Microsoft Teams has greatly expanded its video meeting capability as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage. If your organization is a Microsoft 365 subscriber using Teams for workplace collaboration and have been kicking the tires on its meetings features — perhaps as an alternative to Zoom— Microsoft has announced the general availability of Teams apps for meetings.
What is Teams apps for meetings?
Microsoft Teams apps for meetings allows you to customize your online video conferences to suit the needs of your organization. It has been built with a focus on supporting companies with work-from-home employees or companies with a hybrid work-from-home / in-office workforce.
Along with the rollout, Microsoft announced several third-party add-ons that can be downloaded from the Microsoft Store. These include apps from Asana (create notes and agendas during the meeting), HireVue (set up video job interviews), Monday.com (incorporate features from the popular project manager during the meeting), and several others. Many of these apps are not yet available, but Microsoft says they are “coming soon.” Microsoft’s own Forms app, which allows you to create polls and surveys during a meeting, is available now as an add-on to Microsoft Teams apps for meetings.
Teams vs. the world
Since its launch in 2017, Microsoft Teams has moved quickly to snap up market share in the workplace collaboration sector that had been dominated by Slack. According to Microsoft, Microsoft Teams now has 115 million daily users. This year, with much of the world sheltering in place and working from home, Microsoft took aim at the exploding video conferencing market and Zoom Video Communications, which was one of the biggest success stories of 2020.
More information
For more information on Teams apps for meetings, check out this Microsoft docs page. If you’re a developer, you can create your own Microsoft Teams apps for meetings. Microsoft has information to get you started at this Microsoft docs page.
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