11th MVP Award Rewarded

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I am actually on vacation, but as I sit here under the summer sun, toes in the pool and a cold drink within reach, I have been waiting for that email confirming that I’ve been awarded my 11th Microsoft MVP Award! As last year, I am being awarded in both the Teams and Copilot category. To say I’m humbled would be an understatement. Being part of the global Microsoft MVP community for over a decade now has been an incredible journey, filled with learning, sharing, speaking, and connecting with passionate technologists from every corner of the world. What is the Microsoft MVP Award? The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award is given to technology experts who share their knowledge and real-world expertise with communities. With fewer than 4,000 MVPs worldwide, it’s an honor to be part of such a vibrant and dedicated group. MVPs contribute through speaking engagements, writing, open-source contributions, and helping others online and offline. You can learn more about the progra...

A couple of favorite news on Teams this week

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There have been a lot of news around Teams the past week(s), and I wanted to share some of the highlights I am excited about this week. The place to be to get these news firsthand is to be a member of the Microsoft Teccommunity, and to follow the Teams blog found right here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-Blog

The first and most important post to read this week, is Ann Michel's post on news in the April release for Teams. There are a lot of cool new features listed there, such as:
- Skype for Business contacts coming to Teams
- Unified presence
- Out of Office messages
- Skype for Business Interop with Persistent chat
- Expanded Guest Access (I'll cover that as my favorite in a later post)
- New Admin Center
- Retention policies
- Teams installed as a MSI package
- Guest Access on mobile (all platforms)
Read the entire post right here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-Blog/What-s-new-in-Microsoft-Teams-April-update/ba-p/179801

Thomas Binder has a new post on "IT Pro readiness for Microsoft Teams". It's a quick intro to updated documentation on docs.microsoft.com, and a collection of tutorial every organization preparing for Teams should be familiar with. Take a look for yourself right here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-Blog/IT-pro-readiness-for-Microsoft-Teams/ba-p/179216

There is an in-depth post from Christian Schacht on the announced Microsoft Teams & Skype for Business Admin Center https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Teams-Blog/Announcing-the-new-Microsoft-Teams-amp-Skype-for-Business-Admin/ba-p/179534 The portal is just about to roll out, so it could take some time until you see it in your own tenant.

Another great announcement was the "Teams On Air" episode 65 on "Direct Routing for enterprise voice in Microsoft Teams". This is THE feature I've been waiting for, as Microsoft is not currently providing PSTN in my customer's region. It's also a great for those companies who need a co-existing scenario with their own on-premises pbx. Looking forward to test the setup and end-user experience here. Watch the show on Youtube: