During its event for developers, Google showed some of the functions that will come to its work platforms, which will focus on hybrid experiences, an issue that for other technology companies, such as Microsoft, are also the future and therefore announced innovations in their tools focused on this field.
One of the elements on which the company will focus with the new functions is work stress, as they take into account that the pandemic and lockdown generated longer online meetings and, therefore, a
In response to this phenomenon, Microsoft will add Viva Insights to Teams at the end of this month, which will be a platform where employees can have a set of guided meditations and mindfulness exercises, whose purpose will be to relax the mind or disconnect from the job.
Even this functionality will allow people to schedule a daily focus time to work without interruptions with the muted Teams notifications, plus it will feature music to aid concentration and implement timers to progress on tasks and have planned intervals for breaks. If users want to disconnect, they can show their colleagues information about it.
On the other hand, Microsoft announced improvements in Fluid Components, which is the productivity tool that helps to get work done in the context of chat, emails and meetings, among other things. One of the main ones is its extension to Teams OneNote, Outlook and Whiteboard, which will facilitate collaboration between apps.
There will also be new chat features, such as pinning a message, so that other members have quick access to critical content at any time, and reply to a specific message while keeping the context within the conversation, just as it happens in the instant messaging apps.
In the Teams videoconferencing service there will also be news, as the screen space will be expanded with new designs that will disperse the video gallery in several frames when the content is not shared.
This increased footprint will allow remote participants to appear larger. In addition, there will be desktop features in Team Rooms starting in the summer, the company said, such as live reactions and chat bubbles when using the classic grid layout.
Microsoft’s voice recognition technology in Teams will also allow you to identify the people speaking in the room and apply their name to the meeting transcript, which is significant as people can avoid taking notes and those who have missed the meeting can see a record of the conversation later.
In addition, the Surface Hub, a space designed for teams to meet, will have an update in the fall, which will integrate the new Microsoft Whiteboard experience, where everyone can draw on the same digital canvas.
In addition, PowerPoint Live will receive new features focused on collaboration and contributions from all meeting attendees. An example of this is slide translation.
These innovations, Microsoft said, are based on their vision for the working conditions of the future, which they perceive as hybrids. “Business leaders will have to reimagine their organizations with a new operating model for people, places and processes,” the company noted.
It is worth mentioning that Google has also implemented modifications and innovations in its platforms focused on the work of companies, mainly in order to combat monotony during work meetings, as announced during the Google I / O.
