Microsoft Teams New Capabilities and Features

Microsoft continues to enhance Microsoft Teams and recently announced some pretty big updates to Microsoft Teams this month. I will discuss the top five updates in this article so you can quickly go test them out to see how beneficial they will be to your organization. Let’s begin my exploring the new capabilities in the Meetings feature of Microsoft Teams. Within the Recordings capabilities there are a few slick updates released and one of my favorites is the multi-speed playback which allows you to control the speed at which you play back the recorded meeting. This can be adjusted to slow down or speed up (0.5 to 2x). This is… Read More

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Microsoft Teams Essentials for Small Businesses

Earlier this month Microsoft announced a new flavor of Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Essentials, targeted for small businesses. The Microsoft Teams Essentials standalone offering is the first of its’ kind and has a lower per-user price point than the Microsoft Teams offered in Microsoft 365. At only $4.00 per user per month, it includes the primary features and functionality including group chat, calendaring, file sharing, and unlimited group video calls, for up to 30 hours, all which are essential for small business working with your customers. Microsoft Teams Essentials does have some capabilities specific to its’ offering which include Extended meeting time (up to 30 hours) Large meeting capacity (host up… Read More

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Microsoft announces first Microsoft 365 price increase in a decade

We knew it was going to happen, but just didn’t know when. With Microsoft adding so many new apps, features, and capabilities it was long overdue. In the decade prior to this price increase, Microsoft has enhanced the online offering significantly. Let me provide a high-level overview of what has changed since the initial release of Office 365. Microsoft 365 was introduced, which not only includes Office, but also Windows, and Enterprise Mobility and Security (EMS) Microsoft 365 has since added 24 new apps including Microsoft Teams, the Power trio (Apps, BI, Automate), Stream, Planner, and OneDrive Released over 1,400 new features and capabilities falling into three primary functional categories:… Read More

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Preparing for the MS-101: Microsoft 365 Mobility and Security Exam

Information about the MS-101 exam including its prerequisites, intended audience, and skills measured can be found on this Microsoft Web Site. This exam is used to obtain the Microsoft 365 Enterprise Administrator role and the Microsoft 365 Certified: Enterprise Administrator Expert certification. After discovering more about the MS-101 exam, you will want to prepare for the exam with some guidance provided in my seven Pluralsight courses specific to the MS-101 exam, which you can locate using the following Pluralsight’s Web Site link. I built the seven courses in a specific order, and some of courses are built on previous courses so it is best to watch them in the order… Read More

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Preparing for the MS-100: Microsoft 365 Identity and Services Exam

Information about this exam including its prerequisites, intended audience, and skills measured can be found on this Microsoft Web Site. This exam is used to obtain the Microsoft 365 Enterprise Administrator role and the Microsoft 365 Certified: Enterprise Administrator Expert certification. After visiting the Microsoft MS-100 exam Web Site, and deciding you want to take the exam, you’ll want to take the time to prepare for the exam. To provide you some guidance I have designed and created nine Pluralsight courses specific to the MS-100 exam. These four courses can be located using the following Pluralsight’s Web Site link. I built the four MS-100 exam courses in a specific order,… Read More

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“Movin on Over” with Microsoft Mover

Late in 2019, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Mover, a popular cloud file migration tool that offers a self-service or admin-led move of content to Microsoft 365. Prior to the Mover acquisition you could use FastTrack, the SharePoint Migration Tool, and other options from Microsoft partners. Mover enhances these options when migrating information to the cloud. Beginning in February of 2020, Mover is available worldwide and it also doesn’t cost anything for the Mover app, so you can begin using Mover in any supported migration scenario.  For additional information about the migration process, view the Migration FAQ page. Mover provides migration options from several cloud service providers including; Box Dropbox… Read More

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Top 10 SharePoint Online Announcements from Microsoft Ignite 2019

SharePoint Online Home Sites, built on top of Communication sites are now rolled out, providing a more dynamic and modern landing page that contains news and content relative to your employees Hub sites being updated to include Hub permissions management, analytics capability, and Search and audience targeting is in progress Expanded views of lists and libraries with one click to clear the site header and the left-hand navigation Since we are talking about libraries; Power Apps now integrates with SharePoint libraries, not just lists To view your rows easier, there is an option to display every other row with your color choice, making information in libraries and lists easier to… Read More

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Monitoring Microsoft Teams Updates

Microsoft Teams is taking charge in file management, collaboration, and communication. It appears Microsoft has a new kid in town, and that kid is very popular, so they are getting a lot of attention from Microsoft, and more importantly Microsoft customers. With Microsoft dedicating so many resources, both financial and human, the challenge becomes, how do you keep up with the changes to Teams. Well the good news it isn’t too difficult because Microsoft is doing a great job in sharing the future of Microsoft Teams, and documenting the changes they are making as they are released. If you want to see what Microsoft is planning for Microsoft Teams, you… Read More

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