Microsoft unbundling Teams? And the many Canvases!

Welcome to the 7th edition of the Digital Workplace weekly newsletter. Much happened in this past week in the world of #digitalworkplace and #futureofwork. Before we begin, a quick reminder that ISG is collecting vendor capabilities information in the #DEX #UEM managed workplace services #UCaaS space. If your firm offers any of these services or you know of any firm that does, please contact me. Time is running out!

So, lets dive in!

End User Computing:

Security updates from the RSA conference

In the ongoing RSA Conference, VMware and 谷歌 made important announcements regarding their security capabilities. While VMware announced updates to its UEM capabilities with phishing and content protection with Mobile Threat Defense, secured access via Workspace ONE Tunnel across diverse OSes and cloud-native patch management. Google Workspace announced integration with Okta Workforce and VMware Workspace ONE enabling users to access multiple applications using the Google credentials for Okta and managing Google Workspace applications directly using VMware workspace ONE. More details here:

Can secured web browser-based devices with Teams be the future?

The ever-amazing Gabe Knuth wrote a fantastic piece in TechTarget about the possibility in the future of devices that may run 微软 Teams as the OS just in the lines of Chromebook. You can read the article here:

While Microsoft Edge Workspace is in limited preview, and there are already rumors of Microsoft unbundling Teams from M365, allowing an option for enterprises to access only Teams, this is a possibility, even if distinct. Microsoft's continuous improvement towards Teams and Intune can pave the way for this future if its in store. Even if it is not, Gabe's article may nudge the strategy decision-makers at Microsoft to think that way.

GoTo announced updates to its GoTo Resolve solution and more. Details here:

Automated scheduled updates is a great addition to the device management capabilities for its clients.

Managed Workplace services:

1. DXC Technology announced it had increased the adoption of Espressive virtual conversational AI agent beyond IT to include in other horizontal business functions as well. More details here: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/dxc-technology-expands-deployment-espressive-130000411.html

DXC will also include the Espressive solution as an integrated part of its UPtime workplace solution. This is a great move as implementing such a solution for a large workforce will provide DXC with a great success story and then it can expand its own managed services to cater to business functions other than the CIO who are increasingly becoming key stakeholders in workplace technology investment decisions.

2. Moveworks announced Creator Studio using which IT admins can create powerful conversational AI-based solution leveraging #generativeAI capabilities to assist end users with issues with different business functions not just IT. More details here:

Service providers that partner with Moveworks can leverage this functionality to add value add in their service portfolio.

UCaaS/ Productivity and Collaboration

With talks of Microsoft unbundling MS Teams there are already discussions on what it could mean in the UCaaS world. Kevin Kieller puts up a great piece in No Jitter that discusses the possible implications.

It would be interesting to see how Microsoft's unbundling of Teams plays out, especially with the introduction of CoPilot. Would unbundling individual Office components be also on the cards? Competition should take note!

Speaking of competition, Slack introduced Canvas, the feature they introduced in Dreamforce last year. Canvas allows users to bring in all forms of content in one place to provide a quick guide and information center about key projects or processes. More details here:

This looks like a great feature and the most important part is that it can combine the content of different natures in one place. There are significant use cases in new employee onboarding and project updates.

And speaking of canvases, Box announced its own canvas, Box Canvas. More details here:

Providing whiteboarding and collaboration over diverse content kind are key differentiators for this content collaboration solution. Great addition for its existing clients!

Sangoma , perhaps the only UCaaS vendor (apart from Microsoft of course), that also offers a Desktop-as-a-Service #DaaS offering has announced Sangoma Suite, a bundled offering for all of its solutions. More details here:

Sangoma has a dedicated client base in the U.S. with key focus areas. This is a great addition for its existing clients.

That's all for the week, folks. Please let me know if I missed something important and as always looking forward to your thoughts!

-M

Elaine Seeto Jeff Monaco Revathi Venkatraman Matteo Taddei Vaibhav N.