Microsoft Teams Gets New Copilot Integration, Multi-Tenant Organization Improvements

Key Takeaways:

• Microsoft introduced a new Copilot integration in Teams, allowing users with a Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscription to customize draft messages.
• Microsoft also announced new capabilities and enhancements for multi-tenant organization (MTO) customers.
• IT admins can now block permissions to download meeting transcript files.

Microsoft unveiled a range of new features and improvements for its Teams collaboration service in June 2024, enhancing chat, meeting experiences, Teams Rooms, and Teams Phones. Highlights include the new Copilot integration for customizing messages, intelligent message translation, and several updates for multi-tenant organizations.

Chat & collaboration features

Microsoft has introduced a new Copilot integration in Microsoft Teams. Customers with a Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscription can use the AI assistant to customize their draft messages in Teams chats and channels. Moreover, the new intelligent message translation capabilities let users translate chat messages into their preferred language.

In Microsoft Teams, the new Slash commands feature allows users to perform quick actions, including opening a chat in a new window, adding code blocks, and recording a video clip. Additionally, Microsoft has added a new Meet Now button in group chats to let users quickly join a group call. It’s also possible to use Loop components to share and co-edit code in Microsoft Teams.

Microsoft has released several new capabilities for multi-tenant organization (MTO) customers. Furthermore, users will no longer see the external label when collaborating with people from other MTO tenants. Microsoft Teams now lets users share files with other MTO users in 1:1 and group chats.

In a multi-tenant organization (MTO), IT admins now have the ability to set up text-based labels for each participating tenant. These labels will be visible alongside users’ display names from their respective tenants.

New features coming to meetings, webinars, and town halls

Last month, Microsoft started rolling out a new Copilot for Sales plugin in Teams meetings. The Copilot AI assistant can process real-time conversations and return insights to sellers. Users will need to navigate to the Copilot plugin menu to enable the new Copilot for Sales plugin. Microsoft has also made it possible for meeting organizers to manage access to meeting recordings, transcripts, and AI-generated insights.

Microsoft has also announced that Loop-powered meeting notes are available for participants in Channel meetings. Moreover, this release brings enhancements to meeting transcript file storage and management in Microsoft Teams.

For starters, meeting organizers will be able to access meeting transcript files for transcription-only meetings. Microsoft has also updated default permissions to let only meeting organizers and co-organizers delete or download the meeting transcript file. Additionally, the existing meeting recording expiration policy now also covers transcript files stored in OneDrive for Business for transcription-only meetings.

Microsoft Purview customers can use auto-apply retention label policies to manage the retention and expiration of Teams transcripts in OneDrive for Business. This capability is only available for commercial customers with a Microsoft 365 E5/A5/G5 subscription.

Updates for Microsoft Teams Rooms and Phones

Microsoft has introduced several new improvements for Teams Rooms customers. The latest update allows users to utilize multi-panel check-in on Teams panels. Additionally, a new bookable desk experience lets users automatically reserve desks when they connect to a monitor or other equipment.
Last month, Microsoft announced several new Teams-certified devices, including Poly Studio Base Kit G9 Plus, AVer CAM520 Pro3, Sennheiser TeamConnect Bars, Q-SYS VisionSuite, Lenovo Wireless VoIP Headset, and Logi Zone 305 Headset.

Last but not least, Microsoft Teams Phones have added support for the Intelligent call recap feature, which provides AI-powered insights and recaps of their VoIP and PSTN calls. This capability is available for Teams Premium and Copilot for Microsoft 365 customers. Microsoft has also announced new calling features for non-touch phone devices, such as park/unpark calls, auto restart, and busy-on-busy end user settings.