We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful New Year. Please find the latest updates available to you, as part of your Microsoft investment with Atech. 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. Archive channels

For a paused or completed project where owners want to preserve channel content, but no longer want to keep the channel active, they can archive channels now!

Archiving channels will be available for Teams users. You, as a channel owner or administrator can archive a channel you own. By archiving the channel, it will not be available in your and channel members teams and channels list anymore and no more actions will be allowed on the channel like messaging, reacting, commenting, editing etc. In case, you want, you can unarchive the channel as well, by going to manage teams > channels. Team members can hoist the channel in their left rail even after archival.

When will this happen:

Mid-February 2024 (previously late January) and expect to complete by late February 2024 (previously late January).

2. New Meeting Option and Meeting Policy “Turn off copying or forwarding of meeting chat”

“Turn off copying or forwarding of meeting chat” is a new meeting option that gives the meeting organizer the option to disable copying and sharing features on meeting chat messages for participants to reduce the risk of data leak. Once this restriction is enabled, meeting chat participants will not be able to copy chat messages using menu options or keyboard shortcuts, or forward or share messages to Outlook. There is also a new Meeting Policy setting in Teams admin center for admin to control whether users can see or use this feature in the Meeting Options page. Admins can also set the default value for this meeting option in Meeting Templates that they create. This meeting capability can also be configured within a sensitivity label policy: Configure Teams meetings with protection for highly sensitive data.

**Requires Teams Premium license**

When will this be available:

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

3. Audio and video flyout and settings in Teams meetings

Audio and Video flyouts in Teams enable users to efficiently manage their audio and video settings during meetings. These features are easily accessible, allowing users to control their devices and adjust key audio and video features quickly and effortlessly, without needing to navigate through multiple layers of settings.

Users can access this feature in 3 ways:

• During a meeting, you can access the audio flyout and video flyout by clicking the split button with a downward arrow right next to ‘camera’ and ‘microphone’ in the meeting toolbar.
• From both the audio and video flyouts, you can access audio settings and video settings, which open as panels on the right side of the calling window. You can access these settings by clicking ‘more video options’ and ‘more audio options’ at the bottom of the flyout to open the side panel.
• Users can also access ‘audio settings’ and ‘video effects and settings’ by clicking the ‘more’ menu in the meeting toolbar:
  • Audio settings: “More” menu > Audio settings
  • Video effects and settings: “More” menu > “Video effects and settings”

When will this happen:
Mid-January 2024 and expect to complete by late January 2024
 

New features to be aware of for administrators:

1. Announcing External Access Analytics for Microsoft Teams
A new report in the Teams Admin Center that will be available to provide basic analytics for external access. This report will allow admins to view information about external access.

The external access analytics report will be visible in the Teams Admin Center under Analytics & reports > Usage reports. We hope that this report will provide admins with more visibility and control over external access in their tenant and enable them to make informed decisions about cross-tenant collaboration.

You will be able to see the following in usage reports:

• The total number of internal and external users that leverage external access.
• The breakdown of external access usage by capability (TFW-TFW, TFW-TFL, Skype)
• The list of managed domains that have been communicated with using external access.
• The aggregate number of internal and external users communicating with each domain.

When will this happen:
Late January 2024 and expect to complete by early February 2024.

2. New Device Experience

Enrol devices, manage profiles and policies, and access monitoring and reports all in one place in Microsoft Intune. Now in public preview, you can go to the Devices area in the Microsoft Intune admin center to:

• Get at-a-glance actionable information and key metrics about your devices.
• Access workloads for device onboarding, management, and monitoring.
• View, monitor, and drill down into active issues on the Overview page.
• Manage devices by OS platform.
• Access, apply, and view filters at the top of every list view.

Full Article: Try new Devices experience in Microsoft Intune | Microsoft Learn

When this will happen:
Currently in public preview. No GA Dates yet.

3. 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.

4. Microsoft Loop Generally Available
Microsoft Loop is built for this new way of work and we’re excited to announce today 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

5. 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

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

6. 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.

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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

10. macOS Updates for MDM management with Intune

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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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.

That’s all. Thanks for reading.