Microsoft Ignite: Security and Office 365 Products and Services Hitting ‘General Availability’
Microsoft kicked off this year’s Ignite event with a bevy of announced products hitting the “general availability” (GA) commercial-release stage.
The announcements were all over the map, without real standouts. The following compendium of Microsoft 365 and security products at the GA stage was extracted from Microsoft’s “Book of News” (BoN) publication. The products mostly are available now, or are scheduled for release this month.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Benchmark
A benchmark capability was added to Microsoft Defender for Cloud service that “maps best practices across clouds and industry frameworks.” This security compliance tool is available “as part of the free Cloud Security Posture Management experience.” Microsoft Defender for Cloud is Microsoft’s “Cloud Security Posture Management and workload protection solution.” It’s a rename of two products, namely Azure Security Center and Azure Defender. (BoN 8.1.1.)
Microsoft Sentinel Logging Options
Microsoft Sentinel, which is Microsoft’s security information and event management (SIEM) solution, now has three logging options. Basic Logs is used to “ingest high-volume data from sources to correlate and investigate an incident.” Archived Logs is a low-cost and long-term storage option, with data searchable for “up to seven years.” A Log Restore option lets organizations restore logs for “interactive investigation queries as needed.” (BoN 8.1.12.)
Microsoft Edge Security Features
The Microsoft Edge browser now has a Web site “address typo protection” capability that steers users away from going to fraudulent sites that leverage misspellings to confuse them. There’s also an optional “enhanced security mode” for the browser that will switch to “more conservative” security settings when users visit “unfamiliar websites.” The Edge browser also got accessibility features such as “live captions,” “instant answers” and an “enhanced Narrator.” (BoN 4.1.2.)
Teams Viewing Perks
Microsoft released Cameo for Teams, which lets presenters include a “Teams camera feed into a PowerPoint Live presentation.” A “Together Mode” option in Teams permits meeting organizers to set up presentations where all participants can be viewed. (BoN 6.1.3.)
Teams Chat Features
Teams users can create short videos for chats with a “Video Clips” feature. They can postpone the delivery of chat messages with a “Scheduled Send” feature. They will have access to machine-learning-generated replies that can be used during chats, which will be at the GA stage this month as a “Suggested Replies” feature. (BoN 6.1.5.)
Dynamics 365 and Embedded Teams Chats
Teams chats can be linked to Dynamics 365 records. The embedding of Teams with Dynamics 365 is expected to reach the GA stage in “October 2022.” (BoN 3.1.4.)
Dynamics 365 Customer Service Summaries
Teams conversations associated with the Dynamics 365 Customers Service activities can be automatically summarized. This artificial intelligence-generated summary capability is expected to reach the GA stage in “October 2022.” (BoN 3.1.3.)
Teams Phone Mobile
The new Teams Phone Mobile service, offered in partnership with mobile telephony service providers, permits business calling features to work on mobile phones. Mobile phone calls also can be converted to “internet-based video calls in Teams” with this service. Teams Phone Mobile (formerly known as “Operator Connect Mobile”) is currently available from Rogers in Canada. Other service providers with launch plans include “Telia in Sweden. Verizon, Deutsche Telekom, BT and Swisscom.” (BoN 6.1.4.)
Viva Insights Updates
Viva Insights, used to gauge employee time spent on activities, now has meeting effectiveness surveys, which appear at the end of Teams meetings. There’s also a scheduled send suggestions feature that schedules chats based on the recipient’s working hours. A Focus mode feature suggests break periods, and gives the option to use Headspace mindfulness exercises. There’s also a Quiet Time feature, which will “silence mobile notifications from Outlook and Teams outside of working hours.” (BoN 6.2.1.)
Viva Engage Storyline Feature
Viva Engage, Microsoft’s social networking-like app for work environments, has a Storyline feature that lets users compose “rich posts that include links, files, photos and videos.” These Storyline posts can be seen across “Viva Engage, Outlook and the Viva Connections feed in Microsoft Teams.” (BoN 6.2.3.)
Audit Search in Microsoft 365
The Audit Search tool has been updated for Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 customers. It lets them run “10 concurrent audit search jobs.” The search data can be filtered and exported. Histories of audit searches get “stored for 30 days.” (BoN 8.1.6.)
Microsoft 365 Stream Perks
Microsoft Stream, Microsoft’s video sharing service, now has new features for making recordings, such as “background blur, inking, text and effects.” Microsoft also indicated that “recordings for Teams meetings are now available in the Stream mobile app.” (BoN 6.3.4.)
