Atech are committed to providing you with the latest updates available to you as part of your Microsoft investment. We have pleasure sharing the latest information that we believe you’ll find useful and we encourage you to contact your account manager if you require any additional information regarding any of the topics shared here:

New features for your users:

1. Voice isolation
With “Voice isolation”, you can enjoy clear and uninterrupted calls or meetings, no matter where you are. This feature uses AI to filter out all background noise, including other people’s voices. By leveraging your voice profile, this advance noise suppression capability ensures only the user’s voice is transmitted. Whether you are in a busy office, a noisy cafe, or a crowded airport, you can communicate with confidence and clarity. “Voice isolation” is powered by our advanced deep learning, speech services, and audio processing technology, and it shows our dedication to solving user problems with AI and enhancing audio quality and experience.

When will this be available:

Mid-January 2024 and expect to complete by mid-February 2024.

2. Generative background effects
Make meetings more fun and personal with Decorate your background. Meeting participants can now use generative background effects in Teams to show up their best – even when the space they’re working from isn’t at its best. With Decorate your background, meeting participants can use the power of AI to generate a background that decorates and enhances their real-world room, such as by cleaning up clutter or adding plants to a wall. This capability will be available in early 2024 for users with a Teams Premium license.

3. Click-to-Call

With click-to-call in Teams Phone, you can enable customers to easily reach your sales and support teams directly from your webpage or app with a single click, for a more integrated and personal customer experience. Your developers can add, customize, and program the widget to connect customers to a specific Teams user, call queue, or auto attendant.

This capability will be available in early 2024.

4. Teams chat embedded in Outlook Web
Currently, Office 365 Enterprise users can chat with colleagues in Outlook on the web using Microsoft Teams. The functionality opens a new browser tab redirecting you to Teams web when users click on the Teams chat icon in the suite-header. With this new feature, the chat icon will open an embedded experience in Outlook Web, which will help users stay in the flow and not have to leave Outlook. Regarding New Outlook recently launched in Windows 11, we will continue our investments and you can expect some Teams integrations in the app coming next year.

Likely to be available early 2024

5. Simpler and quicker creation of teams and channels
Users will now be able to create a team or channel from the top “+” button. Having “create channel” as an option elevated to the top will promote users to create channels instead of teams, reducing team proliferation.

Expect this feature by the end of 2023

6. Stream video recordings in Outlook

Soon you will be able to record a video of yourself, your screen or both, directly from Outlook and insert the recording in your email.

Expected to start in December 2023 and expect to complete by March 2024.

7. Stream videos can now be watched inline in Outlook

Soon, if someone pastes a Stream video link in a supported Outlook app and sends it to you, you will be able to watch it directly in your inbox. The videos will play inline for recipients within the same organization, meaning you will not have to leave Outlook to watch the video. Recipients outside the organization, and those not using the new Outlook or web, will see a link to the video which they can watch in the Stream web app (depending on the organization’s file sharing settings).

Expected to start in December 2023 and expect to complete by March 2024.

New features to be aware of for administrators:

1. Classic Teams Users Will be Automatically Updated to New Teams After March 31, 2024

Microsoft mentioned in their GA announcement that classic Teams users will be automatically updated to new Teams in the coming months. After March 31, 2024, any classic Teams users who have not updated to new Teams, will be automatically updated to new Teams.

2. Microsoft managed Conditional Access policies will be created in your tenant

In 2020, Microsoft introduced security defaults in Microsoft Entra ID, which significantly raised baseline security for organizations. Now, to build on those improvements, you’ll find Microsoft-managed Conditional Access policies. Between early November 2023 and late December 2023, Microsoft will create these new Conditional Access policies in your tenant: As part of ongoing efforts to improve security, you’ll see new Microsoft managed Conditional Access policy (or policies) in your tenant.

These policies will be created in report-only mode, which means that they won’t block any access, but will generate reports on how they’ll affect users when they’re switched to the On state.

After the policies have been created in your tenant, you’ll have 90 days to evaluate and configure them. Then, if you haven’t already moved them to the On or Off state, they’ll be automatically moved to On. Once the policies are enabled, users covered by them will need to have multifactor authentication.

Full Article: Automatic Conditional Access policies in Microsoft Entra streamline identity protection | Microsoft Security Blog

Expected to be available by the end of the year

3. Prepare for device-bound passkeys in Microsoft Entra ID (changes to FIDO2 and Windows Hello for Business)

Beginning January 2024, Microsoft Entra ID will support device-bound passkeys stored on computers and mobile devices as an authentication method in preview, in addition to the existing support for FIDO2 security keys. This enables your users to perform phishing-resistant authentication using the devices that they already have.

• In the Entra admin portal, we will be renaming “FIDO2 security keys” to “Passkeys (FIDO2)” within the authentication methods policy and Conditional Access authentication strengths policy.
• In the My Security Info portal, a new registration option called “Passkey (preview)” will be shown to end users for registering a device-bound passkey on computers, mobile devices, or security keys.
• The existing end user sign-in option for Windows Hello for Business and FIDO2 security keys will be renamed to “Face, fingerprint, PIN, or security key”. The term “passkey” will be mentioned in the updated sign-in experience to be inclusive of passkey credentials presented from security keys, computers, and mobile devices.

4. Suppressing Microsoft Authenticator Prompt

Microsoft took additional steps to keep users happy and secure by suppressing Authenticator pop-up notifications when a request is anomalous. Following the deployment of this feature, Microsoft now suppress Authenticator notifications when a request displays potential risks, such as when it originates from an unfamiliar location or is exhibiting other anomalies. This approach significantly reduces user

Full Article: Emphasizing Security by Default with Advanced Microsoft Authenticator Features. – Microsoft Community Hub

5. Suppressing Microsoft Authenticator Prompt

Microsoft took additional steps to keep users happy and secure by suppressing Authenticator pop-up notifications when a request is anomalous. Following the deployment of this feature, Microsoft now suppress Authenticator notifications when a request displays potential risks, such as when it originates from an unfamiliar location or is exhibiting other anomalies. This approach significantly reduces user.

Full Article: Emphasizing Security by Default with Advanced Microsoft Authenticator Features. – Microsoft Community Hub

6. Enterprise App Management

Enterprise App Management streamlines and consolidates the application update process by providing a comprehensive view of all apps that need an update from a single, easy-to-use screen. A list of apps in the catalog with available updates shows both current and new versions. The work traditionally required to monitor updates and gather application-related data and packaging is significantly reduced, allowing admins to focus on more strategic tasks.

Full Article: Introducing Microsoft Intune Enterprise App Management | Microsoft Intune Blog

• Requires Intune Suite Add-on OR will be available for purchase standalone for $2/user/month

The new add-on will be available on February 1, 2024 for enterprise customers and March 1, 2024 for government customers.

7. Advanced Analytics

Coming February 2024, Intune Advanced Analytics will empower IT admins with near real-time data on devices with device query functionality and increased visibility with battery health report.

Full Article: Announcing Microsoft Intune Advanced Analytics | Microsoft Intune Blog

• Requires Intune Suite Add-on OR will be available for purchase standalone for $5/user/month.

8. macOS Updates for MDM management with Intune

Full Article: Now is the time—manage your Mac endpoints with Microsoft Intune | Microsoft Intune Blog

9. SharePoint eSignature electronic signature service

SharePoint eSignature is Microsoft’s first party electronic signature service which allows users to easily request eSignatures on a PDF document via SharePoint online. Signers can easily add their electronic signature. Signed documents are saved securely back to SharePoint.

This is a PAYGO service with a charge per request.

Additional Documentation: Set up Microsoft Syntex eSignature – Microsoft Syntex | Microsoft Learn

This should be fully rolled out by Q1 2024

10. Microsoft 365 Archiving and Microsoft 365 Backup in public preview

SharePoint admins and Global admins can choose inactive sites on SharePoint admin center, and via PowerShell, and archive them. Admins can select one or more sites in Active sites page, and archive them using the command bar. When archived, the storage occupied by the site is deducted from active storage, and it will then be charged as a part of archived storage, which is charged based on consumption.

• Backup and Archive Announcement: Welcome to Microsoft Inspire 2023: Introducing Microsoft 365 Backup and Microsoft 365 Archive – Microsoft Community Hub
• Set up Backup: Set up Microsoft 365 Backup (Preview) – Microsoft Syntex | Microsoft Learn
• Set up Archiving: Set up Microsoft 365 Archive (Preview) – Microsoft Syntex | Microsoft Learn

11. Bing Chat Enterprise renamed Copilot; General Availability on December 1

Announced at Ignite 2023, Bing Chat Enterprise has been renamed to Microsoft Copilot. Copilot offers the same commercial data protection for Entra ID (work account) users as Bing Chat Enterprise did. Users will also be able to experience Copilot from a new location: copilot.microsoft.com.

Entra ID users with Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard, Business Premium, or A3 or A5 for faculty licenses remain eligible for Copilot with commercial data protection at no additional cost. Microsoft 365 F3 licenses will also be eligible at no additional cost and those customers can refer to MC684891 for additional information and timing.

12. Microsoft Loop Generally Available

Microsoft Loop is built for this new way of work and we’re excited to announce that it is generally available for customers with Microsoft 365-Business Standard, Business Premium, E3, and E5-on web and mobile. Loop brings together people and resources in centralized workspaces – enhanced by AI capabilities that help reduce digital debt and increase human connection, enabling innovation.

Full Announcement: Microsoft Loop: built for the new way of work, generally available to Microsoft 365 work accounts – Microsoft Community Hub

13. Multi-tenancy coming for Defender XDR

Multi-tenant management in Microsoft Defender XDR was designed to provide security operation teams with a single, unified view of all the tenants they manage. This view enables teams to quickly investigate incidents and perform advanced hunting across data from multiple tenants, improving their security operations.

More Info: Multi-tenant management in Microsoft Defender XDR | Microsoft Learn

14. Shared calling

Shared calling, a new capability for Teams Phone, helps admins save time by enabling groups of users to make and receive PSTN calls using a shared phone number and calling plan. Shared calling is now generally available if licensed through E5 or Teams Phone Standard and can be set up with Teams Calling Plans Pay-As-You-Go or operator calling plans. Teams Phone customers are now able to deploy with PowerShell, while a Teams admin center experience is coming soon. Learn more about shared calling for Teams Phone. This capability is generally available now.