Below are all of the relevant MSP related Microsoft announcements from December
Microsoft Teams
1. Virtual Appointment as a new Teams Meeting Template
How this will affect your organization
A new Teams Meeting Template, Virtual Appointment, will be added as a new template type accessible from the ‘New meeting’ dropdown menu in the Teams Calendar. This is a free experience that brings enhanced business-to-consumer meeting features into the lightweight and familiar Teams scheduling experience. When meeting with someone from outside of your organization, the Virtual Appointment meeting can be used to ensure the person you are meeting with has a seamless experience with the meeting from start to finish – all without having to learn new tools or leave the standard scheduling flow.
When will this happen:
Early February 2023 and expect to complete by late February 2023.
2. Mention Everyone in chat
How this will affect your organization
Similar to how users mention individuals in chat, users will now have the option for “Everyone” within their options for mentions. After typing @, users will see the same people results they see today, but a new option, “Everyone” will be available. By selecting Everyone and sending the message, a notification will be sent to all users in the group chat based on their selected notification settings. Users can adjust how they are notified within their Teams notification settings.
When will this happen:
Late January and expect to complete rollout to desktop, iOS and Android in late February 2023
2. Add people to a group chat with @mention
How this will affect your organization
Add new participants to the chat with @mention, removing the need to navigate to the add-dialog. When adding new participants, you can control how much of the chat history to share.
When will this happen:
GA
Microsoft Viva
1. Meeting Prep Inline Suggestions Coming to Outlook with Viva Insights
How this will affect your organization
**Requires Viva Insights Subscription**
A new inline suggestion in Outlook is being released with Microsoft Viva Insights to support booking meeting preparation time. The book prep time suggestion will enable Viva Insights users to set time aside to review related documents, complete tasks or take on any other preparation steps before the meeting.
To configure access to Viva Insights Outlook add-in and inline suggestions at a tenant level: Personal insights configuration for Microsoft 365 administrators | Microsoft Docs
When this will happen:
Early January 2023 and expect to complete rollout by late January 2023.
Microsoft Intune
1. Updates to Windows App Management in Intune with Winget
How this will affect your organization
We are improving IT productivity by connecting the Windows Package Manager framework into the Intune app service. The resulting workflow allows these experiences to work together seamlessly, providing the ability to add apps from the Microsoft Store for Business to Microsoft Intune. You can now browse, deploy and monitor apps inside Intune. And, you have complete control to curate what your users can install.
Once apps are deployed, Intune will automatically apply updates when new versions are available. Keeping these apps up to date improves security. Apps supported by the Microsoft Store include UWP apps, desktop apps packaged in .msix, and Win32 apps packaged in .exe or .msi installers. The most important feature to make note of is the ability to browse and search for store apps from Intune. Additionally, admins can monitor the installation progress for store apps.
Full Announcement: What’s new in Microsoft Intune – 2212 (December) edition – Microsoft Community Hub
When this will happen:
GA
Microsoft Admin
1. Removal of legacy Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) seat-based offer partner incentives on December 31
How this will affect your organization
This is an older announcement for those enrolled in the CSP program. Effective January 1, 2023 all incentives move to New Commerce Experience. CSP partners that have customers on legacy licensing will no longer get monthly rebates.
Full PC Announcement: December 2022 announcements – Partner Center | Microsoft Learn
2. General Availability: OneDrive sync reports in the Apps Admin Center
Proactively keeping OneDrive healthy helps ensure that your organization’s information is protected. The dashboard provides you with sync health reports for tracking relevant health issues and advisories, checking the sync status and app version of individual devices, and monitoring Known Folder Move roll out.
How to Set up: OneDrive sync reports in the Apps Admin Center – SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn
3. Microsoft Feed
How this will affect your organization
Microsoft Feed will be accessible on the left navigation of Microsoft 365. Microsoft Feed will show users a mix of relevant content from across Microsoft 365 that helps them discover and learn about people and interests relevant at work. Microsoft Feed is personal to users and will show users content based on what’s likely to be most relevant to the current user at any given time.
When this will happen:
Mid-February and expect to complete by early March