intelligent speaker on more hardware makes it even more important to consider the layout of meeting room tech.
“You even more so need to think specifically about the placement of microphones, having enough microphones, the right quality of things, particularly as you get into larger spaces,” he said.
“It may have been that you could get away with one ceiling mic before that was not perfect… I think particularly as you get into some specialty spaces, you’ve got to think about it [for intelligent speaker to be effective].
Enhancements in Meeting Layouts and User Experience
The panel also discussed the updates to the Teams client, particularly the new meeting gallery layout.
This dynamic layout adapts to the activity within the meeting, prioritizing active speakers and those with their hands raised.
