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Microsoft’s Mesh for Teams is Microsoft’s Nod to the Metaverse

In Collaboration by Shelly KramerLeave a Comment

The metaverse is clearly in the news of late, and it appears to be on pace to be one of the biggest trends of 2022. Futurum lead analyst Shelly Kramer covers the announcement out of Microsoft’s Ignite event of the launch of its Mesh for Teams, a new offering intended to blend the digital and physical worlds, expected to roll out to users in 2022, and offering insight on what this means for the future of the metaverse in the workplace.

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How to Create More Meaningful Connections in a Remote World

In Business and Leadership by Shelly KramerLeave a Comment

In this episode of Future of Work Talk and the Futurum Tech Webcast, host Shelly Kramer is joined by Shameem Smillie, the Director of Global Contact Center Solutions at Mitel for a conversation around connection, personalized customer experiences, and what ‘meaningful connections’ mean in a digital world, what the future of work looks like in post-pandemic times — and some practical ways businesses can think about strengthening their communication skills.

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What Voice Assistants Trained to Understand Atypical Speech Mean to The Future of Work

In Future of Work by Olivier BlanchardLeave a Comment

As remote collaboration continues to become the new bedrock of digital collaboration, voice-processing technologies are increasingly embedding themselves in the very platforms that organizations depend on for those types of communications. Improving the accuracy of voice-processing technologies by applying lessons learned from adapting to atypical speech will have significant impact across the board. Futurum’s Olivier Blanchard takes a look at what voice assistants trained to understand atypical speech mean to the future of work as well as a dive into some of the projects currently underway.

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Microsoft’s 3 New Versions of Office Aim to Meet Customers Where They Are

In Technology News by Olivier BlanchardLeave a Comment

Microsoft finally optimizing its unified Office mobile app for Apple’s iPad devices isn’t just great news for iPad users – it’s also a clear signal from Microsoft that it intends to be more proactive about servicing segments of its ecosystem that may have, until now, been under-prioritized. Microsoft has also designed for specific segments of the Office User ecosystem, which is impressive. This ability to understand the user preferences and nuances involved in these unique segments of its ecosystem makes it clear that Microsoft has spent time and resources learning what these users’ needs are and that it has developed solutions so as to best to meet them.

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Microsoft’s New Employee Experience Platform, Microsoft Viva, Connects Employee Productivity and Wellness to Smoother Work Experiences

In Collaboration by Olivier BlanchardLeave a Comment

Could Microsoft Viva’s plan to humanize the workplace be the key to boosting employee productivity, creativity, and retention? Seeing technology now being used to re-humanize the workplace, humanize workflows, and give people rather than systems more agency and initiative, seems to Futurum’s Olivier Blanchard to be a very positive and welcome change in the enterprise. Microsoft’s new Viva employee experience platform certainly appears to be aiming to deliver on that vision.