As part of a planned rollout, Microsoft has announced that a premium service for its Teams collaboration platform is on the way.
At this year''s Microsoft Ignite event, the company stated that the optional premium add-on features for its video conferencing software will make meetings more personal, intelligent, and secure.
The Teams Premium preview will be available in December 2022. General availability will come in February 2023, while the most impressive features leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) will roll out in the first half of next year.
Microsoft Teams Premium features
AI may transcribe meetings, use recordings to label important moments, as well as chapters in meeting recordings, which may be facilitated by a handshake.
AI will be used for real-time meeting transcriptions in 40 languages. Microsoft has stated that this will make meetings more inclusive. This is undoubtedly true, but it''s a shame the feature is locked behind a paid subscription after being previously announced for general release.
Advanced security measures such as watermarking documents and limiting recording permissions will protect businesses from leaks. Microsoft 365 E5 customers will also be able to apply their existing Information Protection labels from Microsoft Purview to meetings, and apply appropriate restrictions.
A lot of learning will be required to organize meetings, with users able to select from a variety of meeting types that will be customizable by IT teams, and to get into meetings with the appropriate settings much quicker.
Teams Premium will feature user-friendly registration lists, automatic email reminders, and a virtual green-room.
The new service will provide an advantage for business-to-consumer (B2C) engagements, with a sophisticated personal appointment system that allows for sending SMS reminders for meetings, a branding lobby experience, and scheduling scheduled as well as on-demand appointments.
Microsoft has clearly worked to make Teams Premium a superior value for corporations of all shapes and sizes. However, how much value remains to be seen, as Microsoft is yet to announce any pricing.