Using the phone as a Walkie Talkie will be possible thanks to the most recent update that Teams will receive

You may be familiar with Microsoft Teams, but if not, we'll give you some background. Teams is one of the fastest growing Microsoft applications, an app focused for use in both educational and business environments that usually receives frequent updates.

Microsoft has traditionally had good relationships with the enterprise market and Teams is a good example. In fact, they have presented an update that will first reach frontline workers (those who usually work on the move) and that allows you to turn your mobile into a Walkie Talkie among other new additions

Functions for professional users

The announcement was made at the National Retail Federation (NRF) show, where they announced new features coming to Teams. And one of them is that through the app the phone can be used as a Walkie Talkie at the touch of a button.

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By making use of either the mobile data network or Wi-Fi, it will be possible to achieve, according to Microsoft, clear, instant and secure voice communication through the cloud. A utility that will reach any smartphone or tablet that has Teams installed through a button that appears in the bottom navigation bar. An addition that other similar applications from the competition do not offer. A functionality still under development and that will arrive in the first half of the year in test mode"

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But it is not the only function that will come to Teams, as mobile workers will gain in the management of their tasks so that they can present task lists and to-do lists activities created by another user and monitor progress through automatic reports in real time. A feature coming to Teams in the first half of this year."

Along with these two improvements, two more functions arrive; On the one hand, Microsoft will allow to integrate third-party personnel management systems such as Kronos and JDA with Shifts thanks to Shifts' Microsoft Graph and the software development kit . In the case of JDA for shifts, it is already available on GitHub, while with Kronos for Shifts, it will arrive during the first quarter of 2020.

And regarding the other novelty in Teams, now it seeks to prevent inappropriate use of the teams, since IT administrators will be able to configure the teams to limit the access of the employees to computers outside of working hours.This feature will also arrive in Q1 2020.

Microsoft seeks with Teams, to differentiate itself from other rival applications in the professional field, in the case of Slack for example, with new extras to better manage work groups in work environments.

Source | Neowin Cover image | BullVesalainen