- Up next, we're joined by Microsoft Teams Vice President,
Kristina Behr, to look at recent and upcoming updates
to Teams for frontline workers.
From new mobile app experiences
with Microsoft Viva Connections
and updates to the Teams Walkie Talkie experience
for frontline workers
to connect and collaborate on the go,
to simplified provisioning and device management experiences
for admin supporting frontline staff,
new APIs and connectors to integrate Teams
with your existing workforce management solutions, and more.
So, Kristina, it's great to have you on the show.
- Thanks for having me on.
- So on Mechanics, we've followed how
we're enabling this segment of the workforce
specifically for several years now.
And as we've all seen in the last 18 months or so
have really placed frontline workers in the spotlight,
from nurses and doctors
to essential workers across every major industry.
So, how does this then play into the types of capabilities
that we're bringing to Microsoft Teams?
- So, first, I am glad that this segment of the workforce
is getting more and more recognized.
There are around two billion frontline workers
globally today,
and until recently, their needs
haven't always been prioritized
in the industries that they serve
or even by the tech industry.
So, our primary focus
is to drive equal access to technology
for frontline workers everywhere.
In this case, it's via the same Microsoft Teams
in use by the rest of their organization,
all the way from the top floor to the shop floor.
And we're building distinct frontline experiences
crafted for Teams to bring the whole workforce together
and communicate and collaborate on one unified platform.
- So, how are you determining then
what kind of goes into the experience for frontline workers?
- Yeah, right, we're not building features
just because we can.
We are building experiences that you, our customers,
tell us are needed.
Every new innovation originates from a point of empathy.
My team regularly shadows organizations
with frontline workers to develop digital tools
to make their lives easier.
We're talking about
a highly mobile segment of the workforce.
As you can see here
with the example of UK retailer, Marks and Spencer,
whose frontline personnel work in shifts and use Teams,
not only to see and manage them,
but to quickly see and communicate with others
while working on the go.
Teams also helps to replace
less efficient paper-based practices,
with tasks and daily goals digitally assigned by managers
to frontline staff
so that they can focus on their efforts
and quickly log completion status.
Then, beyond the instant chat
and calling that you expect from Teams,
we also support traditional
walkie talkie-style communication.
Like you can see here
with US-based Suffolk Construction Company,
who now have a better way to quickly find
and communicate with colleagues
over a secure and private channel
without signal interference.
In fact, the beauty of all of the communication modalities
supported by Teams
is that they are accessible by design
on the single device you are carrying.
And of course, timely communication and access
to information on the ground
not only makes for faster decision-making,
but we can see that it leads to increased job satisfaction.
- And these are great examples and a good summary
of some of the core frontline worker capabilities
that Microsoft Teams provides.
Of course, there are even more
if we look at other industries such as healthcare,
where we enable HIPAA-compliant communication
that leverages the Microsoft 365
Security and Compliance backbone.
That said, as you mentioned,
something that all frontline workers
across all industries share in common
is their higher level of mobility.
So, can you share then what we've done
to improve their experience on the Teams mobile app?
- Sure, so here, we've done a ton of work
for shared and employee-owned devices running the Teams app.
And this is the first update
that speaks to the work that we're doing
to make frontline workers feel more connected
to their organization through easy access
to company communications,
which can greatly help with morale and retention.
Microsoft Viva Connections,
which comes as part of your Microsoft 365 subscription,
gives you a curated, company-branded experience
and is integrated with the Teams mobile app.
As a frontline worker,
I can access a company-branded destination from my phone.
I can see my upcoming shifts,
tasks that have been assigned to me,
company news highlighted right here on the top of my feed,
and other important resources curated all in one place.
And switching views here.
As an admin, the information presented to workers
for the role in the company can be personalized
to a specific job focus and location.
So, for example, you can target communications
to the staff in a specific store branch.
- And in many respects,
this is a more direct form of engagement
versus reading company updates
on the notice board in a break room.
In fact, we did a dedicated show
with lead engineer, Adam Harmetz on Viva Connections
that you can check out at aka.ms/VCmechanics.
Now, what I also like
is that we've made all these new experiences
super easy to find.
- They are.
In fact, if we look at the other updates,
you can see that I have Walkie Talkie pinned.
It's a great way to have an open voice channel
for real-time communication,
and we've just extended its capabilities
and the platforms we're on.
Here, for example, you can see I'm using an iPhone
and Walkie Talkie is now generally available in iOS.
And since I've tapped on it,
it's asking which channel to contact.
I'll pause here, because it gets better
as we're now building interoperability
between the Teams Walkie Talkie capability
and dedicated walkie talkie devices
that you may be using like Zebra,
the leading device manufacturer
for frontline worker devices.
- Great, so why don't we try this out?
So, I've actually got a Zebra device right here.
- And so, I'll Walkie Talkie you on the device
and you can get an idea of how it works.
And you can see, this is pretty seamless.
I could reach and contact you
using a shared frontline device.
- Awesome, and that's really going to help
unify organizations around a common platform
while leveraging existing investments.
So, why don't we switch gears to look at updates
to the mobile device management experience
for our admins who are watching,
since they play one of the most critical roles
in ensuring equal access to technology
for frontline workers.
Last time, we looked at shared Android device management,
but what's new there?
- There are a number of recent device management updates.
Earlier this year, we delivered a solution
using Microsoft Endpoint Manager
to manage shared Android and iOS devices.
So, frontline workers can use a device
from a pool of shared devices,
sign in for a personalized experience during their shift,
and return the device to the pool
when their shift is finished.
What's great about this is that it now applies
to devices running Android Open Source Project, or AOSP.
This means that Microsoft Teams can integrate
with tailor-made devices
like RealWear heads up and hands-free displays
used for manufacturing and maintenance.
Here you can see engineers from Honeywell
using RealWear displays remote field servicing,
and they're able to share and communicate
what they're seeing through a live camera
to their colleagues using Teams
and get additional expert guidance on tasks,
which has been critical in keeping up with work orders
during the pandemic.
- It's really great to see
how we're extending mobile management
to really any modern Android device
to support a broader set of use cases.
Now, the other good news for admins
is just how easy it is to onboard frontline workers
onto the Teams platform with a custom experience.
- And this is an area we're investing a ton of time on.
We are introducing a wizard
to streamline the process of provisioning frontline workers
as part of a team,
with new role-based controls if you are a manager
or a frontline staff.
Here, for example,
I have a custom frontline worker experience
that IT has set up for me with a consolidated view
of my pinned channels and recent tasks.
These channels are thematic
to help with scoped conversations around a given topic.
And you can see here, one for curbside pickup
and another for learning.
My tray has been configured specifically for my needs.
So, for example, I don't use a calendar
because I'm not setting up a meeting,
but I do see Shifts, Tasks, and Walkie Talkie.
And then when I tap into a channel,
I'm brought into the Teams conversation experience
and there are already a lot of posts.
And this is a persistent thread.
So even as a new person on the team,
I can quickly get context on trending conversations.
And now, in the tabs above,
I have a custom app set up for me too.
So under More there's a tab called Learning Planner.
And I'll open it
and I can see the assigned training and related tasks.
And this experience has been built
from a template in a fraction of the time it used to take.
In fact, Jeremy, as a former IT admin yourself,
why don't you walk us through the new experience?
- Sounds good, but first, to level set,
normally when you set up a group of frontline workers
with a team, team owner, custom channels and tabs,
and all the required licensing per user,
you'd be jumping in between the Microsoft 365
and Teams admin centers
in really different areas within each of those.
Now, the onboarding wizard really helps streamline the steps
and you can find it
in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Setup.
And then from there, once you get started,
you'll be guided through the entire experience.
So, first you'll need to give the team a name.
Now, we're going to go ahead and add an owner,
Megan, in this case,
and this is typically going to be a frontline manager.
Then by default, a private team would be created,
but you can also set the team public, for example,
which is useful if you've got maybe a morale team
where you want people to freely self-enroll.
Next, here's where it gets really powerful.
You can use team prebuilt templates or create your own.
Now, if you're new to templates,
they include the right predefined channels and apps.
Then, next in team members,
here, you can either add individuals or groups to the team.
I'm going to go ahead and a few people,
I'll add one more here, and then I'll add a group.
And one thing to note here
is that the owner and worker roles or groups
need to have been added to your Microsoft 365 tenant
before going through this process.
And from here, I can assign the details
for frontline managers and workers.
- And let me stop you here, Jeremy,
because this is the part that you couldn't easily do before.
Today if you add frontline workers to your tenant,
the default Teams policy will kick in.
And depending on how it was set up
for the whole organization,
it may be more optimized for your office workers
versus your frontline staff.
This changes with the new wizard
in that you can more easily determine the policy package
that each frontline role gets.
- And that's really a great point.
You know, the benefit that we're providing here
is that we'll pre-populate a frontline worker
or frontline manager role
to receive the right policy package in the wizard.
So, let me show you how this works.
So, here I can see that I have a tab
for individuals that I assigned,
including the team owner and one for the group.
Now, in the Role column,
you'll see it's already assigned default roles,
which, in turn, is assigning the policy package,
as you mentioned.
So, Megan here will get the frontline manager package
and then everyone else
will get the frontline worker package.
Now, let me show you an example
of how these two different packages differ by roles.
On the left, what you're seeing
is the messaging policy for frontline managers,
and on the right,
you're the messaging policy for frontline workers.
And you'll see that for frontline workers,
we switch off a few things by default,
but this is entirely customizable for your organization.
Now, going back to the wizard,
you're going to see that it automatically pre-populates
the Location and also the License type columns.
And you can make changes here based on available licenses.
In fact, because Megan is a manager,
I'm going to change her license from F1 to F3,
so she gets a few more capabilities.
Next, I can send a status email to others,
perhaps the IT team, or a shared mailbox
to track team creation.
And this will then let them know
that this team has been created
along with its details and that's it.
Now, I just need to confirm,
and it will create the team
with the memberships and roles in place.
And from there, each member will receive
a welcome experience to onboard them.
So, if you have experience then
in setting up frontline workers in Teams before,
you're going to notice quite a few different time savers,
especially for policy package assignment.
Of course, another area that's improving
with the latest round of updates
is how we help you integrate Teams
with your custom apps and your solutions.
- Yes, thanks.
We've continued our efforts
to partner with some of the most popular solution providers
to connect their experiences with Microsoft Teams.
This is both at the programmatic level for developers,
where we've published a set of APIs.
And we also have an increasing number
of connectors available for admins
to easily create secure connections
with their existing workforce management systems,
like Blue Yonder or Reflexis.
And here, you can see
we have a Reflexis shift schedule open.
Anything here is automatically synced
and replicated in the Teams calendar.
And we've recently built APIs
to connect your apps with approvals in Teams.
In fact, here's a mobile power app
where I can submit an inventory request.
I'll choose the product I want and the number of units,
and now I'll sign and submit a request for approval.
And if I flip over to the manager view,
you'll see that the request
is the top of my list pending my approval.
So, I'll go ahead and approve it.
- Awesome, so both your people and your apps
can come together with a unified experience in Teams.
So, what are you and the team focused on next?
- We'll continue to focus
on improving frontline worker productivity tools
and supporting essential worker experiences
like the virtual visits that we do in healthcare,
which we are bringing to other industries.
In fact, from an industry perspective,
we're creating more specialized collaborative workflows.
For example, machine maintenance and manufacturing
or loan management and financial services,
where multiple people work together.
And for our IT admins,
we're expanding our partnerships
with workforce management providers
to build more connectors.
And like the provisioning experience we just saw,
we're building more tools to help get started,
create pilots and speed up deployment,
as well as ongoing management
of frontline worker experiences at scale.
- And these are going to be really great updates
for using Teams on the frontline.
We covered a lot today.
So, where should people go to get started
with some of these capabilities?
- We've published everything you need to know
with Teams for frontline workers in one place
at aka.ms/frontline-workforce.
- Thanks so much for joining us today, Kristina.
Of course, keep checking back on Microsoft Mechanics
for the latest updates,
subscribe if you haven't already,
and thank you so much for watching.
(gentle techno music)