News
4 Big Microsoft Teams And Security Updates At Build 2021
Wade Tyler Millward
The company is using the conference for developers to unveil updates including more controls for developers and administrators in Teams and a tamper-proof ledger powered by Azure.
Focus On Developers
Microsoft is using its Build 2021 conference for developers to unveil significant updates for two of its widely used solutions--the Teams collaboration app and Azure Active Directory authentication service. The updates include more controls for developers and administrators in Teams, a new Teams store experience for third-party apps, a tamper-proof ledger powered by Azure and a metered Microsoft Graph service.
Murray Foxcroft, chief technology officer of Atlanta-based ProArch, a Microsoft Gold partner, told CRN that the conversation with customers is turning to activity around Teams. He’s heard requests for bots and more integrations with Microsoft-built and third-party applications. And Microsoft 365 continues to be a gateway service to start a customer before introducing them to other Microsoft products and services. “There‘s a whole ecosystem that’s starting to build out around Teams,” Foxcroft said.
Kelly Yeh, president of Chantilly, Va.-based solution provider Phalanx Technology, told CRN that Microsoft 365, which includes Teams, continues to be a starting point with new customers. Recently, customers have sought Teams for its internet-connected phone system abilities. “If you‘re going with a hosted voice over IP provider you’re more than likely going to have the ability to then use Teams as your call manager,” Yeh said.
Teams had more than 145 million daily active users as of late April, the company disclosed at the time. On Microsoft’s earnings call in April, CEO Satya Nadella said that Teams usage has grown in markets that returned to the workplace earliest. “The number of organizations with more than 1,000 users, integrating their third-party and line of business applications with Teams has increased nearly 3 times year over year,” he said.
Along with updates to Teams, Microsoft announced some major changes to its Microsoft Graph programmability model that gives access to data in Microsoft 365, Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) and Windows 10, as well as updates to some of its Azure-powered tools and services. What follows are four big Microsoft Teams and security updates at Build 2021.
