Below are all of the latest feature updates coming to Microsoft 365
Microsoft Teams
1. Copilot in Microsoft Teams
How this will affect your organization
Copilot in Teams Phone
The introduction of Copilot makes Teams Phone the first leading UCaaS solution to add generative AI capabilities to phone calls. With this new capability, you can make and receive calls from your Teams app on any device and get real-time summarization and insights. You can also ask Copilot to draft notes for you during the call and highlight key points, such as names, dates, numbers, and tasks using natural language commands.
Copilot in Teams chat
With Copilot in Teams chat, you can quickly synthesize key information from your chat threads – allowing you to ask specific questions (or use one of the suggested prompts) to help get caught up on the conversation so far, organize key discussion points, and summarize information relevant to you. Copilot reduces the effort of managing different chats and helps you spend more time on the things that matter, without interrupting the flow of your work.
Full Announcement: The next wave of Copilot in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Community Hub
When will this happen:
Now available to customers participating in the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program. GA TBD
2. Meet App on Microsoft Teams
How this will affect your organization
Microsoft Teams users will soon have a dedicated space to manage their meetings – “Meet”. The Meet app is a centralized hub for all meeting activity and content.
The feature is rolling out exclusively on the new Microsoft Teams across Desktop and Web, and will serve as the destination for pre, during and after meeting insights, content, and action items. With the Meet app, users can prepare for upcoming meetings, catch on something they missed, and find meeting content, agenda, notes, chats, and recaps – all in one place.
Teams Premium users can view additional AI-powered meeting insights such as “missed” meetings, “mentions” of you & “suggested tasks” for the meeting on the Meet app.
When will this happen:
mid-October 2023 (previously mid-August) and expect to complete by mid-November 2023
3. Shared Device License on Mobile App for Android
How this will affect your organization
The Teams Shared Device license offers a shared identity-based, common area phone experience, including basic and advanced calling, people search, voicemail and walkie talkie. This feature will enable Android phones to be set up as shared devices. Walkie Talkie, call queues, auto attendants, cloud voicemail, call park and all other calling features currently supported on common area phones will be available through the Teams Android app.
When will this happen:
late August 2023 and is expected to be complete by early September 2023.
4. Deploy new Microsoft Teams with Microsoft 365 apps
How this will affect your organization
Starting in September 2023, we will begin including new Microsoft Teams as part of the new and existing installations of Microsoft 365 apps for Windows. Currently, users can install the new Teams by using the Try the new Teams toggle switch in classic Teams or having administrators bulk deploy directly to the computers in their organization.
- We will begin by including the new Teams app as part of new and existing Microsoft 365 app installations on Windows depending on your office update channel and license Type. You will continue to have the classic Teams app included in the installation as well.
Depending on which update channel you’re using and our deployment schedule below, the new Teams application will start installing with Microsoft 365 apps. The following shows the schedule.
The planned rollout for deploying new Teams with Microsoft 365 apps and showing the toggle will be:
- Business plans (for example, Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium, and Teams Essentials (AAD), etc.): September 2023.
- Enterprise plans (for example, E3, E5, F3, etc.): reference this
How to opt-out from this change:
Note: The control to opt-out will be available in early August 2023. We will update this Message center post to notify you once it is available.
To prevent the automatic installation of the new Teams app, sign into the Microsoft 365 apps admin center (https://config.office.com) with an admin account. Then, go to Customization > Device Configuration > Modern Apps Settings. Select Microsoft Teams (work or school) and then clear the Enable automatic installation of new Microsoft Teams check box. However, we would recommend leaving the setting as is for the best Teams experience.
5. 1000 Channels per Team
How this will affect your organization
Microsoft Teams channel limits are soon increasing to 1000 channels per team. Users will be able to create any combination of standard and shared channels, plus up to 30 private channels, for a total of 1000 per team, allowing for even more collaboration and organization within your team.
When will this happen:
mid-August and expect to complete rollout by late August.
6. Stream Preview and Playback in Teams Chat and Channels
How this will affect your organization
Users can preview and play Stream videos directly in Teams Chat and Channel without having to open them in a browser and going to Stream
When this will happen:
late July and is expect to complete rollout by late August.
7. Channel meeting invitation | Allow organizer to send a channel meeting invite to everyone in team
How this will affect your organization
Often, channel meetings get missed since users are not appropriately notified about them. With the added enhancement, meeting organizers can turn a toggle button on the scheduling form when scheduling a channel meeting. Once the toggle is turned on and meeting is saved, all channel members will be notified of the meeting on their main work calendar.
When this will happen:
early August, expected completion by mid-August.
8. Capture Request to Use Shared Channels for External Collaboration
How this will affect your organization
Organizations will be able to build an intake or support page to assist users who are attempting to collaborate with an external user when B2B direct connect cross-tenant trust isn’t mutually configured. The page can be designed to provide users with information on external collaboration through shared channels and/or include an intake mechanism that collects information on the external collaboration request that is needed for the organization to make a decision on the request.
To set up, open Microsoft Teams admin center and navigate to Team settings, then to the Shared channels section. Enable the “Provide a link to my support request page” setting and provide a valid URL that users will be redirected to.
Now, when users attempt to add an external user when B2B cross-tenant trust isn’t mutually configured, they will be shown the below message with the link “Here’s what you can do.”
When this will happen:
early August and expect to complete rollout by mid-August.
9. Cloud IntelliFrame: A New Way to See People in Teams Rooms
How this will affect your organization
Cloud IntelliFrame is a new experience that allows online meeting attendees to see people in Teams Rooms more clearly, enhancing the hybrid meeting experience by creating smart video feeds of in-room participants. The smart video feed is created by zooming into their faces and eliminating distractions.
When this will happen:
mid-August and expect to complete rollout by early September.
Azure AD (Entra ID)
1. Azure AD is becoming Microsoft Entra ID
How this will affect your organization
Microsoft Entra ID is the new name for Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). The name change to Microsoft Entra ID represents the evolution and unification of the Microsoft Entra product family, and a commitment to simplify secure access experiences for everyone. Features and capabilities of Azure AD will continue to be available in Microsoft Entra ID. Prices, terms, and service level agreements also remain the same.
When will this Happen:
The name change will roll out across all Microsoft products and experiences throughout the second half of 2023
2. Introducing Entra Internet Access and Entra Private Access
How this will affect your organization
Microsoft Entra Internet Access is an identity-centric Secure Web Gateway that protects access to internet, software as a service (SaaS), and Microsoft 365 apps and resources. It extends Conditional Access policies with network conditions to protect against malicious internet traffic and other threats from the open internet. For Microsoft 365 environments, it enables best-in-class security and visibility, along with faster and more seamless access to Microsoft 365 apps, so you can boost productivity for any user, anywhere. Microsoft 365 scenarios in Microsoft Entra Internet Access are in preview today, and you can sign up for the preview of capabilities for all internet traffic and SaaS apps and resources that will be available later this year.
Microsoft Entra Private Access is an identity-centric Zero Trust Network Access that secures access to private apps and resources. Now any user, wherever they are, can quickly and easily connect to private apps—across hybrid and multicloud environments, private networks, and data centers—from any device and any network. Now in preview, Microsoft Entra Private Access reduces operational complexity and cost by replacing legacy VPNs and offers more granular security. You can apply Conditional Access to individual applications, and enforce multifactor authentication, device compliance, and other controls to any legacy application without changing those applications.
Full Announcement: Microsoft Entra expands into Security Service Edge and Azure AD becomes Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft Security Blog
Microsoft Entra Expands into Security Service Edge with Two New Offerings – Microsoft Community Hub
Internet Access Preview: Microsoft Entra Internet Access | Microsoft Security
When will this Happen:
Public Preview now available. Pricing and General Availability TBD.
3. Introducing Restricted Management Administrative Units
How this will affect your organization
With restricted management administrative units, you can now designate specific users, security groups, or devices in your Microsoft Entra ID tenant that you want to protect from modification by tenant-level administrators
Here are some situations in which this is useful:
- You want to protect sensitive user accounts, such as C-level executives, from being able to have their password or multifactor authentication settings changed by regular helpdesk administrators.
- You want to ensure that certain user accounts, security groups, or devices from a specific site/location can only be modified by designated administrators from that site/location.
- You have specific security groups granting access to sensitive data and you want to restrict who can modify the membership only to a small set of administrators.
Full Announcement: Introducing Restricted Management Administrative Units in Microsoft Entra ID – Microsoft Community Hub
When will this Happen:
GA
Microsoft Intune
1. Uninstalling apps in the Company Portal for Windows
How this will affect your organization
Now, users can select “uninstall” for Win32 and Microsoft Store apps they installed on demand in the Company Portal if the app was assigned as available. Prior to this release, standard users couldn’t uninstall applications they’d installed through the Company Portal without administrator rights. This meant they needed support, taking up valuable help desk resources and time.
When this will happen:
By End of August
Microsoft Edge
1. GA Rollout for Microsoft Edge management service in the Microsoft 365 admin center
How this will affect your organization
The Microsoft Edge management service, a new, dedicated and simplified management experience for Microsoft Edge in the Microsoft 365 admin center, is rolling out now for general availability. This tool allows IT admins to manage group policies and extensions with a simplified, intuitive UI. Admins can set policies through toggles and drop-down menus instead of the complexity of configuring JSON values, which helps reduce errors. This solution is another option for managing Edge that lives alongside Intune and other major endpoint solutions.
Global admins and Edge admins in the Microsoft 365 admin center can create and manage policies and extensions and assign these configurations to Azure AD groups using the intuitive UI. In the extensions tab, admins can access Edge Add-ons to search for, see ratings, add, and delete extensions, as well as view user extension requests, all in one easy-to-navigate location.
Full Announcement: Microsoft Edge: Your AI-powered browser, innovating for businesses and developers – Microsoft Edge Blog (windows.com)
2. Microsoft Edge for Business
How this will affect your organization
When logging in with AAD, users will receive Edge for Business, a visually distinct work browser with rich enterprise controls for secure data access and leak prevention. Edge for Business will automatically separate work and personal browsing into dedicated browser windows with their own separate caches and storage locations, so information stays separate.
There will also be support for company branding, allowing admins to customize company branding in the work browser window to increase familiarity and trust with end users. Additionally, there is support for unmanaged BYOPC, allowing secure and compliant access to work resources on personal computers with DLP controls.
More Information: Microsoft Edge for Business | Microsoft Learn
When this will happen:
Preview is currently available in Microsoft Edge version 115 or later.
We expect Microsoft Edge for Business to be turned on by default beginning with Microsoft Edge version 116 (Scheduled for the week of August 17, 2023
3. Bing Chat Enterprise in Preview
How this will affect your organization
Bing Chat Enterprise gives your organization AI-powered chat for work with commercial data protection. With Bing Chat Enterprise, user and business data are protected and will not leak outside the organization. What goes in—and comes out—remains protected. Your organization’s chat data is not saved, Microsoft has no eyes-on access to it, and it is not used to train the models.
To turn on Bing Chat Enterprise, you will need to use the link: https://aka.ms/TurnOnBCE.
If you turn on Bing Chat Enterprise, users will be able to access it, where supported:
- com/chat
- Microsoft Edge sidebar (requires Microsoft Edge version 114.0.1823.86 or higher in Stable or Dev channels)
Users must be signed in with their work account (Microsoft Entra ID, currently known as Azure Active Directory) to access Bing Chat Enterprise.
Customers licensed for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard, and Business Premium are eligible for Bing Chat Enterprise at no additional cost.
Microsoft Admin
1. Copilot Pricing Released
How this will affect your organization
Microsoft 365 Copilot will also soon be offered as a paid add-on for customers with Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft 365 E3, and Microsoft 365 E5 for $30 per user per month
When will this happen:
GA still TBD
2. Introducing Microsoft 365 Backup and Microsoft 365 Archive
How this will affect your organization
Two new products were announced at Microsoft Inspire:
Microsoft 365 Backup provides recovery of your OneDrive, SharePoint, and Exchange data at unprecedented speeds for large volumes of data with a restore service level agreement (SLA) — while keeping it all within the Microsoft 365 security boundary.
Microsoft 365 Archive gives you a cold data storage tier that enables you to keep inactive or aging data within SharePoint at a cost-effective price point matching the value of that data’s lifecycle stage.
Full Announcement: Welcome to Microsoft Inspire 2023: Introducing Microsoft 365 Backup and Microsoft 365 Archive – Microsoft Community Hub
Inspire Session: Microsoft 365 Backup and Microsoft 365 Archive
When will this happen:
GA and Pricing still TBD.
3. New Commerce Experience Updates
How this will affect your organization
In fiscal year 2024, Microsoft is taking two important steps toward the retirement of the CSP legacy commerce platform. Beginning in November 2023, public sector (academic, government community cloud [GCC], not-for-profit [NFP]/charity) offers will be available in new commerce for new and renewing customers. Starting in January 2024, Microsoft will begin automatic migration of all renewing commercial and public sector customers to new commerce.
Read the full details here: July 2023 announcements – Partner Center announcements | Microsoft Learn