Microsoft Ignite 2022 - Modern Work for partners

Signal to Noise

A partner perspective on Microsoft Ignite 2022 Modern Work announcements.

TL;DR

Modern work announcements appear in Re-energize your workforce in the office, at home, and everywhere in between by Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365*

The Microsoft 365 app will launch first on the web in November 2022 and will be available on Windows and mobile in January 2023
Teams Premium features will begin to roll out in December as a part of Teams Premium public preview and will be generally available in February.
Mesh avatars for Teams is in private preview
Microsoft and Yealink introduce SmartVision 60 produces multiple video streams with AI active speaker tracking—and soon: people recognition
Cisco is now a Teams Rooms Certified Devices partner.
Microsoft Places is coming in 2023.
Loop app is in private preview.
Recent VIva announcement include:
- integrations with Viva Goals
- Viva Pulse: lets managers and team leaders take the pulse of their teams for quick and confidential input
- Viva Amplify: the new centralized communications management and publishing tool
Microsoft Syntex: Content AI integrated in the flow of work

All announcements can be viewed in the Microsoft Ignite Book of News.

Enabling today’s digitally connected distributed workforce:

Today, we’re taking an exciting step forward with Microsoft 365 to bring customers a unified experience with the new Microsoft 365 app. The app is the home for your favorite productivity tools and content, providing new ways to help you find, create, and share your content, all from one place. The app will launch first on the web in November 2022 and will be available on Windows and mobile in January 2023.

Transforming meetings for hybrid work:

We are excited to announce a new add-on built on Teams to help make meetings more personalized, intelligent, and secure. With Microsoft Teams Premium, you can easily set up meetings with new meeting guides, focus on what matters with intelligent recap, uplevel safeguards for confidential information, facilitate advanced virtual appointments, and more. Premium features will begin to roll out in December as a part of Teams Premium public preview and will be generally available in February.
Today, together with Yealink, we’re bringing you the SmartVision 60, the first 360-degree, center-of-room intelligent camera. The SmartVision 60 produces multiple video streams with AI active speaker tracking—and soon: people recognition.
Today, we’re announcing that Cisco is now a Teams Rooms Certified Devices partner. For the first time ever, Teams meetings will be available natively across certified Cisco meeting devices, enabling customers to configure Teams as the default meeting experience.

Introducing the Connected Workspace:

Today, we’re creating a new category: the Connected Workplace, and launching a new product to address these unique challenges in hybrid work. Introducing Microsoft Places, our new connected workplace platform that will reimagine hybrid and in-person work. This platform delivers solutions that coordinate where work happens, modernize the office with intelligent technology, and optimize the workplace for changing needs. Microsoft Places is coming in 2023.

Bringing the metaverse to business:

Just yesterday, we announced with Meta that we’re bringing Teams immersive meeting experiences to Quest. Currently in private preview, Mesh avatars for Teams lets you create custom avatars to represent yourself—so you can take a break from the camera but still have a physical presence in Teams meetings.

A new cloud computing paradigm built for the distributed workforce:

With the new Windows 365 app, you can access your Cloud PC directly from the Windows 11 task bar or start menu, letting you easily and quickly stream your full Windows desktop to any device.
Today, we are also announcing the availability of Windows 365 Government for Government Community Cloud and Government Community Cloud High customers in the United States. And, coming soon, organizations will be able to provision Windows 365 Cloud PCs for shift or part time employees. There is also more to share after the recent Windows 11 2022 update.
Generally available in November, Windows Update for Business reports will leverage Azure Workbooks to make deployment reports more modular and customizable.
Organizational messages, coming to public preview in November, makes it easy to message employees directly in the Windows UX. We’re also adding branch office printer management and diagnostic reporting to Universal Print, as well as support for evaluating apps after an in-place upgrade with Test Base for Microsoft 365.

Unlocking new collaboration patterns:

For managing content at scale, Microsoft Syntex brings the power of AI to content collaboration. Syntex services such as content processing, content summarization, and e-signature automate your business workflows and transform your digital work. Syntex is now available to all Microsoft 365 customers on a pay-as-you-go basis. Last year we introduced Microsoft
Loop, which breaks down barriers between apps to enable fluid co-creation. so people think, plan, and create together. Today, we’re excited to announce that the Loop app is in private preview.

Empowering everyone to thrive with Microsoft Viva:

Just a few weeks ago, we introduced new capabilities in Microsoft Viva to help companies deliver an employee experience optimized for the way people now work. These include new integrations in Viva Goals, the introduction of Viva Pulse—which lets managers and team leaders take the pulse of their teams for quick and confidential input— and finally, Viva Amplify, the new centralized communications management and publishing tool that helps employee communication teams and leaders communicate more effectively with their employees all from one place to reach people wherever they work.

Empower people and automate processes with Microsoft Syntex:

We’re excited to introduce Microsoft Syntex: Content AI integrated in the flow of work. It integrates innovations across the Microsoft Cloud, from Microsoft 365 to Azure, to Power Platform, and Microsoft Purview. Syntex automatically reads, tags, and indexes high volumes of content and connects it where it’s needed in context—in search, in applications, and as reusable knowledge. It also manages your content throughout its lifecycle with AI powered security and compliance, backup and restore, and tiered archive storage. Critically, Syntex puts people at the center, with content integrated into collaboration and workflows like eSignature.