From Microsoft and Zoom to Mark Zuckerberg and George Clooney, here are extracts from popular news stories this week. 

Zuckerberg Adds Teaser to WhatsApp Call Links Release 

Mark Zuckerberg added a call capacity teaser alongside the release of Call Links for WhatsApp.  

The new feature allows users to share links to initiate calls with a single tap on both audio and video calls, making it quicker and easier for people to stay in contact.  

Call Links will be rolled out this week. Users will need to download the latest version of WhatsApp and then access the feature via a banner at the top of the Calls tab.  

Mark Zuckerberg, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Meta Platforms, wrote on Facebook: “We are rolling out call links on WhatsApp starting this week so you can share a link to start a call with a single tap.  

“We are also testing secure encrypted video calling for up to 32 people. More coming soon.”  

Zuckerberg’s reference to “video calling for up to 32 people” appears to be an afterthought, but its release could be much more significant than Call Links. 

Microsoft is Adding a Payment Feature to Teams 

Microsoft is adding a payment feature to the Teams platform to allow users to grow their businesses when they host online activities. 

The company is designing the feature to allow users to receive payment for online appointments, classes or events they host. 

Users will have to connect a third-party service to receive payments, and once that is done, they will be able to request payment during a Teams meeting. 

Microsoft says that customers will be able to “pay you in just a few clicks”, which means that complicated online payments will not be a burden to business owners. 

It brings Teams up to speed with Zoom and Google Meet, which already allow users to integrate PayPal into the platforms to request payment during meetings. 

The feature will be available to businesses of all sizes; however, they must be registered in the United States and Canada at this time. 

According to the Microsoft 365 roadmap, the feature will be generally available to Teams users on the web, desktop, Mac, Android, and iOS from October 2022. 

Twilio Hires George Clooney Amid Major Layoffs 

Twilio has revealed that George Clooney and his wife will be speaking at its customer and developer conference in November.   

The news arrived less than two weeks after it had announced that 11% of its staff were being laid off in order to increase profitability.   

Some of Twilio’s former staff were vocal about their upset with Twilio’s decision to pay the costly speaker fees for George Clooney while explaining the recent layoffs as necessary budget cuts.   

Co-Founder and CEO of Twlio, Jeff Lawson, said: “I’m not going to sugar-coat things. A layoff is the last thing we want to do, but I believe it’s wise and necessary.   

“Twilio has grown at an astonishing rate over the past couple of years. It was too fast and without enough focus on our most important company priorities.   

“I take responsibility for those decisions, as well as the difficult decision to do this layoff.”   

Talia Luna Fischer had recently been promoted to Growth Account Executive before being laid off. 

Vulnerabilities Uncovered in Teams and Slack 

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have published their findings on the lack of adequate security features in Microsoft Teams’ and Slack’s applications.   

The paper, titled “Experimental Security Analysis of the App Model in Business Collaboration Platforms”, demonstrates how third-party apps can be used to control workplace tools.   

Teams and Slack were both found to have inadequate default settings that allow users to install apps for whole workspaces. Researchers also showed that they lack the necessary coding reviews in their apps. Current permissions enable outsiders to hijack user messaging and third-party apps, as well as access private channels with sensitive content.   

In the introduction to its report, researchers outlined their key findings: “By examining each interaction method between BCP (Business Collaboration Platform) apps and users, we establish that this two-level access control system does not adequately confine third-party application behaviour.   

“Concretely, we have discovered that the BCP access control system violates two standard security principles: least privilege and complete mediation.

“This allows malicious apps to escalate their privilege and violate the confidentiality and integrity of private chat messages and third-party resources connected to BCPs.”   

In order to locate the security weaknesses in Teams and Slack, the researchers launched a number of controlled attacks, which uncovered a worrying range of ways to exploit these vulnerabilities.   

Microsoft and Zoom UCaaS Market Shares Grow 40% 

Synergy Research Group’s analysis of new Q2 data shows Microsoft and Zoom have grown their UCaaS market share by 40% this year.   

As a result, Microsoft and Google are now level-pegging with around a 10% total share of the market.   

The marketplace itself has increased by 20% this year, which suggests a huge improvement for both companies compared with their pre-pandemic market shares in 2019.   

Jeremy Duke, Synergy Research Group’s founder and Chief Analyst, said: “Across all segments, the Covid pandemic helped to accelerate the transition away from on-premise PBX and towards UCaaS.   

“This provided a big boost to specialist UCaaS vendors, with RingCentral being strong across the board, while Microsoft does particularly well in the mid-market and Zoom is the main challenger in large enterprises.   

“As the UCaaS boom continues, one interesting recent development has been the rise of so-called BYOC (Bring Your Own Carrier) solutions.   

“BYOC UCaaS enables enterprises to utilize their existing UCaaS or Hosted PBX investments within a collaboration platform, without the need of ripping and replacing what is currently deployed.   

“We forecast strong growth for both UCaaS & BYOC UCaaS over the next five years.”

The subscriber base for RingCentral has also grown by 24% in Q2, allowing it to maintain its market share of around 21%.

 

 



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