Meta and Microsoft integrate Workplace and Teams to provide new features

2021.11.26


Microsoft Teams users can now access updated news feeds in Meta’s Workplace corporate social network without having to switch programs, thanks to the integration announced by Meta and Microsoft. In addition, plans to enable Teams video call streaming directly from Workplace are also underway. This is the first integration between Microsoft’s workflow collaboration tool Teams and Workplace. Workplace has more than 7 million paid subscribers. It can now integrate with Office 365 applications, including Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive. Provide support for Teams on the Facebook) portal video device. The new integration provides two functions: First, you can fix the Teams Workplace application on the Teams side navigation bar or add it as a tab to provide access to the in-app Workplace news feed. Teams administrators can mark workplace content as "important" to attract users' attention to certain information. Individual users can also pull the content of the Workplace group into the Teams channel, highlight it to colleagues, and react to Workplace posts directly from Teams. The video integration that will take place in early 2022 will enable users to watch Teams video calls from Workplace and comment in real time. Presenters in Teams will be able to monitor view participation and reactions in both applications at the same time. Although the two companies compete in a variety of ways (for example, Microsoft’s Viva Connections also provides social networking features, and both companies have recently announced competing visions for immersive collaboration software), recent moves indicate that many customers Now rely on a series of tools to support employee collaboration. Workplace product director Ujjwal Singh said that the integration with Teams will make it easier for employees who use both tools to keep up with the latest information and create more opportunities for enterprise-wide participation. The Workplace application for Meta for Teams can be pinned to the Teams side navigation bar or added as a tab for quick access to the Workplace news feed. Singh said earlier this year that Teams integration is in progress. He pointed out that joint customers that are already trying to integrate include Vodafone and Flight Center. In a statement, Jeff Teper, CVP Product and Engineering Director at Microsoft Teams, said: "We will work together to help our mutual customers adopt collaboration software and break down silos within the organization." Angela Ashenden, principal analyst at CCS Insight, said that this integration is particularly beneficial for Workplace customers who see applications as their core employee communication solutions but use Teams to improve their daily work efficiency. She said this is common in large organizations where communications and human resources teams rely on Workplace, and the IT team is responsible for using Teams as a collaboration and productivity platform. With this in mind, these integrations are significant for Meta companies because they help push information from Workplace to users who tend to spend a lot of time. Ashenden said: "By displaying news feeds in Teams, Workplace can continue to reach these employees, while allowing communications and human resources directors to retain control of communications and employee participation in the platform strategy." However, Ashenden pointed out that although the integration helps connect the two platforms, users of Teams and Workplace still face challenges—especially because of the overlap between their respective chat functions, Teams chat and Workplace chat, which may bring users Come confused.