Need a more intelligent way to coordinate teams for the future of hybrid work? Microsoft Places could be the answer. Microsoft first introduced its “Places” app in 2022.

Back then, however, Places was just a simple “Connected Workplace platform”, designed to help businesses manage their teams, and ensure employees could book rooms, desks, and amenities they might need in the office. Since then, Microsoft has been adding new features and capabilities to the platform, with an increasing focus on AI innovation and Copilot integration.

At Microsoft Ignite 2024, the tech giant announced the general availability a brand new version of Microsoft Places, defined as an “AI-powered workplace platform”, custom-made to transform the management of hybrid and flexible teams.

Here’s everything you need to know about Microsoft Places.

What is Microsoft Places? The Basics

Microsoft Places is a Connected Workplace platform, or “workforce management solution”, designed by Microsoft, that works alongside your existing Microsoft apps, like Teams and Outlook. From day one, this solution was designed to help unify hybrid teams, and improve collaboration.

Now, however, the upgraded version of Microsoft Places is more intelligent than ever before. Microsoft says that the Places app represents a new “category” of technology solutions, built to address the common issues of managing flexible workspaces.

According to the tech leader, AI isn’t just transforming “how” we work – giving us access to intelligent automation tools, and generative AI assistants – it’s having an impact on where we work too. As flexible and hybrid work policies continue to evolve, many companies are still struggling to coordinate teams, and help them connect when they actually visit office environments.

In fact, Microsoft says that around 49% of global knowledge workers say that they don’t see the people that actually matter to them when they come to the office. Even worse, when employees need to access specific spaces, desks, and meeting rooms for hybrid collaboration, they struggle to reserve the resources they actually need.

That’s where Microsoft Places steps in, promising to make it easier to coordinate in-person gatherings and optimize resource allocation. Using Copilot AI, Places offers comprehensive visibility into the office space (and who will be working where), and simplifies desk and meeting room booking.

The Core Features of Microsoft Places

On a broad scale, Microsoft Places has most of the standard features you’d expect of a workplace management app. It allows users to plan where and when work happens with integrations to Outlook, schedule in-person events and invite colleagues to meetings through Teams, and book desks or rooms.

It also gives companies the tools they need to guide employees on how to use physical office spaces effectively. For instance, companies can implement policies that encourage team members to visit the office on specific days, based on the work they need to do, or the meetings taking place.

Earlier in 2024, the core features of Microsoft Places for anyone with a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan (and access to PowerShell), included:

  • Location plans: Allow team members to share their “location schedule” and view which of their colleagues will be visiting the office at certain times.
  • Hybrid RVSP: Meeting booking capabilities that allow participants to share whether they plan on visiting the office in person or not.
  • In-person meetings: Specific meeting invites that communicate an intention to work together with colleagues in person.
  • Peek cards: Overview cards in tools like Outlook Calendar, which allow users to review who will be available in the office and adjust their location plan accordingly.
  • Expanded presence:The option to add your location to your “presence signal” on platforms like Teams to show where you are (such as in a particular office space).

Now, as of November 2024, Microsoft is introducing a wide variety of Copilot-first features into Places, that will make workplace management smarter than ever.

Copilot in Microsoft Places: Unlocking AI Enhancements

The key thing that sets Microsoft Places apart from other workplace management apps, is how it takes advantage of artificial intelligence. With Copilot integrated into the Places ecosystem, employees can manage their schedules, and business leaders can coordinate their teams like never before.

At the Ignite 2024 event, Microsoft introduced a bunch of new generally available Copilot features for Microsoft Places, that were previously only accessible to a handful of users on the public preview program. These features include:

  • In-Office recommendations from Copilot: Copilot can advise each individual employee on the best days or times to visit the office. It bases suggestions on your scheduled in-person meetings, team guidance policies (set by business leaders), and the planned attendance of colleagues you regularly work with.
  • AI-powered booking: Booking desks and rooms in the office is now a breeze with Microsoft Places. Copilot can manage room booking for single and recurring meetings. It can even adjust bookings when there are issues or conflicts, suggesting alternative rooms with similar amenities and features.
  • Workplace presence: The enhanced workplace presence feature allows employees to update and share their location with colleagues wherever they are. You can show team members whether you’re in the office or not, which desks or rooms you’re using, and more. This makes it easy for other employees to find you in the workplace.
  • Places finder: The new “Places finder” solution helps team members to intelligently identify the spaces they need with maps and images of available spaces. Companies can even build out comprehensive floorplans, with insights into the technology available in each space.
  • Space analytics: Optimized by Copilot AI, the Space analytics tools in Microsoft Places allows admins to get an in-depth view of how teams are actually using office environments, comparing actual occupancy to intended occupancy levels.

The Benefits of Microsoft Places for Businesses

So, what can businesses accomplish with Microsoft Places? Now that the full AI-powered toolkit is available to everyone, the opportunities are endless. More than just your standard workplace management platform, Microsoft Places is an end-to-end solution that helps employees and business leaders alike make the most out of office space.

Here are the biggest benefits of Microsoft Places for modern teams.

Optimized Hybrid Workplace Coordination

Microsoft designed “Places” to help companies coordinate their teams in the era of hybrid work. The core features of the Places app, including the AI-powered tools, ensure employees can plan their weeks, schedules, and even decide when to attend the office more effectively.

With Places, team members can set up a personalized “work plan”, which is basically a recurring schedule which shows exactly when you’re planning on working from the office, and when you want to work remotely. You’ll be able to make decisions based on suggestions from Copilot, and insights into your upcoming meetings and the tasks you need to do each day.

Plus, you’ll be able to review direct “team guidance” from business leaders, showing you when your boss actually expects you to attend the office in person. Once you set your work plan, you can share it with all of your colleagues across Outlook and Microsoft Teams. Plus, the new calendar includes. The plan will also notify Microsoft Teams of your current “presence” status on different days, showing colleagues where you are from your individual “People” card.

As your schedule changes, you can update your work plan, by clicking on the “Places” card in your unified calendar. From here, you’ll be able to see exactly what’s happening on a specific day, which rooms and desks are available, and which colleagues will be nearby. Plus, you’ll be able to ask Copilot for suggestions on how to adjust your schedule based on what’s going on.

Enhanced Space Booking Capabilities

Microsoft Places, with Copilot doesn’t just help to bridge the gaps between disconnected teams by helping users to adjust their schedules based on who they want to see at work. The system also ensures that it’s as easy as possible for employees to book the right desks, and meeting rooms.

If you take Copilot’s recommendation to attend the office on a specific day, you can use the “quick book” button to instantly reserve desks and meeting rooms. Alternatively, employees can use the “Places Finder” system to track down available spaces based on their unique needs.

For instance, you can search specifically for available rooms by building, floor, AV configurations, capacity, and more. You’ll be able to review what spaces look like with up-to-date photos, and check out interactive floor plans and maps. Once you’ve identified a space with all the features you need, you can instantly make a booking with Copilot’s help.

The really impressive thing about “managed booking” with Copilot in Microsoft Places, is that handles booking issues for you. Say, for instance, you book a meeting room for a group brainstorming session, and another member of staff needs to access that room for something more urgent.

If a room becomes unavailable, Copilot will automatically respond, suggesting alternative meeting spaces with similar amenities and features.

As well as using Place Finder to identify and reserve spaces ahead of time, Microsoft Places also includes a feature called “Bookable Desks”, integrated with Microsoft Teams. This feature allows users to reserve desks and rooms on an ad-hoc basis, by plugging a device into an available monitor or docking station. Copilot can even update your workplace presence status automatically, as soon as you “check in” to a specific space.

Stronger Workplace Experiences

Aside from giving employees all the tools they need to manage their schedules and office attendance plans more effectively, Microsoft Places comes packed with tools that help to improve the overall workplace experience. Once you’re in the office, you’ll be able to use Microsoft Places within channels like Microsoft Teams and Outlook to find colleagues in an instant.

The Workplace Presence feature makes it easy for teams to see exactly where staff members are at any given time, which Microsoft believes will enhance spontaneous collaboration at work. Within Teams and Outlook, employees can also use Microsoft Places to schedule in-person events and send meeting invitations straight to their colleagues.

Plus, in 2025, Microsoft is adding more enhancements into he mix. Staff members will be able to automatically update their work location through Wi-Fi. Plus, they’ll be able to find “nearby” coworkers in teams, with the @nearby mention tag. This should make it easier for staff to arrange quick lunch plans, or sync-up meetings in the office.

In 2025, Microsoft Places in Teams will also enable access to a handful of Microsoft’s pre-built AI agents. For instance, the “Facilitator” agent in meetings will work with Teams Rooms, capturing and displaying real-time notes for all meeting participants. Users can also invite the Facilitator agent to meetings in the Teams Rooms console and through Microsoft Places.

All of these features, combined with Microsoft’s existing Copilot capabilities for MS Teams should help to make in-office conferencing sessions better than ever.

Optimized Resource Allocation

Microsoft Places isn’t just a tool designed to help employees get more out of the time they spend in the office. The tech giant also wants to ensure that business leaders can optimize the design and utilization of their hybrid spaces with access to valuable data. Within the Places dashboard, supervisors will be able to compare “planned” and “actual” attendance at an organizational level.

Copilot will combine intent-based data points from work plans, as well as workplace presence updates, room and desk bookings, occupancy signals from Teams Rooms and more, to create a comprehensive picture of hybrid work patterns for your organization.

Diving into Places reports will allow business leaders to gain insights into things like which desks and rooms are most frequently used and get suggestions about how to adjust spaces to suit their needs. There’s even the option to set up automated workflows, like automatic room release policies, to improve resource utilization.

Leaders will also have the option to combine Microsoft Places, Copilot, and Microsoft Teams Room Pro management for even deeper business insights. With Teams Rooms Pro Management, you’ll get access to best-practice suggestions, automated updates and problem detection at scale, and granular workplace trends data.

The AI assistant in the Pro Management Portal, announced at Ignite 2024, will also be able to answer in-depth questions about how to improve workplace operations.

Microsoft Places: Partnerships and Add-Ons

Probably unsurprisingly, Microsoft Places, like many of Microsoft’s solutions, supports a range of apps and add-ons from Microsoft partners. When Places was initially announced, Microsoft shared that it would be creating a new “subset” of ecosystem partners who would be building on top of the Places platform with various solutions.

Currently, partners include everyone from AppSpace and Crestron to ServiceNow and Cisco Spaces. These partnerships should ensure that you can continue to access the various tools and services you already use for things like meeting room booking and device management in Microsoft’s ecosystem.

Now that Microsoft is updating the Places app with more features and AI functionality, there’s a good chance we’ll see additional partners lining up to offer their own solutions.

How to Get Started with Microsoft Places

The new AI-powered version of Microsoft Places, aligned with both Microsoft Teams and Outlook, is generally available for all Microsoft customers worldwide. However, you will need the proper licenses to access it. First, that means investing in a Microsoft 365 subscription that gives you access to Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and PowerShell.

A standard Microsoft 365 license will give you access to basic features, like work plans, Place cards, workplace presence, and tools for scheduling in-person meetings. If you want to tap into extra AI-powered capabilities, like Places Finder, intelligent suggestions, the Places Explorer, team guidance, auto-release policies, and space analytics, you’ll need a Microsoft Teams Premium license, too.

A Microsoft 365 Copilot license will provide access to additional features like managed bookings and recommended in-office days for even more AI capabilities. If you’re ready to dive in, you can find all the pricing and subscription options on Microsoft’s website here.

 



from UC Today https://ift.tt/pmgWbkc