Microsoft launch a standalone CCaaS and Proactive Copilot for your Team

Tom's Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Update

Many thanks to AudioCodes, this months Empowering.Cloud benefactor.

If you're heading to Commsverse at the end of June, I'll be speaking with Jay Wyatt and Gidi Adlersberg on the AudioCodes panel Microsoft Teams - The ideal platform for AI-Powered UCaaS & CCaaS Convergence?

Make sure you get your Commsverse ticket before they sell out!

Want all the news in a 15 18 minute (slightly more news this month) video? You can check out my monthly update briefing video (grab the PPTX deck, too)

News this month:

  • Microsoft is launching Dynamics 365 Contact Center on July 1st. A new standalone Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solution enables customers to connect to their preferred customer relationship management systems (CRMs) and workflow tools. Customers don't need to be using Dynamics CRM. Of course, it also has a big focus on Copilot and AI.

  • At Build, Microsoft announced 2 new Copilots, which transform Copilot from a personal assistant to a more proactive agent
    • Team Copilot (yes, Team, without an S, just when you thought the names couldn't get more confusing 😂) positions Copilot as a team member—participating and contributing along with the team —in Microsoft Teams (in chat and meetings), Microsoft Loop, Microsoft Planner, and more. Acting as a meeting facilitator or project manager. Team Copilot will be available in preview later in 2024 for customers with a Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 license. Promo video here
    • Custom Copilot agents - built in Copilot Studio, custom copilots that act as agents that work independently to do tasks like automate long-running business processes, reason over actions and user inputs, leverage memory to bring in context, Learn based on user feedback and record exception requests and ask for help. Currently in limited preview, wider availability later in 2024. Promo video here
  • Microsoft has delayed the retirement of Teams Live Events (previously due in September 2024) to give more time to get all the features customers are using into Town Hall.

On the Teams Roadmap:

  • Improvements coming to Q&A in meetings and webinars: Voting, Filtering, Sorting, and Archiving Questions in the Q&A App in Teams (398445) and Export Q&A questions for easy follow-up and task assignment (398446) both due July
  • Custom Emojis are coming to Teams (yes, IT admins can turn it off if they prefer)
  • "Notify when available" based on presence coming (back) to (new) Microsoft Teams
  • Custom backgrounds on Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android are due to land July
  • See the overview of these roadmap items and more in the monthly update video

New on Empowering.Cloud and Teams Insider Podcast

Expert Briefings ​

Teams Insider Podcast​

Product Briefings

Online Events

  • Pure IP Coffee Club Microsoft Teams for Contact Center: Native vs Certified Solutions
  • Teams Fireside Chat with Juan Rivera, Microsoft Corporate Vice President for Teams Calling, Meetings and Devices
  • Kurmi have a demo-heavy webinar coming up focused on showing how Kurmi streamlines Teams management, registration here
  • Microsoft Teams Devices Ask Me Anything
  • Teams Fridays
  • Virtual Converged Communications Partner Technical Bootcamp

In-Person Events

I read all email replies. Let me know if you have questions, comments, or feedback.

Thanks

Tom

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