Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Viva

Microsoft Workplace Analytics rebranded as Microsoft Viva Insights

Effective October 1, 2021, Microsoft Viva Insights replaces Microsoft Workplace Analytics (WPA).

Microsoft Viva Insights is part of Microsoft’s newly launched Employee Experience Platform (EXP) branded as Microsoft Viva, designed to help people connect, focus, learn, and thrive at work. Viva Insights is available via Volume License (VL) and Cloud Solution Provider (CSP).

Accessed in Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Viva Insights gives personalized and actionable insights that help everyone in an organization thrive. These insights are derived from data that is already available to you in your Exchange Online mailbox. For example, if you want to determine what commitments you made to others, you could manually review each email in your mailbox. The Insights app takes care of that instead.

For an overview on Microsoft Viva Insights and explanatory videos, please visit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-viva/insights.

For more information on Microsoft Viva, please visit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-viva.

For the announcement of Microsoft Viva, please visit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2021/02/04/microsoft-viva-empowering-every-employee-for-the-new-digital-age/.

Please contact us for more information and to request a quote.

Microsoft Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Skype for Business Online retired

Effective August 2, 2021, Microsoft Skype for Business Online is retired and is being replaced by Microsoft Teams.

This retirement does not affect the Skype consumer service or Skype for Business Server products.

Organizations who haven’t made a full transition from Skype for Business Online will be scheduled for a Microsoft-assisted upgrade to help with the last-mile technical steps getting to “Teams Only”. Scheduling notifications are sent to tenant admins within the Microsoft 365 Message Center and Teams admin center 90 days before the date of the assisted upgrade. Even after scheduling, customers may self-upgrade prior to the assisted upgrade date to better control the timing of their upgrade experience.

Assisted upgrades begin in August 2021, with tenant-specific dates shared in the scheduling notifications mentioned above. Organizations scheduled for assisted upgrades after July 31, 2021 will be able to use Skype for Business Online until their upgrade is complete.

The assisted upgrade experience will differ slightly depending on the organization’s environment:

  • Skype for Business Online-only: The assisted upgrade process will apply the TeamsUpgradeOverridePolicy policy to the tenant. When this policy is applied, all Skype for Business Online users will be placed in Teams Only mode.
  • Skype for Business Online users in hybrid environment: The assisted upgrade will only switch Skype for Business Online users to Teams Only mode if they’re not already in that mode. Skype for Business Server users won’t be impacted by the assisted upgrade process and will remain on-premises.

The duration of the upgrade will vary by volume of users and the characteristics of the deployment. In most cases, users within a tenant will be upgraded within 24 hours of the start of the upgrade. During this time, users will still have access to Skype for Business Online. Once the upgrade has completed and users sign out of Skype for Business Online, they’ll start using Teams for messaging, meetings, and calling. Post-upgrade, all new online users will be added in Teams Only mode.

For the announcement and further specifics, please visit: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/the-skype-for-business-online-service-has-retired/ba-p/2596601.

For more information on the Microsoft-assisted upgrade, please visit: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/MicrosoftTeams/upgrade-assisted.

Please contact us for more information and to request a quote.

Microsoft 365, Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft 365 pricing changes and Audio Conferencing capabilities

Effective March 1, 2022, the following pricing changes for Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft 365 per user per month subscriptions will take place:

  • Microsoft Office 365 E1 (from $8 to $10)
  • Microsoft Office 365 E3 (from $20 to $23)
  • Microsoft Office 365 E5 (from $35 to $38)
  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic (from $5 to $6)
  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium (from $20 to $22)
  • Microsoft 365 E3 (from $32 to $36)

These increases will apply globally with local market adjustments for certain regions. There are no changes to pricing for education and consumer products at this time.

Furthermore, over the next months, Microsoft will add unlimited dial-in capabilities for Microsoft Teams meetings for existing Office 365 and Microsoft 365 licenses. These capabilities are currently only included with Microsoft 365 E5 and Office 365 E5.

An Audio Conferencing license enables you to provide a dial-in phone number for Teams meeting attendees, and to dial-out during a meeting to invite other callers into that meeting.

Currently there are two promotions that entitle Enterprise Agreement (EA) and Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) customers to free Audio Conferencing licenses with both promotions: https://www.schneider.im/microsoft-teams-audio-conferencing-available-for-free/.

For the announcement, please visit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2021/08/19/new-pricing-for-microsoft-365/.

For more information on Microsoft Teams Audio Conferencing, please visit: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/audio-conferencing-in-office-365.

Please contact us for more information and to request a quote.

Microsoft Teams, Promotions

Microsoft Teams Advanced Communications Promotion

Until June 30, 2022, Microsoft Teams Advanced Communications is available for promotional pricing of 58% off the price list from SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT as your Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) for Enterprise Agreement (EA) and Enterprise Subscription Agreement (EAS) customers.

This add-on includes advanced meetings customization, tools to manage your organization’s communication policies, and premium manageability with custom policy packages. Additional features include custom branded meeting lobby to tailor your meetings, and tools to monitor, track, and analyze data on users and devices.

For general information on Microsoft Teams Advanced Communications, please visit: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-add-on-licensing/advanced-communications.

Please contact us for more information and a quote.

Microsoft Teams, Promotions

Microsoft Teams Rooms Promotion

Effective July 1, 2021 until December 31, 2021, a Microsoft Teams Rooms Standard and a Microsoft Teams Rooms Premium promotion are available for Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) and Enterprise Agreement (EA) customers.

These promotions offer an extra 30 percent discount and are available worldwide. After enrollment during the promotion period, promotional pricing applies for the remainder of the customer term for up to 12 months, after which list prices apply.

Microsoft Teams Rooms are calling and meeting room solutions that deliver a native Microsoft Teams experience with HD audio and video, on Teams-certified hardware from Microsoft and Microsoft partners (Microsoft Surface Hub, Crestron, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Logitech, Poly, and Yealink). Teams Rooms deliver consistent, intuitive, and inclusive meeting experiences.

The advantage of Microsoft Teams Rooms Premium over the Standard version lays in the availability of the included managed service. It enhances the meeting room management experience through expert operations, requiring less time and resources from your IT team. The service provides recommendations from Microsoft, proactive management on your behalf, and knowledge from Microsoft’s entire customer network to ensure you get the most from your environment.

For more details on Microsoft Teams Rooms, please visit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/microsoft-teams-rooms.

Please contact us for more information and to request a quote.

Cygna Auditor, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Teams

Cygna Auditor for Microsoft 365, Azure AD and Microsoft Teams available

Effective immediately, Cygna Labs’ Cygna Auditor offers organizations that adopt Microsoft 365 and continue to have on-premises infrastructure an audit and compliance reporting solution that can monitor all activity and changes in a single console. The solution provides comprehensive change auditing and alerts on critical activity, reports risky sign-ins and tracks role changes to enable companies with audit-readiness. Cygna Auditor is available for Microsoft 365, Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AAD) and Microsoft Teams. It is approved for government and the financial services industry.

For more information on Cygna Auditor for Microsoft 365, please visit: https://cygnalabs.com/en/office-365-auditing/.

For more details on Cygna Auditor for Azure Active Directory (AAD), please visit: https://cygnalabs.com/en/azure-ad-auditing/.

To learn more about Cygna Auditor for Microsoft Teams, please take a look at: https://cygnalabs.com/en/microsoft-teams-auditing/.

More information on its use on government and financial services industry can be found under: https://cygnalabs.com/en/government-industry/ and https://cygnalabs.com/en/financial-services-industry/.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams Calling Direct Routing with POST Luxembourg CloudVoice

We are proud to announce the Microsoft Teams Calling Direct Routing case study of POST Luxembourg with SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT. With POST Luxembourg’s CloudVoice solution, employees are easily accessible and can effortlessly make internal and external calls, wherever they are. It enables companies to assign unique telephone extensions to every individual employee, which are implemented in Microsoft Teams. In times, in which mobility, flexibility and reachability are a necessity, CloudVoice is the reliable solution for every workplace.

You can download the full article here: Microsoft Teams Calling Direct Routing with POST Luxembourg CloudVoice.

For further information, please visit: https://www.post.lu/en/independants-et-pme/catalogue-produits/telephone/cloudvoice.

Please find our interview on the POST Luxembourg’s CloudVoice solution here:

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams Rooms available

Effective October 1, 2020, Microsoft Teams Rooms Standard and Premium Device Subscription Licenses (SLs) are available. Microsoft Teams Rooms Standard and Premium was previously referred to as Meeting Room and Managed Meeting Rooms.

Microsoft Teams Rooms allows you to Teams-enable your conference room, creating the ability to easily join a scheduled conference or start an ad hoc meeting.

The Teams Rooms subscription covers access to Microsoft Teams, Phone System, Audio Conferencing, Microsoft Intune.

The September 2020 Online Services Terms (OST) explain, that only CACD may be licensed through Teams Rooms: A Common Area Communication Device (“CACD”) is a device shared by multiple users who do not log into the device with their Office 365 credentials and which supports calls, meetings and/or conferencing over voice, Voice over IP, and/or video. Microsoft’s Common Area Phone and Meeting Room offerings are Device SLs that may only be assigned to a CACD. Each CACD Licensed Device may be accessed and used by any number of users.

Teams Rooms devices are offered by Creston, HP/Poly, Lenovo, Logitech and other manufacturers. They are managed in the Teams Admin Center. Instead of managing Teams Rooms devices themselves, customers can delegate such management and monitoring to Microsoft by obtaining a Teams Rooms Premium Device Subscription License (DSL).

Note that with the old approach Managed Meeting Rooms is an add-on to Meeting Room, whereas the new approach Teams Rooms Premium offers a superset of the Standard edition.

For the original announcement, please visit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/07/21/microsoft-teams-meetings-hybrid-workplace-options/.

For further information on Microsoft Teams Rooms Standard and Premium, please visit: https://rooms.microsoft.com/.

For an introductory video, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4N-Z6mT09Q.

Please visit the Teams devices catalog for a complete list of Teams Rooms devices: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/across-devices/devices/category?devicetype=20.

Microsoft Calling Plan, Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Calling Plan in additional countries available

Effective October 1, 2020, Microsoft Calling Plan is available in the following new markets: Austria, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland. If you want your users to be able to call regular phones using Microsoft Teams, and you do not already have a service provider to make voice calls, you can buy a Calling Plan.

All Calling Plan features are available for Microsoft’s Domestic and International Calling Plans, including the 120, 240, and 1,200 minute per user per month (p/u/m) Domestic plans, and the International Plan with 1,200 domestic minutes p/u/m and 600 international minutes p/u/m.

The offer has already been available in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Puerto Rico (limited to Enterprise Agreement (EA) and Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES) only), Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States (third-party Calling Plan availability in Australia and Japan).

For more help on how to choose the right Calling Plan, please visit: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/calling-plan-landing-page.

For Luxembourg, we recommend using Microsoft Teams Direct Routing instead. Please contact us for further details.

Microsoft Teams, Promotions

Microsoft Teams Audio Conferencing available for free

Available from October 1, 2020 until June 30, 2022, Microsoft Teams Audio Conferencing can be acquired for free for Enterprise Agreement (EA) customers until the end of their enrollment as long as there is at least 20% Microsoft Teams Meetings adoption withing the first six months.

Furthermore, effective October 1, 2020 until June 30, 2022, Microsoft Teams Audio Conferencing is available for free for 12 months through Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) and by Web Direct customers (without Microsoft Teams Meetings adoption requirement).

Audio Conferencing in Microsoft 365 and Office 365 enables users to call in to meetings from their phones. It is especially helpful for participants, who do not have reliable internet access and allows up to 250 phone attendees.

Those offers are available worldwide with exceptions of China and India.

For the announcement and details on the offers, please visit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/09/08/3-deals-meeting-calling-experiences-microsoft-teams/.

For more information on Microsoft Teams Audio Conferencing, please visit: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/audio-conferencing-in-office-365.