One consumer-focused application that witnessed an online surge in the past few weeks due to coronavirus is Microsoft Teams. Just three years old, this service became important for all business meetings and conferences amid the pandemic, and despite facing some issues initially, Microsoft has managed to remain at the top of the charts. 

Source: Computer World 

On Monday, Teams faced an unexpected crash as many users started to log in, and from 32 million users daily, the number suddenly increased to 44 million users. So Microsoft is making sure that everything runs smoothly and to mark the 3rd anniversary of the app, they are introducing new features.

The company says that a 40 per cent increase in demand occurred after the pandemic caused most of the workplaces and schools to close down. So now remote meetings and e-learning are being promoted. The new features are related to making the remote meetings better as they have now become the default mode of work for most people.

Source: Computer World

One of the features that would be appreciated the most by parents who are now working from home is the real-time noise suppression. So now you don’t have to worry about the crying of your baby being the source of disruption in the meeting. For students too, this modification comes as a blessing as they can now munch on chips while attending an online lecture.

AI is being employed to remove the excess sound around you so the microphone will focus on your words only. Along with this, you also get a “raise hand” gesture so now during meetings and classes, you can silently click on it instead of disturbing the entire session. The host will see the action and can choose to address the problem whenever they want.

Source: Microsoft

Furthermore, Teams is also introducing an offline mode. This will allow the users to read the messages on the chat and create responses despite the lack of internet connection.

Developers are also looking at ways to support the system of pop-out chat so you can switch between different conversations using different windows. All these features will be available “later this year” so the scene of remote working and education will definitely improve.

Source: Youtube

Microsoft 365 chief, Jared Spataro sees this pandemic as the point that revolutionized remote working. He said, “I really do think it’s an inflection point. We’re going to look back and realize this is where it all changed. We’re never going to go back to working the way that we did.”

Even within Microsoft, these changes are being imposed so the company is testing to see how the features will play out for the rest of the world. After the coronavirus patients increased in Seattle, the company gave 50000 employees the leverage of working from home.

Spataro says, “It hasn’t been easy. Sometimes it’s been downright disorienting. But our team is still connecting.” However, the company realizes that the health of the employees matter more than the downfall of their business.