Transcript
Page 1: Introduction · Web viewOverview of the upcoming changes to Office 365 ProPlus update management Changes to the Office 365 ProPlus updates from September onwards, with renamed channels,

Office 365

Year in Review 2017

by Cian Allner Updated: 21st November

2017

Abstract

Looking back at key developments and updates plus predictions for 2018

Page 2: Introduction · Web viewOverview of the upcoming changes to Office 365 ProPlus update management Changes to the Office 365 ProPlus updates from September onwards, with renamed channels,

Contents

Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3

January..................................................................................................................................................4

February................................................................................................................................................5

March....................................................................................................................................................6

April.......................................................................................................................................................7

May.......................................................................................................................................................8

June.......................................................................................................................................................9

July.......................................................................................................................................................10

August.................................................................................................................................................11

September...........................................................................................................................................12

October...............................................................................................................................................16

November and December...................................................................................................................17

The Year ahead - Predictions for 2018.................................................................................................18

Office 365 Resources...........................................................................................................................21

About the author.................................................................................................................................22

Credits.................................................................................................................................................23

Page 3: Introduction · Web viewOverview of the upcoming changes to Office 365 ProPlus update management Changes to the Office 365 ProPlus updates from September onwards, with renamed channels,

IntroductionWith approximately 25 new features every month in Office 365, the velocity of change is immense. As the end of the year approaches, it’s a good time to look back and take stock of many of the bigger changes in Office 365 during 2017. Here is my selection of the updates and changes in Office 365 this year. Finishing with what to look out for in 2018 and the big trends, with a few predictions thrown in as well as some resources.

Note from the author

About this time last year, I compiled a list of updates in Office 365 during 2016, which I posted on the Microsoft Tech Community. It was my way of recapping the progress in Office 365 and celebrating the success and passion I had for Office 365.

This year I wanted to take it a step further and bring together many of the big announcements from 2017 into this document you are now reading. The idea was to provide more detail and information alongside these developments, hopefully making it a more useful resource.

As you can imagine, I have had to be selective in what I include, as otherwise this would be a much longer document. I have mostly focused on the core Office 365 services. It’s been a monumental year for Office 365, Microsoft have delivered huge feature updates and they have an ambitious roadmap ahead.

Where were you when you heard about the Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business convergence this September? A surprise for many, it was probably the biggest news story this year in Office 365 and an exciting one at that, but it was also the overall cohesiveness that impressed me most.

The transformation of SharePoint alone and the journey it’s been on since May 2016 has been immense. Nothing better embodies Office 365 more than the advancements like communication sites and soon hub sites, that are readymade, accessible and address common business needs. Microsoft even found the time to bring back a fan favourite, FindTime!

If you’d like to show your support, please consider leaving a star rating on the TechNet download page, it only takes a few seconds!

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January

Data Loss PreventionSource: Unifying Data Loss Prevention in Office 365

Data loss prevention options were brought together allowing admins to create a single DLP policy in the Office 365 Security and Compliance Center that covers Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business.

StaffHub available Source: Microsoft StaffHub is here!

Worldwide general availability of Microsoft StaffHub—a new application for Office 365 designed to help staff workers manage their workday—with schedule management, information sharing and the ability to connect to other work-related apps and resources.

Yammer a leader in enterprise collaboration providersSource: Forrester’s 2016 Enterprise Collaboration Wave report is out and Microsoft is a Leader!

Forrester—one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world—recently released their latest report evaluating enterprise collaboration providers and we’re honored to see Microsoft and Yammer—as part of the Office 365 suite—in the Leaders designation in the report.

FastTrack expands to Windows 10, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft TeamsSource: FastTrack expands to support Windows 10, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Teams

Today, we’re pleased to introduce new FastTrack resources for Microsoft Teams, including a new scenario, awareness kit and Productivity Library cards—plus remote onboarding and user adoption guidance from our FastTrack team.

OneDrive enhancements Source: OneDrive brings new file collaboration and management features to the enterprise

Several new capabilities in OneDrive for Business announced that make it easier than ever to sync, share and collaborate on all your files in Office 365. Includes sync support for SharePoint Online team sites, standalone Mac client, simplified file sharing and OneDrive admin center.

Microsoft Teams momentum Source: Microsoft Teams gains steam

After launching in November 2016, in January alone Teams was in use by 30,000 organizations across 145 markets and 19 languages had actively used Microsoft Teams.

Page 5: Introduction · Web viewOverview of the upcoming changes to Office 365 ProPlus update management Changes to the Office 365 ProPlus updates from September onwards, with renamed channels,

February

Outlook mobile anniversary brings apps to the inboxSource: Outlook mobile turns 2 and now comes with your favorite apps

After launching Outlook mobile two years ago with the goal of helping you accomplish more while on the go, now apps come to your inbox with add-ins for Outlook on iOS starting with Evernote, GIPHY, Nimble, Trello and Smartsheet.

Office 365 security capabilities Source: New Office 365 capabilities help you proactively manage security and compliance risk

New capabilities in Office 365 launched to help you manage risk and stay ahead of threats including a new security analytics tool called Office 365 Secure Score released as generally available and two previews - Office 365 Threat Intelligence and Office 365 Advanced Data Governance.

SharePoint FrameworkSource: SharePoint Framework reaches general availability—build and deploy engaging web parts today

Developers and administrators can build and deploy parts that are used by Office 365 users in their production environments with the SharePoint Framework now in general release.

Message Center Weekly DigestSource: Office 365 Message Center Weekly Digest

Weekly digest introduced that enables Office 365 admins to receive a summary of their Message Center notifications via email.

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March

Visio OnlineSource: Visio Online—anywhere, anytime access to your diagrams

Microsoft Visio Online available, which enables users to share and view Visio diagrams in high fidelity from almost any device using their favorite browser.

Office 365 profile experienceSource: Introducing the new Office 365 profile experience

Extended profile card experience rolling out across Office 365 to enhance the way you collaborate with colleagues and external contacts. With several big improvements that improve on the existing experience across three pillars to create an intelligent, holistic and integrated profile experience.

Microsoft Teams availableSource: Microsoft Teams rolls out to Office 365 customers worldwide

Microsoft Teams—the chat-based workspace in Office 365 generally available in 181 markets and in 19 languages. Since the preview in November, more than 50,000 organizations have started using Microsoft Teams. We’ve also introduced more than 100 new features to deliver ongoing innovation and address top customer requests.

Skype for Business enhancementsSource: Skype for Business drives digital transformation

Two new calling features in Skype for Business Cloud PBX with the availability of Auto Attendant and Call Queue as well Skype for Business Call Analytics dashboard preview.

Microsoft Graph reporting APIs and admin improvementsSource: What’s new in Office 365 administration—public preview of Microsoft Graph reporting APIs

Preview of new Microsoft Graph reporting APIs released, enabling customers to programmatically access the data available within the usage reports. Several admin enhancements such as Teams management, export usage reports data and SHD available from mobile apps.

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April

Office 365 Enterprise K1 planSource: New value in Office 365 Enterprise K1 for frontline workers

Updates to the Office 365 Enterprise K1 plan including StaffHub, OneDrive for Business with 2 GB of cloud storage, Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams capabilities.

Threat Intelligence and Advanced Data GovernanceSource: Announcing the release of Threat Intelligence and Advanced Data Governance, plus significant updates to Advanced Threat Protection

Enhancements launched that bolster Office 365’s security and compliance capabilities. Threat Intelligence helps customers stay ahead of the evolving threat landscape, while Advanced Data Governance helps them remain compliant and in control of data. Also, DLP and ATP improvements.

Office 365 Groups admin updatesSource: What’s new in Office 365 Groups for April 2017

New enhancements for administering Office 365 Groups announced - Restore deleted groups, Retention policies and Label management.

SharePoint a leader in Enterprise Content ManagementSource: SharePoint evaluated as a Leader in latest edition of The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Content Management

SharePoint evaluated as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Content Management—Business Content Services, Q2 2017.

Groups extended to Outlook for Mac, iOS and AndroidSource: Introducing Groups in Outlook for Mac, iOS and Android

Groups rolling out to Outlook for Mac, iOS and Android. Groups is already available in Outlook for Windows and on the web—so now you can access your group conversations and content no matter which platform you use.

Microsoft To-Do PreviewSource: Introducing Microsoft To-Do—now available in Preview

A new, intelligent task management app that makes it easy to plan and manage your day is introduced. Say hello to Microsoft To-Do—now available in Preview. Microsoft To-Do comes from the team behind the Wunderlist app, and delivers a smarter, more personal and intuitive way to help people stay organized and get the most out of every day.

Office 365 ProPlus update changesSource: Overview of the upcoming changes to Office 365 ProPlus update management

Changes to the Office 365 ProPlus updates from September onwards, with renamed channels, additional support and a firmer schedule for feature updates.

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May

OneDrive Files On-Demand and Offline access in mobile appsSource: Introducing OneDrive Files On-Demand and other features making it easy to access files

With Files On-Demand, to be delivered with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, you can access all your files in the cloud without having to download them and use storage space on your device. OneDrive Offline Folders helps you stay productive on mobile devices and lets you save entire folders for offline access on Android and iOS.

SharePoint Virtual Summit announcements

Source: SharePoint Virtual Summit showcases growth, innovations and customer success New SharePoint and OneDrive capabilities accelerate your digital transformation

During the SharePoint Virtual Summit, a new wave of innovations that build upon the vision Microsoft set forth last year to reinvent content collaboration and usher in a new generation of mobile and intelligent intranets was unveiled including:

Reach a broad audience with SharePoint communication sites. A communication site is a beautiful, dynamic site that lets you reach a broad audience to keep the organization informed and engaged.

Share files directly from File Explorer on Windows and Finder on Mac The ability to connect existing SharePoint team sites to Office 365 Groups Support for adding SharePoint pages as tabs in Microsoft Teams Find people, expertise and content faster with powerful, personalized search Empower administrators with the new SharePoint admin center

Office 365 adoption content pack in Power BI PreviewSource: Announcing the public preview of the Office 365 adoption content pack in Power BI

The public preview of the Office 365 adoption content pack in Power BI, which enables customers to get more out of Office 365 announced. The content pack combines the intelligence of the usage reports with the interactive analysis capabilities of Power BI, providing rich usage and adoption insights.

Microsoft Planner mobile app for iPhone and AndroidSource: Announcing the Microsoft Planner mobile app for iPhone and Android

We are pleased to announce that the new Microsoft Planner mobile app is now available for iPhone and Android phones. Starting today, current Planner users can use this companion app to view and update their plans on the go, addressing feedback we’ve heard since the launch of the Planner web app.

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June

Add and update contacts in Outlook on iOS and AndroidSource: Improving People in Outlook for iOS and Android

One of the most highly requested features made available with improvements to the People experience. You now can now add and edit contacts right from Outlook on iOS and Android. We’ve also completely redesigned the contact card to show more details.

Microsoft Stream availableSource: Microsoft Stream now available worldwide—new intelligent features take enterprise video to new heights

Last year, we released a preview of Microsoft Stream, the intelligent enterprise video service that makes it easy for people inside any organization to securely upload, share, manage and view videos. Microsoft Stream is now generally available as a standalone service and is rolling out to Office 365 Enterprise customers in 181 markets and 44 languages.

Microsoft Forms Preview for commercial tenantsSource: Microsoft Forms Public Preview for Office 365 commercial customers

Following the launch of Microsoft Forms in Education last summer, we heard from businesses that they need an easy-to-use tool for creating surveys, quizzes and polls. We’re rolling out the public preview of Microsoft Forms to our Office 365 commercial subscribers, so you can collect information from customers, employees and partners.

SharePoint communication sites availableSource: SharePoint communication sites begin rollout to Office 365 customers

We’re excited to announce that communication sites are now rolling out to Office 365 First Release customers, followed by full worldwide rollout to Office 365 customers in the coming months.

July

Page 10: Introduction · Web viewOverview of the upcoming changes to Office 365 ProPlus update management Changes to the Office 365 ProPlus updates from September onwards, with renamed channels,

Microsoft Workplace Analytics available

Source: Transform your organization with Microsoft Workplace Analytics

Microsoft Workplace Analytics—a powerful new organizational analytics solution—is now generally available as an add-on to any Office 365 enterprise plan. Workplace Analytics provides unprecedented behavioral insights that can be used to improve productivity, workforce effectiveness and employee engagement.

Microsoft 365Source: Introducing Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 unveiled, which brings together Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security, delivering a complete, intelligent and secure solution to empower employees. It represents a fundamental shift in how we will design, build and go to market to address customers’ needs for a modern workplace.

New business apps in Office 365Source: New business apps in Office 365 Business Premium help you run and grow your small business

New apps released for Office 365 Business Premium customers - Microsoft Connections—A simple-to-use email marketing service, Microsoft Listings—An easy way to publish business information on top sites and Microsoft Invoicing—A new way to create professional invoices and get paid fast. Plus Office 365 Business center and MileIQ.

OneDrive a leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Collaboration PlatformsSource: Microsoft OneDrive recognized as a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Collaboration Platforms

Gartner has recognized Microsoft as a Leader in the new Content Collaboration Platform (CCP) Magic Quadrant Report for 2017. OneDrive allows you to work securely from any device on any platform from your desktop, from the web or from our mobile app, and is designed to work with the productivity and collaboration tools your employees use every day.

Outlook adds a smarter To: line and redesigned conversation viewSource: Redesigned navigation, conversations and search in Outlook for iOS and Android

Exciting new changes to Outlook on iOS and Android launched. It’s the Outlook you know and love, with a redesigned conversation experience and the ability to quickly switch between accounts and browse folders.

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AugustUpdated Yammer appSource: The new and improved iPad app

The Yammer iPad app relaunched with several enhancements including a navigational redesign with new navigation bar, an enriched groups experience plus improved universal search capabilities.

Messaging enhancements in YammerSource: New messaging enhancements in Yammer

Express your thoughts easily and visually using GIFs. We have now fully rolled out the ability for anyone to search, pick and insert GIFs directly into their messages. This allows enhances the ability for Yammer to be an open space, accessible for everyone in the organization to easily connect.

Groups activity reporting for YammerSource: Groups activity reporting for Yammer rolling out in Office 365 admin center

Groups activity reporting for Yammer announced. This data provides an insightful dashboard for admins and community managers to see the health of different groups within your network based on posts, reads, and likes.

Updates to Yammer NotificationsSource: We've Been Listening—Updates to Your Yammer Notifications

Yammer notifications enhancement including the weekly digest being phased out, as we migrate users to the daily digest which will have more fresh content. A new weekly email that captures trending content from across the entire organization.

Office 365 groups expiration previewSource: Office 365 groups expiration is now in public preview

Today we're announcing the public preview of Office 365 groups expiration for Azure Active Directory Premium customers. You can now manage the lifecycle of Office 365 groups, by setting an expiration duration for any group you choose.

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September

Guest access in Microsoft Teams available Source: Expand your collaboration with guest access in Microsoft Teams

Since Microsoft Teams became generally available more than 125K organizations have discovered how teamwork comes to life in Teams. Now Teams has got even better with the rollout of guest access. Office 365 users can add people from outside their company to a team, so guests can participate in chats, join meetings, collaborate on documents, and more.

New web experiencesSource: New Office 365 app launcher and Office.com help you be more productive on the web

A redesigned web experience for Office.com, an easy-to-remember URL to help you sign in to Office 365 and get to all your apps, documents, sites, and people. We’ve also simplified the Office 365 app launcher to help you open and switch between your web apps easier. Finally, we’re introducing the new Office 365 gallery to provide Office 365 users with personalized information about the apps, tools, and services already in their subscription.

Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams ConvergenceSource: A new vision for intelligent communications in Office 365

A new vision for intelligent communications introduced, transforming calling and meeting experiences for people and organizations around the world. Microsoft Teams is core to our vision for intelligent communications—bringing together conversations, meetings, files, Office apps, and third-party integrations—to provide a single hub for teamwork in Office 365. Teams will evolve as the primary client for intelligent communications in Office 365, replacing the current Skype for Business client over time.

SharePoint and OneDrive Ignite announcements Source: Connecting the modern workplace with SharePoint and OneDrive: Announcements at Ignite 2017

At Microsoft Ignite 2017, we announced new innovations that further empower you to share and work together, to inform and engage people, to transform business processes, and to harness collective knowledge. In addition, we announced new capabilities for organizations to protect and manage data, and to build custom solutions with SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft 365.

SharePoint communication sitesSource: Refine your message and increase your reach with SharePoint communication sites

At Ignite 2017, we announced the next wave of innovation coming to SharePoint communication sites to provide more design control with layout and content expression, social engagement with promotion, commenting and likes, and increased visibility on how your content is being used.

SharePoint hub sitesSource: SharePoint hub sites new in Office 365

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At Ignite 2017, we announced SharePoint hub sites, a new building block of the intranet, to bring together related sites to roll up news and activity, to simplify search, and to create cohesion with shared navigation and look-and-feel.

New native web part for YammerSource: Engage employees in your intelligent social intranet with Yammer and SharePoint

Today, to showcase meaningful conversation on your intranet, we're announcing the availability of a new native web part for Yammer. The new web part is mobile friendly and with configuration options that are optimized for different experiences to make it fast and easy for you to incorporate into your sites and pages.

SharePoint team sites Office 365 app integrationsSource: Work better together with SharePoint team sites Office 365 app integrations

At Ignite 2017, we announced numerous innovations to SharePoint that help you work better together, to provide consistent access to content from across Office 365, the ability to see how sites and content are bring used, plus new admin capabilities to provide consistency across sites – all brought to the user on their device of choice via updates to the SharePoint mobile apps.

Business process in SharePoint and OneDriveSource: Reinvent business process in SharePoint and OneDrive

Today, we are announcing a new series of capabilities for SharePoint and OneDrive, integrated with PowerApps, Power BI, Microsoft Flow and Microsoft Forms, that allow people to create and share custom forms, applications and workflows that automate processes.

New capabilities for SharePoint content servicesSource: Updating content management for the cloud

SharePoint powers content collaboration and content services (also called enterprise content management or ECM) throughout Office 365. Today at Ignite, we’re thrilled to announce the new capabilities for SharePoint content services.

SharePoint Admin CenterSource: Introducing the new SharePoint Admin Center

While our new user experiences are designed to be simpler, more intuitive, and more powerful we also believe administration should be just as simple, just as intuitive, and just as powerful, and to that, later this year we're introducing a completely revamped SharePoint Admin center that draws heavily on our modern principles. An administrative console designed to help IT achieve more, so their users can achieve more.

SharePoint Migration ToolSource: Introducing the SharePoint Migration Tool from Microsoft

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Taking advantage of cloud services doesn’t have to be difficult or a long-phased migration project. At Microsoft Ignite we announced a new free, simple, and fast migration solution to help you migrate content from on-premises SharePoint sites and file shares to SharePoint or OneDrive in Office 365.

SharePoint security and compliance updatesSource: Security you can trust, control you can count on with SharePoint and OneDrive (Ignite News)

Today at Microsoft Ignite we shared our investments, our vision, and strategy for addressing today’s most challenging business and technology trends that are ever broadening the threat landscape. From meeting complex corporate and governmental regulatory compliance, to addressing a more mobile and connected workforce, SharePoint and OneDrive and uniquely positioned to address your business needs.

Microsoft 365 F1Source: All workers welcome with Microsoft 365

Today at Microsoft Ignite, we unveiled a new vision for empowering Firstline Workers in the digital age and introduced Microsoft 365 F1—a new offering that brings together Office 365, Windows 10, and Enterprise Mobility + Security to deliver a complete, intelligent solution to empower all workers.

Office 365 Usage Reporting Ignite announcements Source: What’s new in Office 365 Usage Reporting – Ignite Edition

Today, we're introducing a wealth of new usage reporting capabilities that help organizations drive end user adoption

Track usage of Microsoft Teams with the Teams user activity and app usage reports

Easily provide access to usage insights with a new reports reader role Office 365 Usage Analytics, renamed Office 365 Adoption Content Pack in

PowerBI, beginning of 2018 will reach GA with usage data for Microsoft Teams, Yammer Groups and Office 365 Groups, and more

Microsoft Graph Reporting APIs reach general availability

Major UpdatesSource: Introducing "Major Updates"

Major Updates to the Office 365 services require administrator attention. The Message Center communications will flag "Major Updates" so that admins can receive email notifications and know how long that capability will be in Targeted Release before reaching Standard Release. During Targeted Release (formerly referred to as First Release), the capability will be enabled for any tenant or user set to Targeted Release, and tenant admins can configure or disable the feature.

Office 365 Administration Ignite announcements Source: What’s new in Office 365 Administration – Ignite Edition

Page 15: Introduction · Web viewOverview of the upcoming changes to Office 365 ProPlus update management Changes to the Office 365 ProPlus updates from September onwards, with renamed channels,

Today, we're introducing a wealth of new capabilities to enable you to manage Office 365 more effectively.

Assisted guides will help you to easily offboard an employee from Office 365 using Microsoft best practices

Personalized recommendations, for example, you might see a prompt to update your password settings if we detect that you haven't set a password expiration rule yet

Weekly digest reaches GA - The weekly digest is an email summary of your message center notifications that makes it easier for you to stay up to date and to share notifications with your co-workers

Service Health Notifications via email - To enable you to directly find out about issues that may be impacting your service, you can now sign up for service health notifications via email, enabling you to easily monitor the service and track issues.

New Microsoft Teams and Skype admin center - To enable you to better manage the various aspects of Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business, we're happy to announce a new Microsoft Teams & Skype admin center that will become available at the end of this year.

Introducing Multi-Geo capabilities to Office 365 - To help you meet data residency needs, we're introducing Multi-Geo Capabilities in Office 365, a new feature that enables a single Office 365 tenant to span across multiple Office 365 datacenter geographies (geos) and store Office 365 data at rest, on a per-user basis, in customer chosen geos.

October

Page 16: Introduction · Web viewOverview of the upcoming changes to Office 365 ProPlus update management Changes to the Office 365 ProPlus updates from September onwards, with renamed channels,

Outlook for iOS and Android calendar featuresSource: Outlook for iOS and Android is adding your most requested calendar features

We are adding several of your most highly requested calendaring features, including the ability to sync your shared calendars to your phone and manage and RSVP to recurring events. Inlcudes:

Sync shared calendars to Outlook Manage delegate calendars on the go Managing your events is even easier

SharePoint a leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Services PlatformsSource: Microsoft SharePoint recognized as a Leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platforms

Gartner has recognized Microsoft as a Leader in the Content Services Platform Magic Quadrant for 2017. In addition to being positioned as one of only three Leaders. SharePoint delivers content services as the foundational content platform for Office 365, with capabilities for creating, sharing, protecting, and reusing information. SharePoint embodies ease of use with ease of management—on any device, for any user, at any location.

Visio Online availableSource: Visio Online and Visio’s new cloud innovations help you unlock creativity

Visio Online is one of Microsoft’s newest solutions that further unlocks employee creativity in the modern workplace.

OneDrive Files On-Demand availableSource: What’s new in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

When you save your files in OneDrive, now you can access them just like any other file on your PC without filling up your disk space. Easily tell which files are available online only or offline. Online-only files download on demand with a double-click, and you can make them online only again to free up space. Or you can select files to always be available offline.

November and December

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Compliance Manager PreviewSource: Compliance Manager Preview is now available

We are thrilled to announce that the Compliance Manager Public Preview program is now available. This new solution helps you manage the end-to-end regulation-to-audit compliance process and connect the technology solutions with the regulatory requirements. It provides recommended actions and a control management tool for your organization to improve data protection capabilities and implement controls across teams more seamlessly.

SharePoint mobile notificationsSource: SharePoint mobile notifications keep you up-to-date

We’re pleased to announce a new, important update for the SharePoint mobile apps (iOS & Android): notifications – available now in their respective app stores. SharePoint is tightly integrated across the overall productivity experience – a pervasive content service – especially while you’re on the go. And it is important be alerted to timely, relevant information when you’re away from your desk.

Microsoft Bookings available for Enterprise subscriptionsSource: Get access to the Office 365 Business apps for Enterprise subscriptions

Office 365 business apps are rolling out for Office 365 Enterprise E3 and E5 customers. The only business app currently available for Enterprise E3 and E5 subscriptions is Microsoft Bookings. We will release more of the business apps as they become available.

Microsoft Flow in OneDrive for BusinessSource: Microsoft Flow integration in One Drive for Business and new connector actions

Earlier this year, we gave a sneak peak of how Flow would be coming to OneDrive for Business. This week, we’re pleased to announce this feature has rolled out to all OneDrive for Business customers in the world.

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The Year ahead - Predictions for 2018Here are some insights and thoughts for next year and how Office 365 may progress.

Modern workplace

What can we expect from 2018? Well for starters we know AI and intelligent solutions are the focus of Microsoft’s vision for Microsoft 365 as well as Office 365. Removing the drudgery and the things than get in the way from achieving goals are on offer. Meetings being a prime example, getting attendees ready and primed with what they need to know in advance, then during the meeting itself achieving the desired outcomes, carrying that forward into tasks and action points. There is a lot of room for intelligent solutions to improve this experience. It’s no surprise that meetings are often inefficient and sometimes counterproductive. In a study, 46% of respondents polled said they would rather do nearly anything else than attend meetings, including watching paint dry or moving to the Antarctica! Another factoid, it is believed up to 67% of meeting are held without an agenda. In September as part of the Ignite conference, Microsoft unveiled their vision as part of the Microsoft Teams roadmap, where meetings would be enlightened through the power of Office 365. Meeting attendees would be informed with guidance and materials automatically, the meeting organizer would have a platform that finesses the meeting experience, no stumbling video or audio and afterwards would capture key points, distributed to attendees with follow up actions. For those that couldn’t attend, they could replay the meeting using the automatic transcript to focus on the critical moments of the meeting or wherever they were mentioned. These are meetings reimagined and this is just one example of intelligence that’s set to unlock more productivity in 2018 onwards. Along with this exciting roadmap, as well as components like bots, Flow, PowerApps, SharePoint Framework, Office Graph which are all building blocks for us to move ahead and begin the next chapter in the modern workplace.

Microsoft Stream

Another area to look out for is how the transition from Office 365 Video to Microsoft Stream goes through. This will be an important transition for Microsoft to manage, also because there is a backlog of features that are set to be added. Some are required for feature parity and some are just basic features missing or general areas of improvement. The development of Steam post GA has seemed to have been quite slow but that’s completely understandable with all the backend work that must be going on. One observation I raised directly with the team was a lack of what’s new or release notes page for Microsoft Stream. I was grateful that this will be an upcoming improvement with the documentation.

The transition from Office 365 Video to Microsoft Stream will not be without it’s complications and could take most of 2018 until every tenant is migrated

More of a roadmap would be helpful and the priorities with features customers can expect, no items are listed on the Office 365 roadmap at all, which is disappointing

The Office 365 Video will transition to Microsoft Stream page has the current plans, though certain milestones are lacking approximate dates.

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Microsoft Teams convergence

With a slightly bumpy start and an impromptu leak, we leaned about the demise of the Skype for Business client, for Office 365 customers. From the beginning of the Teams introduction, there was some speculation what this would mean for Skype for Business. I mentioned back in July, whether Microsoft Teams was becoming a universal client for Office 365 and that has turned out to be the case. I’m all for this change, it makes sense on a lot of levels. A general issue especially for new customers with Office 365 is there are a lot of tools that appear to do the same job with overlapping features. This move helps in the regards though it does dispense with the huge recognition of the Skype brand, which will now will be consigned to the back-end infrastructure, as well as on-premise Skype for Business Server, which will remain very much supported. It’s how well Microsoft deliver this change, setting expectations and following through in the timeframes that have been outlined that will be key. Microsoft have made all the right moves up to now, so it’s very promising.

Expect some confusion still and doubt in customers who even a couple of months later are catching up with the news and wondering where this leaves them

Customer will rapidly need more specifics like how long exactly they will have to make this transition

By 2018 Q3, if not sooner, I expect Microsoft will share their plans for the depreciation of the Skype for Business client

Quarterly roadmap updates would be helpful, the initial roadmap has been very good but I’d like this to be an ongoing exercise, so customer can position themselves accordingly

Check on the Teams on Air series plus the convergence site, as well as the Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business communities on the Microsoft Tech Community for the latest information.

Office 365 Productivity Usage

How well are you using Office 365, is it being used to it’s fullest or are the barriers or other factors that are impeding your adoption? An ongoing trend is return of investment and promoting good usage. This will be driven next year be new insights that you will be able to act on. We have already seen Office 365 usage reports providing more details on how Office 365 is used but this will be taken to the next level in 2018.It will kick off at the start of 2018, with the general release of Office 365 Usage Analytics, which is the new name for the Office 365 Adoption Content Pack in PowerBI that’s been in preview for some time. This gives customers never seen before interactive analysis capabilities to slice and dice usage data and provide actionable, quantifiable measures and controls to improve Office 365 adoption. Is a there a part of Office 365 that’s being underused, are users turning off and not engaging with functions, is there an imbalance in usage etc.Not only will Office 365 Usage Analytics have expanded support for Microsoft Teams, Yammer Groups and Office 365 Groups, a new Social Collaboration area will provide insights on how people work in teams and how they utilize Microsoft Teams to do so. Going further a new reports function will be Usage Score and insights by scenario and maturity level. Here you will be able to benchmark effectively your organization’s performance in how well Office 365 is being used and there will even be

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recommendations to on how to help maximize the value Office 365 is providing. Think Secure Score for Office 365 productivity!Couple this with MyAnalytics and Workplace Analytics add-ons and you have a complete picture of Office 365 that can waken productivity and good usage like never before.

Yammer isn’t going anywhere

I think to the chagrin of some Yammer isn’t going anywhere and is still an important function of Office 365. To understand this best is to have an appreciation for the “outer loop”, which powers “connections that drive diversity of thought and organizational change”, whereas the "inner loop" helps you to rapidly deliver against important projects and deliverables. To understand how Yammer is the best tool for the outer loop and more on this approach plus the investments being put into Yammer check out “Build your outer loop: What's next in Yammer” and stop, please, with the Yammer is dead guff!

Assorted predications and wants

I’ve chucked these in to round out this section and have a bit of fun! More acquisitions by Microsoft, who will be next? Slack, Dropbox… Please finally end of life the OWA mobile app and support Office 365 Government

customers with Outlook for iOS and Android. More release notes or what’s new pages please, let’s get fuller documentation on

changes and updates across Office 365 services. More innovation in Office apps, a more substantial change to the look and feel,

simplification of some features or ones that encourage better using existing features that are buried.

Planner for iPad? More supported web browsers in Microsoft Teams would be nice! Trickle down some of those awfully useful Azure AD Premium features, especially

for Office 365 Groups management into core features please. Improve the Office 365 roadmap further, it’s still tricky to navigate sometimes and

zero in on details, though the download option is welcome. Tell us what really breaks or is lost when Office Graph is disabled! Pretty please, a mobile app for the Microsoft Tech Community? What service will close next? Docs.com, Office Mix and GigJam are examples of

services being retired this year. Can we pick a date when we stop referring to it as First Release and use Targeted

Release instead!

Office 365 ResourcesIf you are after ongoing updates and changes in Office 365, I can’t think of a better

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resource than Thomas C. Finney’s Office 365 Weekly Digest blog series. It’s published every Monday and covers recent blogs, upcoming events, new roadmaps items and noteworthy resources. As well as this Thomas also publishes a log of Planned Service Changes for admins and key upcoming events that are noteworthy. For a great video roundup of each month’s updates in Office 365, you can’t miss Jim Naroski’s Office 365 Update Video Series and also check out the companion blog.If your serious about Office 365 and want to participate in a wider community, the Microsoft Tech Community is for you. Even if you’re not one for forums usually, this hub for blogs, the latest product information, roundups, online events and much more is essential. Now paired with the Tech Academy you can get training as well with guided pathways. Office 365 intersects with many other moving parts, even more so with Microsoft 365, so the Enterprise Mobility + Security blogs and the Azure AD release notes are also very useful resources. For a much more complete list of resources for Office 365, please check out my Office 365 Change Management Survival Guide.

About the authorI’m an IT Professional based in London, looking for further opportunities to develop my skills and

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make a difference. I love Office 365 and how it enables people to be productive whatever their background or proclivities.

I regularly contribute to the Microsoft Tech Community helping fellow members, provide feedback, take part in AMA events and (hopefully!) post interesting topics etc. I enjoy bringing resources together and writing articles, though my blogging is somewhat intermittent.

I am a TechNet contributor, with 15 articles to date and this being my fourth resource in the TechNet Gallery. I was proud when my Microsoft Teams Survival Guide was listed as part of the practical guidance on the official Teams UserVoice site.

I started Office 365 Ninjas on Twitter, my offshoot sprung from wanting to share discoveries in Office 365 and as I brought together more resources. I’m always looking for new ways to better present information and help more people.

Some of my other interests include enterprise mobility, Azure, infosec, data protection, Docker and WordPress.

My Links

https://twitter.com/CianAllner

https://twitter.com/Office365Ninjas

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/cian%20allner/

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/2395

https://padlet.com/tech29

https://cianallner.com/

https://o365ninjas.com

CreditsHere are just a few shout-outs.

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Thanks for everyone at the Microsoft Tech Community and further afield who I have interacted with this year, Microsoft staff, MVPs and members that I have learnt so much from and who inspire me to do more (plus many others who I didn’t get a chance to mention):

Vasil Michev MVP Juan Carlos González Martín MVP Tony Redmond MVP Paul Keijzers MVP Loryan Strant MVP Tracy van der Schyff MVP Ravikumar Sathyamurthy MVP Jussi Roine MVP/RD Darrell Webster MVP David Rosenthal MVP Sonia Cuff MVP Harjit Dhaliwal MVP Maarten Eekels MVP Susan Hanley MVP Noah Sparks MVP Dean Gross John Wynne Max Fritz Petr Vlk Steven Collier Phil Worrell Salvatore Biscari

Microsoft staff including:

Thomas C. Finney Anna Chu Daniel Martins Allen Smith Dylan Snodgrass Jeff Medford Shannon O'Donald Eric Starker Anthony Smith (A.J.) Jim Naroski Brian Levenson Anne Michels Suphatra Rufo Stephen Rose Christophe Fiessinger


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