Microsoft’s Teams business chat app has seen huge demand over the last month due to more people than ever working from home due to life under Corona. Which means that if video chat app companies life Microsoft weren’t hyper-focused on these apps before the pandemic, they sure are now.

Today Microsoft announced 3 new features are coming to its app this month.

• To make video calls more inclusive, the raise hand feature is rolling out globally this month. It lets meeting participants indicate they have something to say during a meeting by clicking on a hand-raise icon in the meeting control bar.
• Today, Microsoft is releasing the ability for meeting organizers to end a meeting for all participants with the click of a button. Meeting organizers can now find an option to “end meeting” in the meeting control bar options.
• Meeting organizers, especially teachers, often need to know who joined their Teams meetings. This month, you will be able to download a participant report, found in the participant list, that includes join and leave times for participants.

Later in the year, Microsoft is also delivering the following features:

• Later this year, we will bring real-time noise suppression, which uses AI to reduce distracting background noise such as loud typing or a barking dog in Teams meetings.
• Custom backgrounds, which allow you to replace your background in Teams meetings with a fresh and bright home office, for example, is now generally available in Teams. This feature builds upon background blur, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to blur the environment behind you. In the future, Microsoft will also include the ability to upload your own custom images. You can learn how to set custom backgrounds in Teams here.

Source: Microsoft