Teams Rooms Asia Monthly | December 2023 Issue

Welcome to the December 2023 edition of the Teams Rooms Asia Monthly newsletter and the last one for 2023! Normally at this time of year I talk about how it's winding down into the holiday season, how the year is done, working on plans for 2024 etc but instead there's more happening than ever. Microsoft Ignite was held last month with new features for #MicrosoftTeams, tonnes of Copilot announcements and so many new #MicrosoftTeamsRooms certifications. Let's do this.

Top of Mind

In case you missed it, if there was a theme to Microsoft Ignite this year, #artificialintelligence (AI) was absolutely it. From every speaker to every product and every platform, AI was woven into these new technologies delivering features that put people at the centre of creativity, productivity and collaboration.

There's a reason why the industry is leaning into AI so heavily, our customers are already using this technology and they get it. They see that Microsoft is delivering on the promises AI makes and Microsoft Teams Rooms is no exception. Customers that are using Copilot today are asking how they can "use Copilot in the meeting room". They see the time employees are saving from a feature like Intelligent Recap and want to ensure it's available even to in-person meeting attendees.

How do you "use Copilot in the meeting room"? Expansion of Speaker Recognition was announced at Ignite for Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows devices.

Speaker recognition, previously only available in Teams Rooms equipped with intelligent speakers, will soon be expanding to your existing devices. This is made possible by Microsoft AI, which processes voices in the cloud similar to the way Microsoft Cloud IntelliFrame processes in-room video. This will be available in early 2024.

What if you want it now? Right now there's only a few certified options. To add Speaker Recognition to an existing Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows deployment, the Yealink Mspeech and EPOS EXPAND Capture 5 are both easy and straight forward to implement. As these are both speakers, they will only attribute in-person attendees that talk during the meeting.

For new deployments or when a camera upgrade is on the table, the Jabra Panacast 50 is certified as both an Intelligent Camera and Speaker in a Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows deployment. This means that in-person attendees will be "checked-in" to the Teams meeting as they walk into the meeting room and will be attributed in the transcript / recap when they talk.

That's the answer when a customer asks to "use Copilot in the meeting room". There are solutions available right now that can switch on in-person speaker attribution in intelligent recap (as long as they are using Copilot and Teams Premium!). I've seen this in action and it's truly impressive. Now if only there was a way to get employees to enrol their voice and face ID in Microsoft Teams!

What's New in Microsoft Teams

There was so much new info landed at Ignite that the team released TWO blogs this month. What’s New in Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Ignite 2023 and Microsoft Teams Rooms and Devices: Microsoft Ignite 2023. If you haven't read these already, stop reading this now and click through both to get up to speed.

....

Ok all done? ?? Good, below I'm just going to cover newly certified devices in November.

• Designed for the flexible future of work, Neat Board 50 swiftly adapts to you whenever, wherever and in whatever way you need to meet or express your ideas. Set up Neat Board 50 to run Microsoft Teams or dive into your favourite apps for super productive, next-level teamwork.

• Poly Studio Kits is a comprehensive room solution for meeting spaces of all sizes featuring an HP collaboration PC, a USB touch controller, and a video bar or camera. The newly certified for Teams Poly Studio Base Room Kit is designed to be paired with various USB video conferencing solutions such as the Poly Studio USB, P15, R30 video bars and E70 camera to provide greater flexibility for Microsoft Teams Rooms

• MAXHUB UC S07 is an ultra-HD USB videobar for small and medium-sized rooms and the MAXHUB UC W31 is camera designed for small rooms and huddle spaces. Very timely given MAXHUB's recent Xcore certification.

• With the HDL310 certified a couple of months ago, the Nureva HDL410 was certified just this past week and extends Nureva's portfolio to cover extra-large meeting rooms.

For the full list of currently certified devices click here.

??LAST CHANCE: FY24 Microsoft Teams Rooms Bootcamp??

Your favourite Teams Rooms experts are back to deliver an updated Sales bootcamp live on 6th December. Partner individuals attending this event will have the opportunity to interact with Microsoft subject matter experts through a moderated live Q&A chat.

This 4-hour sales bootcamp will cover (but not limited to) key themes of Teams Rooms:

• Smart meetings in the age of flexible work. Learn about the growing demand for a smarter collaboration experience.
• Microsoft Teams Rooms Learn how Teams Rooms features remove the barriers between spaces, places, and people.
• Room consideration and design best practices. Understand room and space design and considerations to scale.
• Selling best practices. Explore sales best practices, tips, tools, and customer targeting to land and expand Teams Rooms opportunities.
• Partner go-to-market resources. Find out about marketing resources to drive demand, usage, and adoption, including being a Microsoft partner and co-selling opportunities.

REGISTER NOW!

While you wait for the bootcamp make sure to #gogetyourbadges! The Sales and Technical badges are a great way to skill up on Microsoft Teams Rooms AND have something to show for it after.

Microsoft Teams Rooms - Signature Rooms

For those that don't know, Signature Teams Rooms are not meant to be a replacement for all other meeting spaces inside your organization, but rather to act as a supplement to existing meeting spaces that utilize Microsoft Teams. They should be deployed strategically within your organization to the spaces and locations where face-to-face interactions with remote meeting participants will be most valued.

Our Microsoft Teams Rooms partners recognise how important it is to be able to effectively demo these experiences to customers and are investing in Signature Rooms across Asia. So good to see and is a great way to show off the power of an inclusive hybrid meeting.

Last month, partnership with HP Poly, the team at Beetel inaugurated a new Signature Teams Room in their Gurugram Experience Center. See the post here from Prashant Singh Bishnoi for the full details.

Each month I'll share a new Signature Teams Room customer experience centre in Asia from our partner community. It's so cool to see how partners leverage the space they have to build a room that shows off every feature of a signature room and the innovative technology that our #CertifiedforMicrosoftTeams partners have on offer. Watch this space!

Microsoft Ignite 2023

Microsoft Ignite was held last month. Almost every session is available on demand here and you can continue your learning after Ignite here. There's way too much to cover here not to mention a tonne of content from the partner sponsors here.

Important Dates

6th Dec - Teams Rooms Sales Bootcamp | 2pm-6pm AEDT

11th Dec - Teams Technical Foundation Training | 10am & 3:30pm AEDT

30th Jan -> 2nd Feb - Integrated Systems Europe 2024

I often update this list after publishing the newsletter as dates are announced / changed. Always check back for the latest!

As always if you find this newsletter valuable, make sure to share with your network. Until next time!

Lee Edgerton

#MicrosoftEmployee #MicrosoftAdvocate